h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

> what is the purpose, the meaning of life? (i'm
> being serious here) and if there is no purpose, then why do you follow
> these morals?

The purpose (or meaning) of life is to continually refine it's stability by increasing it's complexity - something that has been happening since the very first replicator burst twitching into it's hour on the stage.

In order to live you must interact with other agents in your niche. Those interactions can be both symbiotic and competetive. To compete you must adapt and by adapting you create new niches into which others can move. Then the process continues, generating nested webs of coevolving agents of ever increasing complexity.

> To the rest of you: just to clarify a little bit, is there anyone who is
> actually on a religious search or have you all given up?

I'm most definitely on a search for understanding. A search that is fuelled by an appetite for wonder that, quite honestly, often takes my breath away. The way that the awesome simplicity of evolution is capable of building structured, self organising order *for free* is a very beautiful thing to study. The way that we - organisms built by that very same blind process - have the ability to learn about and communicate the nature of the systems that gave us life makes me feel very, very proud and privileged to be alive.

In order that we don't abuse our 'privileged hour upon the stage' we owe it to ourselves and our descedants to build moral codes and social structures that maximise everyone's enjoyment and understanding of their own lives. These are codes and structures that deserve better than autocratic, atavistic, sectarian control structures. They should be allowed to self organise and coevolve, just like we did.

How many other places in the world are people free to discuss topics like this? It is fascinating to read because although we are excluding the vast majority of the world's population here, we are still getting views from quite a wide range of people.

IF the future lies in the hands of those Educated, Intelligent and Approachable people that one finds on these pages, then there is hope indeed. As inhabitants of the English speaking Western world, with access to modern technology, I think we all have a certain "moral" duty, not to teach others that our views are the right ones, but that there has to be tolerance and respect for people who want to discuss the matter and put their World View forward.

*Me too*

Mmm. Yeah. that's what I was trying to say.

Vlad

Just wait 'til I offer 'em a secular version of the afterlife that religion is backing away from!

Merkin,

"..most religions will qualify that and say, some of us are wonderful beings, some of us are more wonderful than others, and we should do what they say, and some of us are horrible and will burn in hell."

In my religion, everyone is equal and we don't believe in hell in a physical sense, nor the burning part of it. The term "hell" was used by Jesus in the Bible and the actual word he used was the name of a place outside of Jeruselem where they burned trash. Jesus was using another one of them dang parables.

Quick, who was it that was going off on the wonder of evolution?? I'm replying to that person (no, not Vlad even though he agreed, sort of). How can you possibly think this wonder "just happened"? Evolution is a once in a million chance and every variable has to be right. To me, that's a little too coincedental to have just happened on it's own. I believe it was instigated by the hand of God. That's one of the things (the wonder) that made me believe in God and see the proof!!

And as for the bee thing---shoot, I've got to go...I'll be late, but I shall return (or I'll be back.) and finish this!!!!!!!!!!!

"A search that is fuelled by an appetite for wonder that, quite honestly, often takes my breath away. The way that the awesome simplicity of evolution is capable of building structured, self organising order *for free* is a very beautiful thing to study."

Beautiful. We are life, we are creation, we are the meaning, the purpose and the answer. The intricate abstract social structures that we can build which can evolve over a thousand generations are a wonderful way of expressing that wonder.

Can't wait!

BTW, is there anyone with a Far East socio/reliogious perspective to share? Most of us seem to be very western liberal humanist on a moral and social front regardless of religious persuasion.

> We are life, we are creation, we are the meaning, the
> purpose and the answer.

Exactly. It's not a case of plodding on through time, bearing life's trials with a grudge - we're part of it. Remove anyone of us and life would be different.

Anyway, who wants to live forever? Well, for a while after death anyway.

There are two components that make you *you* and you can leave them both, in part if not in whole, to live after your death. These components, these atoms of "you-ness", are your genetic description and the contents of your mind (your meme set).

You'll leave half of your genetic description in every child that you bear - half of every one of your children will be made of "you-stuff". It won't last forever, and it will dilute to a concentration of one half every generation, but it will persist post-mortem.

We evolved language, at great cost in both time and metabolic investment, for the explicit purpose of recording and communicating the contents of our minds. Use it. Record your mind and tell people where to find it. Darwin published The Origin of Species 140 years ago and he's still alive in it, and it's descendants, today.

There, simple. Have children and/or write what you're thinking and you'll live after death.

> Quick, who was it that was going off on the wonder of evolution??

'Twas I.

> How can you possibly think this wonder "just happened"? Evolution is
> a once in a million chance and every variable has to be right.

Rubbish.

Evolution, by definition, is bound to happen wherever variation and selection are at work on replicators because "evolution" is just a label for that process. So, what you're really talking about is the origin of the very first replicator, right? Abiogenesis.

The are many theories as to how this came about, from prebiotic soups (either swimming freely, trapped in hydrothermal vents, pools or carried here in meteors, or divine intervention and they all have a probablity.

Prebiotic soups: very unlikely when free floating, the concentration of molecular candidates for life would be held too low for too long for useful reactions (like "copy self") to occur. Raise the concentration slightly, though, on a shallow beach perhaps and something very interesting hoves into view. Some chemicals catalyse (aid) reactions between others. Chemical reactions produce more chemicals, some of them copies, and some of them variants. Variants, by definition, increase the chemical diversity and the reactionary and catalytic relationships increase by a power law! More diverstiy means more and more diversity - more and more chemical search space is covered all the time. No lightening required.

Now, what happens when a network of chemicals catalyses it's neighbours to produce a copy of itself? We have an auto-catalytic set - a replicator. What happens when some external influence (a new catalytic partner, perhaps or a change in the networks chemical raw materials) causes a change in the new copy. The new network is no longer quite like it's "parent" - it is a mutant. We have varying replicator.

<--- Abiogenesis here.

Now we have varying replicators competing for the raw materials from which they build new copies. The race is now on, future mutants will begin to produce chemicals that impair the efficiency of their competitors. Mutant competitors will produce chemicals to neutralise chemical attacks. Bubble forming lipids will be produced that protect the "nuclear" chemicals within from a wide variety of attacks. A new acid will be produced that can form stable chains and store instructions for synthesising it's amoury along it's length. Arms races, parasitism, groups of cells working together in symbiotic partnership.

Life was no accident, it was inevitable under this planets conditions at the time.

> To me,
> that's a little too coincedental to have just happened on it's own. I
> believe it was instigated by the hand of God. That's one of the things
> (the wonder) that made me believe in God and see the proof!!

Well, auto cataytic sets have not yet been repeated in the lab but we've only been trying for a few years. They have been modelled though, and the principles work. I have *seen* and *can show you* self organisation in complex systems at work.

Right then, divine intervention or auto-catalytic sets. The words "Ockham" and "Razor" spring to mind.

And it's all that and so much more. Every social interaction you have (i.e. every interaction with anything outside youself, not just those which happen in public houses) will effect change in the world around you, every change, whether for better or for worse carries the signature of your experience through time. A simple act of kindness to a stranger today, could change the opinion and outlook of someone who may one day have their finger on the button, or your grandchilds life in their hands. Every experience you share will live on through the lives and experiences of others. And of course, this is not just person to person, but between us and the planet and all the life within it. We are one living system, and in that sense we never die.

OH! OH! I KNOW THE MEANING OF LIFE!!! PICK ME! PICK ME!! (this is an answer to someone else, actually, but you people write on British time, so I have to come in on these things late...

Main Entry: Life
Pronunciation: 'lIf
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural lives /'lIvz/
Etymology: Middle English lif, from Old English lIf; akin to Old English libban to live -- more at LIVE
Date: before 12th century
1 a : the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body b : a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings -- compare VITALISM 1 c : an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction
2 a : the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual b : one or more aspects of the process of living
3 : BIOGRAPHY 1
4 : spiritual existence transcending physical death
5 a : the period from birth to death b : a specific phase of earthly existence c : the period from an event until death d : a sentence of imprisonment for the remainder of a convict's life
6 : a way or manner of living
7 : LIVELIHOOD
8 : a vital or living being; specifically : PERSON
9 : an animating and shaping force or principle
10 : SPIRIT, ANIMATION
11 : the form or pattern of something existing in reality
12 : the period of duration, usefulness, or popularity of something
13 : the period of existence (as of a subatomic particle) -- compare HALF-LIFE
14 : a property (as resilience or elasticity) of an inanimate substance or object resembling the animate quality of a living being
15 : living beings (as of a particular kind or environment)
16 a : human activities b : animate activity and movement c : the activities of a given sphere, area, or time
17 : one providing interest and vigor
18 : an opportunity for continued viability
19 capitalized, Christian Science : GOD 1b
20 : something resembling animate life

And thus onto the six degrees of seperation. By mere connection to this forum, I am a link to all of you, your views and thoughts are carried with me. If I tell someone about these thought and ideas, that is passed onto them and may have an effect on thier life. Choices may be made because of what I tell them, if so, then although I have effected thier life, it is by you lot effecting mine. I hope that some of my words have effected some of you. Is this a religion, a passing of thoughts, ideas and stories. No, but in the future, with enough time and effort, and followers, it may become one. It shall not be the first Internet religion (nor the last) but by definition, it is a religion.

Life, by the way, on Earth, was an accident. True, it is effected by a combination of chemicals, producing side effects, but there are other factors at hand. And these factors also effected evolution. It has not been an easy run to get to this level of evolution, ice ages, land changes, infections, these all effect the enviroment and, in thime, would counteract the chemical theory. A change in status to fight an effect may take years, but there would be traces of that. If mankind was in an enviroment that changed dramatically, the differences in man would be for more obvious. But the basic abilities and shape have stayed the same for hundreds of generations. Even now, we are worlds apart from our counterpart 100 years age, but how advanced were they from thier 100 year counterparts. I would saytiny amounts, and with the advances in medical technology, we could be around to see the difference in the next 100 years. Who's imagination is advanced enough to even guess what will happen in the next century, not me. I may guess at the next 20 or 30 years but 100... I don't just mean the tech advances but people advances,what diseases, weapons, morals, even attitudes will there be in the next century. How will religion itself be effected while the new gods of technology take over?

Not to downplay interactions which happen in public houses. I learned quite a bit about life in public houses.

As to "one living system... we never die," don't be so sure, boyo. The sun'll go supernova sometime, and if we haven't spread our little genes outside this solar system, we'll be just so much interstellar carbon... I'm just waiting for the earth's crust to shift and England to end up on the equator. It'd be fun to watch y'all's evolution towards desert nomadry.

> Life, by the way, on Earth, was an accident. True, it is effected by a
> combination of chemicals,

I don't agree. It was an inevitable consequence of self organisation: first physical, then chemical and then biological. You might say that, since "suitable starting conditions" would not have existed if the Earth's early climate had been different, or our sun had not been a type G yellow star, or whatever - and you'd be right. You'd be wrong, though, to say that our "suitable starting conditions" were a matter of chance because they all had an ancestry of causation.

The problem is that, where current understanding runs out, we have three options: delegate to a supernatural entity, assume the starting conditions came about by chance, or keep looking.

Personally I can't wait to evolve towards a bit of desert nomadry. I've met a lot of tribal arabs, and they tend to have a far clearer understanding of thier place in the universe than us lot.

"As to "one living system... we never die," don't be so sure, boyo. The sun'll go supernova sometime, and if we haven't spread our little genes outside this solar system, we'll be just so much interstellar carbon"

Which is just one of the ways we may have got here in the first place. Gaia is more than just planet, it is universe. One space born lump of ice from a shattered planet chocked full of iron, manganese, carbon (so much interstellar carbon indeed, it's the stuff of life, some primal planet should be so lucky) and if they're incredibly lucky, a few amino acids, and the immortality of our planet lives on!

Kick Ass!

(I am so excited)

Seriously, this is great. I need all you people down the Pub with me for a prolonged drunken discussion on this!

I've always figured that "God" (to use the somewhat generic term) did not create the universe. He BECAME the universe. I mean, what's the point of creating it if you are omnipotent? You already know what is going to happen, right?

But to become the universe (in a Big Bang kind of way) is a totally different matter. Eventually you will return to your original state (in a Big Crunch kind of way) and review the nearly infinite experiences that each part of you was subjected to.

This way you would be the Alpha AND the Omega, beginning and end, yet leave the middle for the message board philosophers. What more could one ask for?

Of course, this theory (and its many ramifications) may have been induced by long nights filled with nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and the usual prolonged drunken discussions mentioned above. Someday I truly plan to write it all down and start a cult, as soon as I can figure out if it would be profitable

Why start a new one when you can join ours for free?

http://www.h2g2.com/A180802

Yea, and verily and so on.....

Vlad.

I had a look yesterday and you can count me in. You can send me my Amazon now. Thankyou.

By what name shall we know you?