Ultimate Goal Of Humanity

Wheeee · May 2004

<div class="IPBDescription">From the 'right of parents' thread</div> One thing I've noticed is that some people view the ultimate goal of humanity to be "mastery" of life, e.g. not having to worry about any problems - to make sure that sh*t DOESNT happen to people; the avoidance of all of life's nuisances.

I'm curious what other people think the ultimate goal of humanity is. For myself, I believe that the goal of humans is to find the truth, wherever it may lie.

Epidemic · May 2004

I dont believe in a specific goal - why would there be?
About the truth, I have been on this planet long enough to know the "truth" is fallacious and breaks entirely down to perception and criterias <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Dread · May 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Wheeee @ May 21 2004, 01:06 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> One thing I've noticed is that some people view the ultimate goal of humanity to be "mastery" of life, e.g. not having to worry about any problems - to make sure that sh*t DOESNT happen to people; the avoidance of all of life's nuisances.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Where's the fun in that? If you never have any setbacks, you'll never feel the victories of life? You need darkness to see light <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Wheeee · May 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Epidemic @ May 21 2004, 06:09 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I dont believe in a specific goal - why would there be?
</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
Well, there probably is one, because otherwise statements like "scientific progress is good" and "we need to preserve nature for the benefit of our children" would be meaningless.

NeonSpyder · May 2004

the ultimate goal of humanity is just that. there is no 'set' goal for human-kind we are in the process of setting goals for ourself in order to either justify outselves in our own eyes (humanity as a whole) or because we can... because we want to alter things... the desire to become our own masters and the masters of all around us.

eventually the universe will succumb to entropy, or implode or whatnot. and i honestly beleive that humanity will solve it somehow... possibly by creating another universe, because at the current rate of our evolution our technology level and growth as a species will accelerate much faster then entropy could limit us by. of course this is all speculation and if something catastrophic were to happen before we were ready to deal with it, such as a meteor or deadly virus (even though humanity is nearing the level where we can alter such happenings)

its looking goooooood for humanity.

Sephiroth2k · May 2004

The goal of humanity is to survive. Plain and simple. There will always be fighting and wars, and violence because not everybody has the same opion as everyone else. If we can outlive the other species and the natural disasters that will happen in the future, than more power to us. Humans LIVE, and thats all there is to it.

[edit]..Yeah and they die too.[/edit]

Rue · May 2004

Humans are animals, albeit very evolved animals. One of our most basic instincst is to have children. This is because an individual humans goal in life it to keep the species alive

The goal for the whole of humanity is what ever you belive it is as nothing is set in stone when it comes to determining our lifes.

If there was a 'goal' for humanity then when we get to this point what will happen? Just kill everyone and let earth start again?

UltimaGecko · May 2004

I think the ultimate goal of humanity is to be able to obtain a perfectly leisurely life: A life where they only thing you need to do is what you want. Once you get there, its up to the individual and not the species as a hole.

Then, instead of: a powersource that can power the planet!
We get: a beautiful piece of art that can impress the significant other of my dreams.

We'd basically all become Hedonists, but we'd have the technology to maintain it without discomfort for everyone. So I guess in the end it all leads back through procreation in some form. This could even mean we all live in our own little virtual worlds where we have perfectly simulated worlds and AI where the world is exactly how we want it. Maybe with a big computer that's searching all the people in the world for two personalities that match for procreation based on how we act in the VR world.

It'd kindof be like the matrix, only made by humans for humans, and still involving sex. I think a world with no <i>required</i> work would be awesome.

...maybe it's just me.

Of course, there would be some people who like work, and they like doing cool stuff. So aside from machines designed to do menial tasks, people that want to explore can travel around space and take in the sights, map out habitable planets and stuff (considering there's billions, if not trillions of stars, I think most people would be busy for a while). And some people designing more efficient machines, people learning to grow food faster - not because they need to, but because they want to.

I think it makes sense (even if you wanted a slightly different application instead of a 'matrix' sortof world, just take a 'time machine (by HG Wells)' approach - minus the Morlocks.

Cronos · May 2004

That world has already been created. Read a few of the works by Asimov, I forget the novel precisely but he mentions a world called "Solaria".

Solaria, a colony formed by earth, was essentially the paradise you described. Beuatiful and wondrous. All the work was done by robots and the humans dedicated themselves to artistic pursuits.

However, such a society becomes stagnant. There is no improvement, there is no will to improve. The people forget how things work, they just do, and if they break down? What then? Science essentially becomes religion as the people put their faith into the workings of which must be divine objects (for they could never understand something so complex). We do it to a small degree today. I dont understand how my computer works, I just trust it to. However, I am willing to learn and am actively pursuing to see how it works because that is my wish. A society like Solaria does not have the will to learn because they do not need to. Robots do ALL the work. They do the farming, the fixing, the cleaning, the bedmaking, they even do the reproduction (artificial insemination you tools <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />).

The people of Solaria did have their quirks, for example, a population of 10000 inhabited Solaria, a planet the size of the earth, whilst 6 Billion huddled in caves of steel on Earth. Solarians were repulsed violently by the merest physical prescence of another human being.

Unless this hedonistic society has something to prevent outright stagnation of both culture and science it's just as flawed as ours, sorry <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' />.

h4x_baseball · May 2004

I think it's to "not die".

Bogglesteinsky · May 2004

This is one of those questyions that science cannot answer. People start imagining all sorts of wierd and wonderful things that look good on the outside, yet, when you come down to the basics, the whole things is terrible.

Wheee's (and UltimaGecko's) idea, the mastery of life. As Dread seai, where is the fun in that? He is right. It would be boring. It is the little accidents and the big disasters that make life so precious. Taking life for granted would lead to people employing other, more extreme methods of getting adrenaline rushes, to get the feeling back again. There would be no drive to push forward, something else that makes life exciting. Whenever you hear of a new invention or a new discovery, you think "wow". Without that, without the drive to discover and invent, life would not be worth living. It would have no meaning at all.

Mr Baseball's idea of "not to die" is just rediculous. Do you honestly think that humans will one day master death? The one thing that has been holding us back since the dawn of time? Such a world would be unhabitable. In a world without death, there would be no consequences of your actions. There would always be another day to say sorry, another day to fix something. Everybody would become lazy. The catchphrase would be "I'll do it tommorrow". Humans seem to be naturally lazy. "Why do today what you can put off 'till tommorrow?" With no consequences, this would be the world's mantra. Nothng would get done. And of course the world would fill up with people being born and never dying, until there is no space left to swing a cat.

No thanks.

Ultimate Goal Of Humanity

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