In my last blog, I listed some subjective meanings for life and then disclosed that they may not be the whole picture, only a part of it.
I also asked two questions, “What are we doing on Earth other than just merely surviving?” and “Why do we need to survive?”
It’s time to let you know what answer I found, so here it goes:
Answer: We are involved in a very complex transfer of information. And we need to survive in order to ensure that transfer occurs.
This idea is very fundamental to everything we do. But it's also very functional. Although some would probably say a bit reductionist.
But the reduction comes from looking at the larger scope of the processes we are performing. Everything we do involves transferring some kind of information:
Things like sex and transferring genetic information to offspring; like education and the transferring of knowledge about the world around us to current and future generations; the spread of religion/spirituality and our transfer of myths and beliefs and truths about the world, the afterlife, and more. Our social interactions with others transfer what we consider acceptable means of communication and behavior. Energy transfers as things die or are used, and we could possibly even say that energy is information (or at least stores it). All things, transferring.
So...why are we transferring all of this information?
The first answer to that question might be "because if we didn't, everything would just end."
Fair point, if all creatures stopped breeding, life as we know it would end.
But despite our species' attachments to the physical plane, what's wrong with an end?
Everything dies eventually, right? So why are we trying to prolong the inevitable? (Don't think as an individual for answering this question - remember, we're trying to talk about an overarching truth about life as a whole).
Well, one part of it is certainly...For the children! Have you ever wondered why animals like humans aren't born full grown? Well, one way of looking at it was that it was an evolutionary selection - based on things like the environment our species developed in, any predators we might have had at the time, the sizes and capabilities of our bodies, and for the sake of diversity.
So why don't human adults just die around the time that their children can survive on their own?
Well, life is kinda long, and when you're alive for so long, things tend to get interesting. And thanks to our large brains, we have the ability as humans to think about life, feel it, wonder about it, and then influence all of the after-birth information transfers. Between us, between us and other animals, between us and our technology (think about the Theme of your favorite book - like man vs. machine - and you'll get it).
In a sense, our development, due to neuroplasticity and some other things, doesn't really stop until much later in life. (And yet, our schools stop teaching us so early, America! But sure, we should have developed an enthusiasm for life-long learning during that time, right? Hopefully. I know I did).
But one question to ask is: Why do we live so much later? Why do we live until we're about 120 at max? What's special about that number of years? 120ish years sounds kind of purposeful.
And it is. Actually, our prolonged existence goes back to children. Having a longer lifespan ensures multiple generations have oversight to help guarantee offspring reach adulthood. It also allows those older generations to pass on valuable knowledge they've gathered over the years. Plus, they also get to use their knowledge to make worldly transfers, shifting things, and ideas, around the world.
Okay, so, development in the human lifespan is super cool, but this process repeats and repeats, birth to death, birth to death, over and over, forever-ish. In the big scheme of things, what happens after that is over? Is there really an end to the cycle of birth and death?
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The conditions of the Earth are changing. So where are our children's children's children x a few billion years headed? Should we care?
Well, if you get hung up by your own contribution to the future, you might.
Let's talk about life after death, spirituality, and the universe in the next post!
Until then, thanks for bearing with me through The Long Pause in my posting, and as always, thanks for Konnecting with me!
