Cosmologic philosophy: multiverse (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, January 12, 2017, 12:48 (2661 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Billions of parts of the universe can't think. They can't have a thought of us, but we think about them. Why is that? Because God gave us consciousness. Of course we are meaningful. Only the appearance of our species could change the planet, which we have.

Dhw: […] The whole concept of human “meaningfulness” is simply what we make it, and you and I have filled our lives with what is meaningful for us. It is the idea of a universal meaning that I question, and that applies even if God exists, because we have no idea about his nature, motives or intentions.

DAVID: We evolved from an ancestor common to apes and us. They stayed the same. We advanced. Luck or purposeful? I accept that it was a purposeful event. We differ. As part of Nature we have changed the planet, because we have the power to do it. We can uncover the secrets of the universe. I find all of that very meaningful and significant. We could have remained as a branch of apehood.

There is no disagreement between us. Yes, we could have remained apes, but apes and every other multicellular organism could have remained bacteria, so evolution happened. Certainly meaningful for me, or I wouldn’t have happened. I also ask if our arrival was “luck or purposeful”. You believe it was purposeful, and I don’t know. Yes, we have changed the planet and our powers are meaningful and significant for you and for me too. All of this illustrates the subjectivity of meaningfulness. I don’t think the solar system cares one jot about me. And if God exists, neither you nor I have a clue what he’s thinking. So the only meaningfulness we know of is what is meaningful for us. Don’t you agree?