Cell Memories (Identity)

by David Turell , Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 21:53 (4042 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: We have a very different view of evolution. You seem convinced that there is one plan, with humans at the end of it. I see billions of species coming and going higgledy-piggledy (the equivalent perhaps of your helter skelter), and wonderful though it is, this colossal variety and endless process of appearance and disappearance suggests precisely the opposite of your single-minded planner: all kinds of creative forces at work, some more successful than others. No matter whether I wear my theist hat (see under "Species consciousness"), my atheist hat, my either-way-panpsychist hat, I still can't see the higgledy-piggledy bush as "one plan".-Why not. Life requires fuel to survive. Plants grow and animals eat them. Animals eat animals. Red in tooth and claw, per Tennyson. There is a marvelous system of natural balances, which we humans constantly try to disrupt. But it is that diverse balance which keeps everything going. Perhaps required for life to continue and therefore part of the original plan for life by the Great Planner.