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iz the survival of the human race important?

Started by billy rubin, December 30, 2019, 04:59:54 PM

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billy rubin

yezterday i listened to an old radio interview with carl sagan, about human colonization of space. he talked about several interezting reasons for doing it, and finished off with a motivation that struck me az odd.

he said that colonization of new planets waz important because sooner or later the earth would be hit by another large meteorite, which might cause humn extinction. in order to safeguard against this, he said we should colonize other planets. he ztated tbis as if it were obviouz, and the interviewer didnt queztion it at all.

but my queztion is, why?

of what consequence is human extinction? i dont like pain and suffering, and i would prefer to have my kids lead long and healthy lives, and tbeir kids az well. but the human race in general, in 5000 or 10 000 years? im just not concerned about the human race lasting forever.

i cant figure out why people think that human extinction-- in tbe long term -- is important. what would be lost if humans went extinct?

does anybody here have an opinion?



"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

No one

No, it is not important. Humans mean nothing. They will one day be completely extinct. No variation of them will exist anywhere.

Recusant

Given that in the context of this planet and perhaps this solar system, "meaning" and "importance" are hominin inventions, the extinction of such species would seem to be also the cessation of such things as meaning and importance. More laconically: No worries, mate.

Being generally happy to be here, I do not desire that the possibility of such happiness to ceases to exist. By "happy" I mean that I decidedly enjoy learning things about the environment in which I find myself, and appreciate that such learning is possible. I like the thought that in the future, when I'm no longer partaking of this happiness, it will still be something that happens. To that extent, I would prefer that our species continues to exist for as long as possible.

When I was a youth I sat on a hill overlooking a city, and realised the human species was a toxic over-proliferation as far as the ecosystem of the planet was concerned. On the other hand, a long bygone toxic over-proliferation produced the oxygenated atmosphere that we breathe. Yeast in certain liquids grow and proliferate to produce a toxic level of alcohol. Special cases, admittedly, but they show that occasionally there are unexpectedly positive results from this sort of thing.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


billy rubin

it makes no sense to me.

in the end, we're all walking chemical reactions, and the raw materials get recycled whether we're human beings or a billion tons of hydrogen sulfide.

the two things that interest me are life and consciousness. i suspect that the two are the same, consciousness being something that appears in degrees once life is present. life itself i suspect may be an inevitable characteristic of matter, becoming more or less evident as  matter is more or less complex.

so in that regard i wouldn't be surprised to discover that the stars are alive and sentient, in the same way that a rock may have rock-like thoughts and emotions.

but none of that creates meaning beyond what we decide meaning to be.


"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Icarus

An appropriate exit at the year end.  Some of us do have some deeply  philosophical thoughts.

Happy new year to my  revered HAFers, all. 

billy rubin



"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."