How Do you Explain This?

[xlblinq]

a. How did we get here? (Origin)
b. What is our purpose, motivation?
c. How do we know what is true and what is not?
d. Why is there evil?
e. How do we overcome evil? How can we be happy?
f. What happens when we die? (destiny)

how do you explain it all?

[arksaapocrypha]

`A.We arrived on the starship Evolution.
B.To mate and make copies of ourselves like any biological organism.
C.Only things that you can experience firsthand are true.Other things may be true but you have to rely on other's data for proof.And even then it's up to you to accept same.
D.Evil is a human created term.To say it exists or not is mostly in the eye of the beholder.
E.See D,by not spending all your time focused on some cosmos driven purpose and making the most of your time in your life.
F.~game over~you are dead,like that dog you ran over.Your destiny,as it were,is to return to the star stuff from which you came.

Science is working on the answer day by day.Easy GOD like answers dating back thousands of years,are sadly for you obviously outdated and nothing more then crutches.

[invertedview (deleted)]

a. How did we get here? (Origin)
- We never "got here"... the universe just is... we just happen to have formed here

b. What is our purpose, motivation?
- There is no purpose; I'd say mankinds main goal simply to exist.

c. How do we know what is true and what is not?
- You can't "know" anything other than the fact you yourself exist, and that you perceive a whole bunch of things.

d. Why is there evil?
- There isn't

e. How do we overcome evil? How can we be happy?
- You can't overcome something that doesn't exist, I suggest smiling more

f. What happens when we die? (destiny)
- Nothing, that's it, you're dead... although I'm certain I've read somewhere that no "information" is ever lost in the universe (the reason nobody liked black holes for a long time was the lack of this fact - however Hawkins radiation accounted for this.. so in a way we continue to exist in what happens after us.

how do you explain it all?
- Recently I heard that planc's constant was found to be much larger than expected on earth, they explained this with an interesting theory. We only exist in two dimensions and everything we perceive is mealy an illusion or hologram. I'm not sure what this means, perhaps nothing, but perhaps it means this giant perspective change overturns a lot of our current thinking; however I am sure we can never explain everything until we can describe our universe accurately. Id say the universe has always existed in some form or another, and so I dont need it to have come from anywhere. I believe time could simply also be an illusion, I dont think there is anything we can do about these realisations other than have fun mulling them over and then going about our daily lives.

[m4no5]

arksaapocrypha wrote: `
C.Only things that you can experience firsthand are true.Other things may be true but you have to rely on other's data for proof.And even then it's up to you to accept same.
D.Evil is a human created term.To say it exists or not is mostly in the eye of the beholder.




C. Some say that even the experiences that you recieve firsthand can easily be an illusion due the fact that our brain is in control of all of our senses. How do we know what we are perceiving is true and not distorted by our brains?
D. I agree completely. We know evil exists only because we put that term to the defintion: outside societal norms, or morally wrong. But, that does not complete the actual defintion of evil, being that is morally wrong and all. What makes something wrong? What makes it morally wrong? Why do we have morals? Are morals universal?

[justwhatis (deleted)]

`1. The brain does not actually control the senses, it processes information from them. The brain organizes that information and translates it into our perceptions, but is also influenced by what we believe or know. The senses provide the information from the environment, but our brains interpret that information, give it meaning, according to our experience. A new born gets the sensory information from the senses but nothing makes "sense" because the baby has no ideas to organize the information into objects or people. The only way we can know how accurate our perceptions are is by comparing information from different sources and the knowledge we have. If our knowledge is distorted by beliefs contrary to what is real, then we will act on the fictions rather than reality. So our best hope is in using logic and scientific methods as far as they will take us, and recognize what science cannot tell us.

2. Society, especially the U.S. is very confused about morality because it fails to distinguish: a. essential requirements of human groups for survival, from b. customs and practices which are (or originally were) specific to a culture at a particular place and time, and those from c. ethical principles. We also use 4 different methods of judging: intent, action, consequences, and integrity. Morality is culturally based on rules (like the 10 commandments) which cover both religious requirements and social behavior. As such it is not suitable for all places and all times. The Golden Rule (reciprocity) remains the most common and useful injunction about human behavior. All societies depend on cooperation. If everyone lies, steals, and kills whenever they want, then there can be no trust for cooperation. So, we try to be honest, respect property, and not harm others because that is what we want from them. Of course, economic extremes (look up the French Revolution) where some have too much and others are starving, destroys cooperation. One rule covers most of the trouble we have and works with the Golden Rule: Never seek a personal gain at the expense of others.

3. "Evil" is a label, a value judgment, placed on things we fear, hate, or do not understand, especially where there is no compassion and there is a supernatural (or nearly so) intent to do harm.

If you have further comments or questions, send me an email.
JustWhatIs

[visionofprogres]

m4no5 wrote:
C. Some say that even the experiences that you recieve firsthand can easily be an illusion due the fact that our brain is in control of all of our senses. How do we know what we are perceiving is true and not distorted by our brains?


The problem with this proposition is that it's untestable and unfalsifiable. It sets up an unrealistic criteria that we can't gather any contrary evidence within this universe because advocates will just dismiss it as an illusion. So it's presupposing implicitly that there is an outside realm, which has not been demonstrated. Secondly, it exaggerates the conflict of hallucinations. Just because our brain is capable of hallucinating or fooling us some of the time doesn't mean it happens ALL the time. Thirdly, it's ironic that such a proposition is proposed when we're capable of actually studying perception errors and hallucinations. If all of this was really an illusion how are we able to distinguish what is real and what is illusory?

[sniprklr]

xlblinq wrote: a. How did we get here? (Origin)
b. What is our purpose, motivation?
c. How do we know what is true and what is not?
d. Why is there evil?
e. How do we overcome evil? How can we be happy?
f. What happens when we die? (destiny)

how do you explain it all?



A: Read up on Quantum Electromagnetic Physics..

b: anything tangible and provable is true.. Anything intangible or unprovable is untrue until proven to be true...

c: Evil doesn't actually have any relevance to the big picture of Existence as a whole. In existence there is only neutrality.. What happens happens regardless if it is for better or worse.. In essence, Unconditional love is of complete neutrality.. No expectation, conditions, morality, or demands to obedience are required.

D: you over come evil by realizing Our perception of evil is only relevant to ourselves.. Meaning it's relevance does not exist out side of human nature or human behavior... Evil. is developed as a defense mechanism to avoid what may threaten your well being, ideology, self identity, your life, or the the life of other human beings... Once you die, you escape any sense of the notion of evil..

You can become happy by being thankful for what you have and stop dwelling on what you don't have.. You can be happy knowing that no matter what you believe, there is always a purpose for why you are here.. To exist is to serve a purpose whether or not you are alive or dead..

f: You decay.. You thus get recycled and used to serve a different purpose.. A tree that is cut down does not go into non-existence.. It becomes firewood... The firewood is burned to heat your homes.. The ash forms new soil.. The co2 gives sustenance to other living organisms.. The purpose to exist is never lost or destroyed regardless if you are in pieces or as a whole..

[flaviusaetius]

invertedview wrote: a. How did we get here? (Origin)
- Nothing, that's it, you're dead... although I'm certain I've read somewhere that no "information" is ever lost in the universe (the reason nobody liked black holes for a long time was the lack of this fact - however Hawkins radiation accounted for this.. so in a way we continue to exist in what happens after us.


Information is lost all the time, you we're probably reading about radiation encoded information, that's how we took the picture of the baby universe since the radiation from the big bang is just reaching us, and that information can still be distorted.

Information traveling on sound waves is lost in a vacuum and the information that is chemically encoded on our brains will be lost once your neurons die. Even if the information is preserved it doesn't mean that we continue to exist, our identity is not made solely of information, just because you have the software on a CD doesn't mean that you can run it without the proper hardware.

[jesusfreak1979 (deleted)]

[deleted]

[dnaunion (deleted)]

` Quote:
a. How did we get here? (Origin)


Through evolution.

Humans are extant great apes descended from earlier, now-extinct great apes, with the chimpanzee and bonobo being our closest living relatives (then gorillas, then orangutans, then the lesser apes, etc.).


Quote:
b. What is our purpose, motivation?


Each of us can give ourselves a purpose and motivation: help the old, feed the poor, raise your children well, protect the environment, fight for justice and equality, and so on.


Quote:
c. How do we know what is true and what is not?


Ideally, by testing claims directly against reality.

That often is not possible, so indirect methods need to be used. Science is one of those. As Popper said, science gives us better and better approximations to the truth.

Although not perfect, science is the best method ever devised for increasing our understanding of life and the universe, and it has taught us more in the past 400 years than religion has in the past 10,000.


Quote:
d. Why is there evil?


Because there is not an all-powerful, all-knowing, morally flawless being.

The problem of evil is a (near?) refutation of ethical monotheism. Remove the assumption of its omnipotent, omniscient, morally perfect being and the problem of evil simply disappears.


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e. How do we overcome evil? How can we be happy?


“Overcome evil†is a vague, philosophical phrase. An analogous reply would be, “With goodnessâ€Â.

Happiness is a state of mind. There are people who most of us would be miserable were we to suffer from the same things they do, but they are happy.


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f. What happens when we die? (destiny)


We cease to exist.

Our bodies – including our brains, which are our minds (the mind is what the brain does) – decay over time, or are cremated.

[whollyheretic (deleted)]

`Lloyd Pye's essays give the most coherent scenario, covering all the important subjects. Lot of work went into it.

His essays can be downloaded from his website.

Poor man is really upset about being ignored by institutionalised science.

[gowdemon]

`A. We don't yet know how the 1st self replication molecule came to be, but if you are asking how as a species we are here, evolution explains it with evidence.

B. The purpose of life varies from person to person, its basically your passion, you are good at painting or passionate about it, become a painter. If you like educating people, become a teacher. Its about you interest, chase your dreams and leave this world a better place to live for the future.

C. We know what is true and what is not, with the help of evidence, critical thinking and reason. If something doesn't have any proper explanation or evidence to back it up, you can reject. End of the day, all that matters is truth.

D. Evil is something, that is found to be immoral in anyones perspective. A muslim doing a genital mutilation of his 5 year old girl may be called moral by him, but not by a thinking person. If anyones action brings suffering or pain to someone else it could be called something evil. Why is there evil? People are stupid and sometime do really insane things.

E. You just treat people the same way, how you want others to treat you. You should think for yourself and do things and make sure that it doesnt harm anyone. If everyone can do this, we can reduce evil to a great extent. Moral education plays a vital role in this.

F.There has been no evidence of our souls flying up to heaven, so we don't have to buy that. Our body stops functioning and our brain is dead. What really matters is, what you were doing when you were alive, if you have left a wonderful world for your future generation to live in, you will live forever in people's hearts.