Yes I do get it AND I am sorry about the 'smartass' comment I made to a response posted by 'science' on my topic "Can science tell us why life happened?"

I agree that science is the best way to figure out the unknown. I may be stubborn and slow on the uptake but I have the ability to acknowledge my mistakes and admit them openly. Again, I am sincerely sorry for getting worked up about something that pushes my hot button. I had faith in TSCC, but I lost it long ago. My recent resignation must be churning up emotions connected with that difficult decision.

All of the beliefs the church indoctrinates people with wind up "having a function" in that they allow us to address uncertainty with certainty (even if the certainty is illusory). When the beliefs are discarded, the original emotions surface, and they need to be addressed, often in the form of "grief work."

I didn't see your original thread until now, but that's been a question of mine for a long time, and I'm convinced that if I don't have the answer, nobody else does. I do have an advantage growing up "slightly non-Mormon" in that I learned to view things in terms of "survival value" (as opposed to "shame mitigation," although I've got plenty of that crap on my plate as well).

Mormonism offers "certainty" to counter "uncertainty," and that's a lot of its appeal (even if it is illusory).

Addressing that reality is why this board exits.

In one respect, the "Why" question is a set-up, because there are still gaps in scientific understandings (and lots out there who claim to be "doing science," but they're really doing something else); science offers an empirical definition of the "processes," but it remains in the realm of philosophy to answer "Why?"

Well, way back when this stuff was really important to me, Buckminster Fuller was still alive (and I was reading the Whole Earth Catalog). To quote Fuller...

"The flow of energy through a system acts to organize that system."

Makes as much sense as anything I've read on the subect, and IMHO, Fuller was a whole lot smarter and more insightful than say, Richard Dawkins, or Michael Shermer.

There, that should stir the pot sufficiently, and I trust a few besides myself will pop in with some appropriate one-liners.

Honest, we need the humor for healing, folks. This stuff is tough to navigate.

P.S. Check your e-mail



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 05:23PM by SL Cabbie.

I saw the email. Thanks again Cabbie.

And yes, humor is a huge part of my life. Without it I would have pulled the trigger long ago. Literally! God, what are we going to do without Robin Williams? I guess that's why video recording was invented. :)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 07:53PM by Tom Padley.

Thanks! And I sincerely mean that. This board is my opportunity to express long-held, yet suppressed beliefs. I'm okay with getting shot at, as long as I can shoot back. That was never an option until I joined this board. :)

My problem is with the word "why." Maybe someday science will
be able to tell us HOW life happened, but I don't really know
what it means to ask WHY life happened.

I see it as two questions:

(1) Is life the result of matter and energy in certain
configurations or is there something more needed for life? In
other words are we machines that do things much like human-made
machines but much more complex?

(2) If the answer to (1) is that we are machines, then how did
these machines come about? Can natural processes account for
the appearance and spread of life?

Question (1) is one of complexity. Question (2) is one of
"history" as well as complexity.

and then I think of this statement:

"The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."

~Neil deGrasse Tyson

Maybe one day it will. All I know is that I'm really hungry right now...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2014 09:47PM by Beth.

I agree with Dr. Tyson.

The purpose of life has always been and will always be whatever YOU want it be. In my mind, humans are a social species like wolves, ants and many others. We work together for the common good of the group. We don't do so well in isolation. I suppose part of the purpose of human life is to help the group become more knowledgeable and successful without depleting the resources around us.

The people that ask "Why did life happen?" are starting with the assumption there is a "Why?".

I see no reason to make that assumption.

I continually resort to referencing ancient annals and legends that were recorded by ancient Sumarians dating back some 250,000 years.

Lost book of Enki and epic of gilgamesh to name a couple

. . . ancient Sumarians dating back some 250,000 years?

Do you have a source for that date?

Why life happened?
There's no reason it happened..It just happened because the circumstances were right.
There's enough evidence to see why life started on this Planet and God is not one of them.

From a novel that I read long ago, the main character asked himself "why does grass grow?" The answer is that there isn't a reason, it just does. The answer is the same for grass and humans.