Does Nature have a preference for life to exist?

[ding]

Ding: Why does water run downhill
Logical answer: Gravity pulls it
Ding: But why does nature prefer water to run downhill?
Logical answer: It doesn't. its just the way gravity works
Ding: So what?

Random Liberal horning in: Not all water runs downhill. Stop being gravity-centric.

My point is a very simple one. If there is a logical God, a personal God, one who is no thing, one who connects but is not part of, then there would be a way to know him from what he has created. So the steps that had to happen for intelligence to exist did happen, not because of random luck but because it was programmed into the very fabric of existence itself.

You don't know what something is by how it starts out. You can only know what it is by how it turns out. The universe is an intelligence creating machine. The cosmology and physics of it is poetry. To understand what the science tells us and to understand what the worlds oldest recorded wisdom tells us is mind blowing.

If the universe is an intelligence creating machine than, based on what humanity has observed so far, it's a damned inefficient machine.

I can see how some would see it that way. The universe is a pretty darn inhospitable place for life though.

 

[DOTR]

The distances are too great. I don't believe there is a free lunch out there.

The universe is 14 billion years old. There are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. We have observed Earth-like planets at least 1.5 billion years older than Earth...and that is just what we have observed. That is plenty of head start if life were evolving towards intelligence elsewhere. At 1% the speed of light the entire galaxy would be covered in 20,000,000 years which is about what, 1% the age of the observed planets, and .1% the age of the Milky Way.
So "where is everybody"?

I agree with you that life seems to have been "pushed" towards humanity. But only in this one instance.

 

[Montrovant]

Ding: Why does water run downhill
Logical answer: Gravity pulls it
Ding: But why does nature prefer water to run downhill?
Logical answer: It doesn't. its just the way gravity works
Ding: So what?

Random Liberal horning in: Not all water runs downhill. Stop being gravity-centric.

My point is a very simple one. If there is a logical God, a personal God, one who is no thing, one who connects but is not part of, then there would be a way to know him from what he has created. So the steps that had to happen for intelligence to exist did happen, not because of random luck but because it was programmed into the very fabric of existence itself.

You don't know what something is by how it starts out. You can only know what it is by how it turns out. The universe is an intelligence creating machine. The cosmology and physics of it is poetry. To understand what the science tells us and to understand what the worlds oldest recorded wisdom tells us is mind blowing.

If the universe is an intelligence creating machine than, based on what humanity has observed so far, it's a damned inefficient machine.

I can see how some would see it that way. The universe is a pretty darn inhospitable place for life though.

The universe being inhospitable is kind of my point.

 

[DOTR]

Its always an interesting question.

Nick Lane: "The Vital Question" is worth the read. Heres a review.

Vital Questions — A Book Review

For the problem of consciousness try Roger Penrose. "The Emperors New Mind" and "Shadows of the Mind".

Consciousness is as much an unknowable, singular, miracle as the origin of life itself. But in between? Evolution suffices.

 

[ding]

Ding: Why does water run downhill
Logical answer: Gravity pulls it
Ding: But why does nature prefer water to run downhill?
Logical answer: It doesn't. its just the way gravity works
Ding: So what?

Random Liberal horning in: Not all water runs downhill. Stop being gravity-centric.

My point is a very simple one. If there is a logical God, a personal God, one who is no thing, one who connects but is not part of, then there would be a way to know him from what he has created. So the steps that had to happen for intelligence to exist did happen, not because of random luck but because it was programmed into the very fabric of existence itself.

You don't know what something is by how it starts out. You can only know what it is by how it turns out. The universe is an intelligence creating machine. The cosmology and physics of it is poetry. To understand what the science tells us and to understand what the worlds oldest recorded wisdom tells us is mind blowing.

If the universe is an intelligence creating machine than, based on what humanity has observed so far, it's a damned inefficient machine.

I can see how some would see it that way. The universe is a pretty darn inhospitable place for life though.

The universe being inhospitable is kind of my point.

Right. It's also a very big place.

 

[ding]

The distances are too great. I don't believe there is a free lunch out there.

The universe is 14 billion years old. There are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. We have observed Earth-like planets at least 1.5 billion years older than Earth...and that is just what we have observed. That is plenty of head start if life were evolving towards intelligence elsewhere. At 1% the speed of light the entire galaxy would be covered in 20,000,000 years which is about what, 1% the age of the observed planets, and .1% the age of the Milky Way.
So "where is everybody"?

I agree with you that life seems to have been "pushed" towards humanity. But only in this one instance.

I don't know if we are the only one, were the only one or will always be the only one. I would not be surprised if we weren't. And if we weren't I wouldn't expect them to be significantly different in form and functionality.

 

[ding]

Its always an interesting question.

Nick Lane: "The Vital Question" is worth the read. Heres a review.

Vital Questions — A Book Review

For the problem of consciousness try Roger Penrose. "The Emperors New Mind" and "Shadows of the Mind".

Consciousness is as much an unknowable, singular, miracle as the origin of life itself. But in between? Evolution suffices.

When one plays the first cause conundrum out, consciousness is the no thing that could satisfy the requirements of the solution to the conundrum; something which has always existed and is unchanging.

 

[ding]

Ding: Why does water run downhill
Logical answer: Gravity pulls it
Ding: But why does nature prefer water to run downhill?
Logical answer: It doesn't. its just the way gravity works
Ding: So what?

Random Liberal horning in: Not all water runs downhill. Stop being gravity-centric.

My point is a very simple one. If there is a logical God, a personal God, one who is no thing, one who connects but is not part of, then there would be a way to know him from what he has created. So the steps that had to happen for intelligence to exist did happen, not because of random luck but because it was programmed into the very fabric of existence itself.

You don't know what something is by how it starts out. You can only know what it is by how it turns out. The universe is an intelligence creating machine. The cosmology and physics of it is poetry. To understand what the science tells us and to understand what the worlds oldest recorded wisdom tells us is mind blowing.

If the universe is an intelligence creating machine than, based on what humanity has observed so far, it's a damned inefficient machine.

I can see how some would see it that way. The universe is a pretty darn inhospitable place for life though.

The universe being inhospitable is kind of my point.

It's also a little more than surprising that intelligence was written into the laws of nature given how inhospitable the universe is. More than enough to raise suspicion.

 

[DOTR]

The distances are too great. I don't believe there is a free lunch out there.

The universe is 14 billion years old. There are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. We have observed Earth-like planets at least 1.5 billion years older than Earth...and that is just what we have observed. That is plenty of head start if life were evolving towards intelligence elsewhere. At 1% the speed of light the entire galaxy would be covered in 20,000,000 years which is about what, 1% the age of the observed planets, and .1% the age of the Milky Way.
So "where is everybody"?

I agree with you that life seems to have been "pushed" towards humanity. But only in this one instance.

I don't know if we are the only one, were the only one or will always be the only one. I would not be surprised if we weren't. And if we weren't I wouldn't expect them to be significantly different in form and functionality.

I just explained to you why you should be surprised if other intelligence is ever found in the universe.