Cosmologic philosophy: multiverse (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 12, 2017, 23:21 (2872 days ago) @ dhw

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.

dhw: 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?

I still see a meaningfulness in the arrival of powerfully intelligent life (humans), which was not required.