Meaningful Evolution

[DragonFly]

Good video and great analysis but for ‘random’.

The answer to the dilemma is that there can be no ‘random’, for that means that not anything was depended on. What was depended on was the environment, to which survival was fine-tuned. That’s not enough, though, for, in turn, nature had to have the capability for creatures to form and adapt in the first place.

So, the capability for our existence was absolutely inherent in the universe all along, the universe having had to be such in particular to be able to produce life. If not, we wouldn’t be here to discuss it. A differently formed universe may not have had this capability.

We will always look back to see what we at first think are fortunate events, such as asteroids wiping out the dinosaurs and much of other life, but asteroids (and there basis) were ever on the way here.

The universe also had to be very large, which it is, and so then there are places, amid all the ‘junk’, like the Earth, where all the conditions line up just right, which is a lot of them, such as even there having to be a moon for stability, lest the Earth wobble too quickly in and out of hot and freezing zones.

It is all still a design without a Designer, as the video speaker notes in saying that a Designer could made the right place and put all the creatures on it intact and fully formed.

Evolution took ages, which is yet another indication that it is true, along with fossils, DNA, and embryonics all matching each other, which is an undeniable triple (even quadruple) conjunction of confirmation.

So, all, now, is what it had to become, the outcome already guaranteed by the particular arrangements of nature in the beginning, which amounts and more were circumstantial, not existential, unless it is that tiny things of any properties can always combine and amount to higher and higher composites and complexities, these tiny things unable to be ‘inert’, due to the forced default condition of the Beginning, such as that actual infinities are impossible, such as infinite density, forcing things like waves within waves to ‘blow’, from the bandwidth limitation, waves having to be so since they are continuous functions without lessor parts, and so they can be the first ‘thing’, with an opposing primal wave so that all cancels to nothing, which is the only source of existence, so that something is not actually obtained, free and clear, from nothing, and that, while much annihilation of the opposites did occur, the remainder could not once it all blew up. The zero-sum balance of ‘sum-things’ remains apparent in the universe today as polarity of charge, matter/anti-matter states (ever produced in pairs), gravity’s negative potential energy canceling that of the positive kinetic energy of stuff, and there being two and only two stable matter particles in free space—the electron and the proton, hinting that there are only two ways to make them.

In our case, in our universe, whatever happened in the Beginning is what happened, but it was such that we had to become after 13 billion years. No choice; no luck’ no ‘random’.

And, too, we do what we must (determinism), which might be disheartening to some, that is, until the other shoes drops, and we look into what the opposite of ‘determined’ would be, which is ‘undetermined’ events, which are not possible, but if they were, in our imagination, then that would lead to complete chaos.

So, now, the former disheartened are perhaps a bit happier that our will does depend on things such as our memories, experiences, learnings, and associations.

We are in a scripted play, yes, but at least we get to be in it, and it is fun. We also like that we have found truth, even though it’s like Dennet’s universal acid that eats away all our superstitions (if we had any).

[DragonFly]

Earth had to have just the right conditions, and three of the many are location, location, and location.

Given that there is life on Earth, our solar system had to be in the outer-more portion of the galaxy, for, if not, we could have never been; and, in fact, it is on a spiral arm. Closer to the core would have meant more dangerous radiation.

There are two unforgiving time constraints for the evolution and long term survival of life in the universe. It must advance from bacteria to full scale space transport before its sun fails or falls into the core of the galaxy, whatever comes first. Earth has already had a total run of about 4.5 billion years since our sun’s ignition. If Sol had started burning any closer than about 25 thousand light years from the Milky Way’s core, our civilization simply would not exist. All this we could have expected, however, without even looking to confirm it, for we are here.

[DragonFly]

TO THE END(S) OF THE UNIVERSE

I took a road trip through the universe recently, smoking some pot and playing the radio loud. Holy-moly, there’s nothing holy out there. In fact, it’s a very uncongenial place for life. I’d much rather be in Australia. 96% of it was useless dark energy and dark matter; the rest was mostly rocks gases and dust; dangerous radiation zapped all over the place; and it was fricken freezing! Oh, what I would have given to be in Canada.

Whatever designed the universe certainly didn’t have life at large in mind, although in some good places it had to become; it even took evolution billions of years to fine-tune us to the Earth. Then we nearly got wiped out by huge disasters right and left, even once shrinking back down to a population of around 2000.

I saw the graveyards of the stars and some stellar nurseries, too; all kinds of energy swirled about—when it wasn’t exploding and wreaking havoc. I stopped to eat at the restaurant at the end of the universe, on a moon, but, it had no atmosphere, plus, all the food had been microwaved, by the CMBR.

What a wasteland of a wilderness of wilds of a whole bunch of crap that nearly went on forever in every direction; this was as much of a place unsuited for life that there ever could be. I’m back, thank my lucky stars, noting that, 13 billion years after the initial mess, here we are, having beaten the odds. Well, someone had to! Earth had the right conditions. We won the universal lottery jackpot.

Oh cripes, here comes a humongous asteroid! Darn, all that progress for nothing. Double ‘00’ has come up. It was only a matter of time.