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Our Purpose?

United States Pckts Offline
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#1
( This post was last modified: 03-03-2015, 12:22 AM by Pckts )

I occasionally think as to why we evolved to be the way we are. Why we strive to constantly gain knowledge and grow as a species.
This thread is for anybody who wants to share their idea as to why we evolved to be "human."

I'll get it started,

I think mankind has evolved as a protector to Mother earth and even the universe. I think that while we destroyed and harmed the earth early on, we are now growing and becoming more global and universally aware of the repercussions and the actions needed to fix our mistakes and make it better. I think we actually needed to make those massive mistakes to learn as much as we have as well as get actual evidence to help us grow. I think we are the earth's "Protector," if you look at the earth as a mother to us all, then maybe she gave us the ability to protect her from lets say (asteroids, global warming, supernovas etc.) All normal things that happen in our universe but cause the "death" of a planet. Maybe if we look at the earth as a supreme being, her goal is to survive. Like a queen ant, she cannot do it alone, she needs "soldiers" who will protect her because it also protects themselves. The true solider doesn't do it for monitory value but rather for the betterment of themselves and their "family and home."
Its just a theory but that is more or less my feeling about the most asked question
"What is our Purpose?"
 
I would love to hear anybody else's hypothesis' or theories as well.
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India sanjay Offline
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#2
( This post was last modified: 03-26-2015, 11:44 PM by sanjay )

I think, Human being is nothing but most intelligent creature of its time. Just like dinosaurs rules their time on earth and at that time they were most successful and intelligent creature, we are intelligent creature of the time being.

I also doubt on the intelligence of human being. Its we (human) who have declared ourselves the most intelligent creature on planet, Why ? Because we think our brain work better than other, we live better than other creature. The science and art we know and discovered are done by us and its correct.
We made a lot of thing with the brain we developed, Like wheel, cycle, car, airplane, train, mobile, tv, satellite, telescope, lot of electrical gadget that made human life much easier. BUT does this really prove we are most intelligent creature on earth ? I think relative to us (human being) its true, but relative to other species of universe ????

I can not recall any creation of human being which has helped in evolution of any other creature except some medicine for animals. Non of the inventions of human have helped the nature to evolve better. All these invention only benefited to human only and these benefit is defined by us, not the universal.

For me, we are self declared intelligent creature. Our intelligence is defined by ourselves. We, like other creature are limited by our surrounding phenomenon.

May be, the science and knoweldge we have are correct only to our domain. Visible, usable and understandable to only in our domain ? May be some other creature use their own defined science and art, which make them think themselves as most intelligence creature, may be their intelligence is different than us ?

Our purpose is to live and rule the earth (according to our intelligence definition) in this never ending process of universe for some period of time. I am sure we will be replaced by some other, when our time will end.

The above thought is my personnel and totally hypothetical, just my deep view of life.
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United States Pckts Offline
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#3

I definitely agree about intellegence.
I think its a factor that may not necessarily be measurable. The success of a creature or species may be the greatest indicator of intellegence but thats purely speculation.

I like to think that since Humans are the only creature that have the means to look beyond their home planet, maybe we can stop catastrophic events from raining down from the solar system. Wether that actually helps the earth as a hole, who knows?
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United Kingdom Spalea Offline
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#4

The human race is perhaps the most intelligent animal species of the planet.
But the human intelligence is particular by the fact it can be leaded by the error. The man is the only one living specie who can make a mistake. The instinct, the instinct of self preservation never makes some mistake: the animal species survive or not the environment evolutions. The human intelligence allows to turn the planet upside down, allows to make us believe that we can substitude the human law for the nature law. And of course this is bullshit... Mankind is the supreme error, the supreme anomaly of the natural life history on Earth. We are the evolution accident. With regard to the natural history of life we are the supreme error, the sixth ecological catastrophe, I believe, after, among others, the permo-triasic collapse, the ended cretaceous global extinction, the end glaciations extinction of the quaternary era. The only differents with the previous ones is the fact that this time, our specy is the catastroph.
Sorry: this is what I think about the human intelligence, our "beautiful particularity"... OK we can deligth in artistic and spiritual disciplins. The human genius exists (Leonard de Vinci, Michelangelio, and so on...) but, strictly individual, depends on the individual person, but globally what we call formated human intelligence (rapacity and speculation of the white men) is a catastrophe, the supreme failure.
Sorry too: my english is very far from perfect. I am also a failure.
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India brotherbear Offline
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#5

~~For those who believe as I do, the answer is clear. God ( Jehovah ) placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Their job was to look after and preserve the flora and fauna therein. Of course, we all know that Adam and Eve were disobedient. But, God's plan for us was made clear. thus it shall be in Paradise. Some early anthropologist gave humanity the name Homo sapien ( wise man ). He was wrong. We are ( inventive man ) but not so wise.
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United States Pckts Offline
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#6

@Spalea 
That is a interesting outlook. 
The rebutal I would say to that is this...
Does evolution make a mistake?
Is there such a think as "right and wrong" when talking about evolution?

 
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India brotherbear Offline
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#7

first of all, I feel the need to say that I do not expect anyone to agree or disagree with my beliefs. They are what they are. I believe in the Biblical God and I believe that evolution was and is his method of building life. 'Nuff said.
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United Kingdom Spalea Offline
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#8

@Pckts : I don't want to judge a concept, an idea, "The evolution" even if I cannot doubt about its reality. The evolution suggest a large range of choices. a piece of luck makes the rest. I don't want or I don't be able, to judge the evolution, I, human of little or even no faith, judge and qualify the global human action on Earth as being catastrophic.
And I am sure that, after the human reign, an other superior form of life or an other animal specy will succeed.
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United States Polar Offline
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#9

In my honest opinion, humans exist to live like any other form of life. There are no superior or inferior beings, this idea only happens in our mindset. We like to think of ourselves superior beings simply because we have a "growing" society. 

However, most of these societies usually benefit the ones who control/make/abuse them, thus there will always be people who are severely abused/demoralized/abused by society. This isn't a good mark for a species which initially evolved to be social.

We aren't smarter than any other animal in total, but we are surely smarter in a very different way: hominids innovate and invent things that no other animals can, but a predator can sneak in ways a hominid of any kind can't comprehend. We are smarter differently.

If one chooses to protect nature, then so be it. If others choose to abide by an unlawful society, then so be it. If a rare group of people choose to evolve as carnivores, and will risk dying to do so, then so be it.

We can interpret our existance in any way we want to, regardless of species, mental ability, or social outstanding.
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United Kingdom Sully Offline
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#10

There is no way to define intelligence, it has so many braches. What's right, what's wrong. Surely someone wouldn't do something if they didn't think it was right, but then it's defined as wrong by some. Is it intelligent to create rights and wrongs, or laws? Different mindsets and perspectives...etc. Great philosophical question though.
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United States Polar Offline
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#11

Stumbled here; still stand with my previous opinion with a slight change.

My opinion of the human purpose or "human experience" is one that coincided much more with more natural, hunter-gatherer type of societies instead of urbanized, agricultural societies. Less reliance on technology, more self-confidence to get things done, more strength (mental and physical) and other physical attributes, and much more empathy and association within human beings. Things as we see today (economics systems and the "government"), is not at all conductive to natural, normal human behavior, and there definitely is a natural and normal behavior that humans have in general. I think we have a shared relationship with nature; we eat off of it while giving back much like any other animal.

Besides that...we can either eat potato chips while guzzling unnecessary daily stresses, or get out and live life (improving physically/mentally). Right now, I am at the former and will be at the latter after university graduation.
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Canada Charan Singh Offline
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#12

(03-03-2015, 12:21 AM)Pckts Wrote: I occasionally think as to why we evolved to be the way we are. Why we strive to constantly gain knowledge and grow as a species.
This thread is for anybody who wants to share their idea as to why we evolved to be "human."

I'll get it started,

I think mankind has evolved as a protector to Mother earth and even the universe. I think that while we destroyed and harmed the earth early on, we are now growing and becoming more global and universally aware of the repercussions and the actions needed to fix our mistakes and make it better. I think we actually needed to make those massive mistakes to learn as much as we have as well as get actual evidence to help us grow. I think we are the earth's "Protector," if you look at the earth as a mother to us all, then maybe she gave us the ability to protect her from lets say (asteroids, global warming, supernovas etc.) All normal things that happen in our universe but cause the "death" of a planet. Maybe if we look at the earth as a supreme being, her goal is to survive. Like a queen ant, she cannot do it alone, she needs "soldiers" who will protect her because it also protects themselves. The true solider doesn't do it for monitory value but rather for the betterment of themselves and their "family and home."
Its just a theory but that is more or less my feeling about the most asked question
"What is our Purpose?"
 
I would love to hear anybody else's hypothesis' or theories as well.

I think this is nice start to the thread  and is exactly what I think, but adding a few points to same and few point raised in the thread replies.

As it has been correctly said, "economics and governments are nothing but man made concepts", further evolution is nothing but the results of the previous actions and will of the animals to be better (Karma in one word) - example: why the length of elephant's nose (trunk) is long? Because elephants felt the need for long noses and worked towards it and chose sexual partners accordingly to this requirement. Going by the same concept, Elephants in Africa has realised that they being hunted (proached) for tusk and now slowing tusk are getting smaller and at times some elephants don't have tusk at all (few years of humans action have brought about evolutionary change).

I'm giving few links to support the statement made above.

https://www.awf.org/blog/going-tuskless
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/anima...or-change/

Now, coming back to the question - 

In my view, purpose of life is to reproduce and give a better future of next generation, and attain salvation.

To salvation, I'll come later.

We humans are no different than any other living being and our life has same value as that of any other living being. Just like any other animal life revolves around copulation and then raising the young ones, in same way humans life does (passing the gene). The way elephants are now  making a evolution in by shrinking their tusk, humans evolved by changing their thinking and becoming more efficient via making new tools so much so that we are now challenging not only human limits to adapt to these tools & to consequences of humans actions (which were ironically made to assist us) but all other living being are having to do same. 

Humans needed to bigger brain because humans weren't fast or physically strong enough compared same sized animals and growth is way to slow, babies are nursing for 3 years, too much dependency on other humans. But having bigger brain become a boon, and we wandered off too far and expanded our control to all known horizons. Here comes the twist, humans used their trait to no limits and here we are. Since we have bigger brains we take more decisions but our decisions aren't limited to our need but to make our current life more convenient, but are far stretched in wrong direction. Tools (humans inventions), we are making give us small time satisfaction but give pain in long term and this pain isn't restricted to us but to all living being.  
 
Since, we are thinking animals and can certainly foresee the consequences of our actions yet we go on and take decisions that aren't overall beneficial example 5G, it'll have very strong radiations which impacts over health adversely and small birds can't survive it - yet most of us are looking forward to it instead of looking for alternate solutions.

I agree with @Polar, except for so be it part and believe as @Pckts said responsibility comes to humans to strike a balance between us, other living being and nature. We need to start with amending our catastrophic mistakes. Problem we have, right now, is "so be it thinking", and allowing others to do what they do, not judging others. Judgment is a trait nature provided us, just like intelligence. Problem with judgement is that we start condemning other humans instead of educating them about the consequence and reasoning ourselves, education system needs to be changed for the same. 

This type of living - using our intelligence, judgement, morality and ethics gives us the Salvation. Salvation is nothing but living a life such that we experience minimum pain - not only humans but all living being and sources of life (earth, sun and air) aren't impacted negatively, and salvation has to here on earth, not in heaven or in afterlife or in next life.

Salvation and this lifestyle are the bases of all religions of the world - giving back what we take from universe and striking a balance with universe. Pain is inevitable but certainly it can be minimised by changing our lifestyle and thoughts.
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