- #71
M. Gaspar
- 679
- 1
Originally posted by heusdens
Your question is like what is the purpose of learning and knowledge.
I could then ask what is the purpose of life itself? Is there a purpose and a meaning to anything?
When talking about the progress in knowledge, for instance in the field of particle physics and cosmology, those progress was driven by a need to now how the actual world in fact looks like, how did it develop
The will to know and the ability to understand the world, that has made man to what it is know. Without that willing and without that ability mankind would now not be very much different then apes.
Hey...YOU'RE THE ONE that said my inquiry has "no purpose"...so I was making the point that MY pursuit is as "purposeful" as the pursuit of knowledge. In fact, it is actually a PART of that pursuit (however misguided ).
I was NOT actually saying that the pursuit of scientific knowledge is purposeless. If nothing else, it's FUN!
So you're preaching to the choir when you make your case for pursuing knowledge for its own sake. It's part of "who we are" as you have said.
Now, let's take the case -- for a brief moment -- that the Universe is out with a similar purpose...that of learning about Itself, which is to say, Everything That Is.
In such a case, the Universe would have to keep "re-shuffling the deck" by giving rise to sentient beings -- over time -- that would "think on" these things, thereby rendering Self-knowledge.
Also part of the "mix" would be the Universe having a 30-billion-year Experience via the actions and consequences, inentions and emotions contained in the mini-dramas we call our individual lives.
As to the "purpose of life"? Here's my take: The Universe is out to have an EXPERIENCE ...a different one than the one BEFORE...or the one before THAT...etc.
The Experience, of course, is the collective experiences of everything that has ever HAD an experience..including a rock.
Each incarnation (and I'm deliverately using this "charged" word, even though I could express it as the time between each "Big Bang" and "Big Crunch")...this type of unending life-cycle seems a better candidate to ME for how the Universe spends ETERNITY than the one where It keeps EXXXPPPPAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGgggggggggggggggggg g gg g g g g !
It's [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] for me!