Nature of things...

Me:


 ‎Arvind What intrigues me more is not that we are so damn intelligent, but “WHY” is it that nature blessed us with so much intelligence, a capacity and also thirst, of almost infinite knowledge? Is it because of the propagation of our species? In that case all this intelligence has been surely self-defeating, with the alarming state of our planet that we have been able to reduce it to, thanks to our “intelligence”. While the “dumb” dinosaurs dominated this planet for millions of years (or billions?), perhaps only to be wiped out by a merciless meteor, we humans in spite of a relatively congenial planetary condition and so much “intelligence” and knowledge, has been able to put the planet on a “red-alert” by our own actions in a few thousand years of our unhindered domination. Which other species have been solely responsible for their own extinction? I sometimes wonder, isn’t so much “intelligence” actually self-defeating? It is true that what our species have achieved in a few thousand years have been simply stunningly spectacular. But what is a few thousand years compared to the billions of years this planet has been around? What worth is intelligence of if life itself is not sustained? Are we intelligent enough to really understand why we are so intelligent? Or we would be rather “dumb” and lazily say..we are a “freak” of nature?




Arvind:


Deb, it appears we have some disagreement. I want to try to address the points you made in your previous comments. Firstly I completely agree with your second comment. Yes, human beings are a truly marvelous species that has exercised control over almost all living and nonliving entities on this planet. And yes, it is due to this intellect are we on the brink of a thermonuclear war threatening us with extinction.


Coming to your first comment. I think your central argument can be captured by, "if nature blessed us with such high intelligence, then why are we using that to kill ourselves and everybody around us?" Here, I have major disagreements. Firstly, infidels like Akshay and I believe there is nothing blessing anything with anything. But I know you were not trying to get a supernatural angle out of this. So let us replace the statement with the following more accurate one, "if evolution by natural selection endowed us with a superior intellect, supposedly for dominating the gene pool, then why is this intellect trying to kill us, resulting in the removal of the very genes that it's supposed to protect?" This is a gross misunderstanding of the natural process leading to evolution.


Evolution cares about genes in the genepool only as much as gravity cares about the fate of passengers on a falling plane. There is no (and cannot be) a causal relationship between natural selection and the long term well being of the species. If a particular genetic mutation enables an individual to reproduce more then by definition its genes will dominate the genepool. That is “be all and end all”. There is nothing exotic about natural selection. For instance, if some genetic mutation arises in a cat that enormously enhances the sexual libido then these genes (along with others that the particular cat possess) will dominate the gene pool. But if it turned out that, that very gene causes the cat to commit suicide on the first of April every year, then all cats (it’s blood line) with that gene will die on that day (possibly extinction if the gene had managed to make its way into most living cats). There is no way natural selection can predict the side-effects of a reproduction enhancing gene. 


Intelligence is one such genetic trait that arose as a genetic mutation (bigger brains with a more foldings) in higher apes resulting in a greater reproductive capability (for e.g, by hunting predators effectively and living longer). As with all genetic traits, there is no way natural selection for predicting the ill effects of the intelligence when higher apes use them to build weapons destroying the world.


Understanding this viewpoint of life we see that there is no disagreement between what is and what ought to be. 


Let me know if you disagree.




Me:  



Aha…now it makes a lot of sense and clarifies to a large extent about the worldview held by you infidels. God Bless you! Haha..But truly, it was very well explained.  


So now if I understood it correctly, the underlying idea of the “Natural process” of Evolution is much like any other physical process, say the Force of Gravity. But even Gravity is one of the most amazing forces, yet beyond our complete understanding. For example, if the Theory of relativity is to be used to explain gravity, then what it boils down to is that gravity is there because we exist! And not the other way round! ( “ In other words just by existing, you are compelled to move through space - this is gravity.” http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/gravity.html UCR han!) 


Now if the world view that sees at Evolution as a purely mechanical process like most of the other physical laws, then I don’t think it would be too presumptuous on my part to hold that Evolutionary Biology stands today where Physics stood in the 17th and the 18th century….trying to explain all physical phenomenon with precise mechanistic laws, only to tumble upon the world of Quantum and sub-atomic physics to find all those certainties dissolve away…. and one has to conjure up things like “dark energy” and “dark matter” to shed some light on the darkness of our inadequate understanding! So indeed it would be incredibly fascinating to see the “evolution” of the Theory of Evolution in the coming years! May be I will have to wait for a few lifetimes to find out…while you infidels get roasted in the pit fire of hell..haha…


But more seriously, I would like to say something which I do not know if you have considered. 


 I am sure you are only too well aware of the two dominating ways to look at this world. One is God and His design and all that. The problem with this approach I don’t think I need to tell you and I agree to most of them. The other approach is to understand the world as a purely mechanistic process, governed by a set of laws. I also have serious problems with this. The fact is that even with all our knowledge and understanding as of 2012, an overwhelming portion of what this universe is and how this universe works lies beyond us. Even the most fundamental and intimate thing, the sense of “I”, an integrated consciousness that endows us with a sense of agency and individuality, we have grasped very little of it. The world of sub-atomic particles remains almost as elusive as it was a century ago. And finally even when we consider all those things that we have somewhat understood and made sense of, we did it with a thing called “mind” and the way the world outside maps to the world inside, and it remains a completely subjective experience, with its logical conclusions. To explain what I mean, we have been “blessed” (:P) with the power to experience only three dimensions. If String theory is to be true then there exists a few more dimensions, of which in our present state of consciousness we cannot have any subjective experience of. If we really had the power to experience more than three dimensions, would not that radically alter our way of looking and understanding the world? I know these remain purely speculative points, but nonetheless I think pertinent when we are trying to understand the nature of things.


So now that I have mentioned my problems with the two approaches, both of which I feel is too simplistic and convenient, this is what I feel and believe. I do not know who or what created this world. I do not know why things are the way things are in their totality. I perceive this world the way the world has wired me to, and in some ways I remain a prisoner to it. But like Andy Dufense in Shawshank Redemption, I believe I can break free from this prison one day. I do not know if “God” exists. Actually I believe, the idea of God as popular today is much of a human construct. But I know “I” exist. And I “believe” this “I” is the most extraordinary thing there is. I “believe” that this universe exist because this “I” exist in the first place just as I think, that most ideas of God as a supernatural power, distinct and different from this “I” is a figment of imagination, born of a childish sense of insecurity. I “believe” that what I understand and make of this “I” today, is only a tiny fraction of what the true possibilities and potential of “I” is. In the checkered history of mankind there have been certain individuals in whom this “I” has shone forth extra-ordinarily, almost inexplicably. And I “believe” that if there is, or should be a purpose to existence of life, it is the total manifestation of this “I”. All of life, all of evolution, all physical laws, and everything that we understand and do not understand, is for this purpose. I don’t believe there is a God other than this “I”. Can I prove this? No! because to prove we need mind, and mind is only secondary to “I”. I become aware of my mind, only after I become aware of “I”. So I do not think mind will be an effective tool in this enquiry. In fact, it is only when the mind stops buzzing, do we have some glimpse of this magnificent “I”. Haha…I don’t know if all this makes any sense to you. All this had no intention to bring you around to my view-point. But just to explain how I look at all this.