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Is the universe itself evil?
Noted atheist PZ Myers, in a recent blog post, wrote, "Evil is simply anti-human, and most of the universe is against us." (http://bit.ly/dA8I6x ) This was a quick reply to the question of why there is evil, asked by a believer. What do you think of it? Do you agree or disagree with the quote, and with his assessment of evil? He probably did not mean that the universe itself was literally evil, but it is true that the overwhelmingly vast majority of the universe is extremely hostile to life. Thoughts?
2 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
I had very similar thoughts while studying entropy. Here we are, little beings just full of information, and our environment, the universe, which makes us possible, is seemingly seeking a cold, lifeless uniformity. It's as if we are little Olympians fighting and scratching and clawing to keep the pieces together, keep the information flowing, keep the life and the warmth alive on our little planet. It really is as if we were hideous, unnatural, monstrosities to the universe, as we pass down these codes like little floppy disks through time.
So the evil he speaks of isn't evil from a moral perspective that most of us would auto assume when we hear the word, but more just, an anti-life, the opposite of life. For me, number eight, morality, isn't nonexistent or unreal. The way I've discovered my morality goes right along these lines and I don't think I could separate my morality from this view of life/anti-life. I don't know why, or how, or for how long, but it is miraculous that I am here and to not value the things that will allow life to flourish IS immoral to me.
The vastness of space, it's cold, cradling yet lifeless arms stretch out all around us, and we have two choices...we can push for life/information/continuity or we can push for death/cold/uniformity.
Also, that minds aren't isolated. That's exactly it. We are a brain, which is isolated, and will remain isolated until enough continuity has created systems through which we can communicate to create an environment in which our inner worlds can affect our environments. That kind of environment is as valuable as the mind itself that seeks outward. They are inextricable. So both an individual human life and a society in which that life can communicate are what is needed to have LIFE as we mean human life. All else is immoral to me.
- ?Lv 71 decade ago
The universe is us.
It is both for our continued existence and against it, depending on the forces in the situations.
I would say, for the most part, the universe is for us. There are planets so that life might exist on them. All life requires conditions to exist in, these are planets.
If the universe is against us, than that is because a destructive force is inhibiting our creation of ourselves. There are two things to be done to all destructive forces that are incoming, or inevitable consequences to face, that aren't being used by us, eliminate them, or have them eliminate us.
I once asked, what would Christians do if they saw an asteroid coming. They said, "wait for it to hit, and pray to Jesus." Or some lines along that line. If an asteroid is coming at us, and we don't have the technology to destroy it, that is our own fault, because we could have erected such technology. Take robots that detect such things, and than fly out to destroy them.
I think most are turned off to how life interacts with its environment, and what can be done about it. And because of this I find myself constantly battling it out to learn more, while others circle around in there removed and alienated ideas about what they are.
The universe is the Tao.