Can an Atheist Answer These?

[shoewindow3000]

1.) Why is it that every form of life on this planet has a basic, fundamental desire to avoid death at all costs?

2.) Why does a species want to reproduce?

3.) What is the point of continuing on, of ensuring that the next generation comes into existence? Is it to be remembered? If it is to be remembered, why ?

• For what reason?*
  Why does a species like a virus have the same desire to survive that say, a human, or a sunflower has?

In other words, why does every species of life on earth want to perpetuate itself?

 

[AnAtheist]

In other words, why does every species of life on earth want to perpetuate itself?

Because that is what, among other thing, defines “life”.

 

[rossum]

1.) Why is it that every form of life on this planet has a basic, fundamental desire to avoid death at all costs?

2.) Why does a species want to reproduce?

3.) What is the point of continuing on, of ensuring that the next generation comes into existence? Is it to be remembered? If it is to be remembered, why ?

• For what reason?*
  Why does a species like a virus have the same desire to survive that say, a human, or a sunflower has?

In other words, why does every species of life on earth want to perpetuate itself?

Consider two species: the Farnicaters and the Calibotes. The Farnicaters are ‘farnicating’ almost all the time and producing lots and lots of little Farnicators. The Calibotes are much more interested in other things, and only produce a few new young Calibotes. After a few generations there are a great many Farnicators and very few Calibotes. With the Farnicators eating much of the available food the Calibotes continue to decline and go extinct.

Remember that every single one of your ancestors succeeded in reproducing. Any organism that died without reproducing has no descendants living today. That is a very strong filter - reproduce or go extinct. Every living organism today has DNA that comes from a very long line of successful reproducers - Farnicaters. DNA that did not succeed in reproducing - Calibotes - is no longer with us.

This is a weak question to ask since in this case the evolutionary mechanism is very obvious.

rossum

 

[Spock]

Consider two species: the Farnicaters and the Calibotes. The Farnicaters are ‘farnicating’ almost all the time and producing lots and lots of little Farnicators. The Calibotes are much more interested in other things, and only produce a few new young Calibotes. After a few generations there are a great many Farnicators and very few Calibotes. With the Farnicators eating much of the available food the Calibotes continue to decline and go extinct.

It is not nice to make a post so funny that the reader will spill his morning coffee all over his keyboard, from an uncontrollable laughing fit! But it was worth it!!! Thank you!

 

[shoewindow3000]

Consider two species: the Farnicaters and the Calibotes. The Farnicaters are ‘farnicating’ almost all the time and producing lots and lots of little Farnicators. The Calibotes are much more interested in other things, and only produce a few new young Calibotes. After a few generations there are a great many Farnicators and very few Calibotes. With the Farnicators eating much of the available food the Calibotes continue to decline and go extinct.

Remember that every single one of your ancestors succeeded in reproducing. Any organism that died without reproducing has no descendants living today. That is a very strong filter - reproduce or go extinct. Every living organism today has DNA that comes from a very long line of successful reproducers - Farnicaters. DNA that did not succeed in reproducing - Calibotes - is no longer with us.

This is a weak question to ask since in this case the evolutionary mechanism is very obvious.

rossum

You are answering the how, but I want to know the WHY!!!

WHY does a creature fear death? WHY does a species try to avoid its extinction?
Why not just simply die out?

 

[Spock]

You are answering the how, but I want to know the WHY!!!

WHY does a creature fear death? WHY does a species try to avoid its extinction?
Why not just simply die out?

Bacause it is a biological imperative to maintain homeostasis. There is no “why” there. You could ask (equally incorrectly): “why is the water wet”? Or: “why is it that the virtual size of the Moon is about the same as the virtual size of the Sun?”. These are nonsensical questions.

 

[rossum]

You are answering the how, but I want to know the WHY!!!

WHY does a creature fear death? WHY does a species try to avoid its extinction?
Why not just simply die out?

You are anthropomorphising too much. A bacterial species does not “fear” death, it has no brain to sense any emotions with. Much of the action of a bacterium is purely chemical. An insect species does not “fear” death. An insect has a brain, but that brain is extremely simple and is pretty much a compendium of instinctual responses insufficiently developed to feel emotions. Where a brain is sufficiently developed for a species to be able to feel fear, then that fear will develop in such a way as to enhance the probability of reproduction. A fearless rabbit that ignores the presence of a fox is not going to have many offspring. A fearful rabbit that avoids foxes will on average make more rabbits.

rossum

 

[tonyrey]

Because it is a biological imperative to maintain homeostasis.

That is not an explanation but a description. It does not advance our understanding. What is the precise cause of a biological imperative? Is there any reason why homeostasis should be maintained?

 

[tonyrey]

Much of the action of a bacterium is purely chemical.
rossum

What else?

 

[tonyrey]

Because that is what, among other thing, defines “life”.

A definition is not an explanation…

 

[DavidHume]

You are answering the how, but I want to know the WHY!!!

WHY does a creature fear death? WHY does a species try to avoid its extinction?
Why not just simply die out?

The species that die out aren’t around today for you to question their “motives.”

(Species don’t “try” to avoid their extinction – like being a Jedi, it is either do or do not. There us no try. As for individual animals’ fear responses, that has already been covered.)

 

[liquidpele]

1.) Why is it that every form of life on this planet has a basic, fundamental desire to avoid death at all costs?

2.) Why does a species want to reproduce?

3.) What is the point of continuing on, of ensuring that the next generation comes into existence? Is it to be remembered? If it is to be remembered, why ?

• For what reason?*
  Why does a species like a virus have the same desire to survive that say, a human, or a sunflower has?

In other words, why does every species of life on earth want to perpetuate itself?

I’ll answer your questions with more questions, because I get the feeling you have not thought about it hard enough yourself. Discovery doesn’t come from accepting answers from others.

1. Why does a female praying mantis kill the male after mating?
2. Why do some species go extinct?
3. Why does the sun continue to shine after all this time? What are it’s motives in doing that? Why are it’s motives the same as the moon for shining but yet it shines more brightly than the moon?

 

[AnAtheist]

A definition is not an explanation…

Well, that’s right, but the question is a sophisticated version of “why are blue balls not red?”
If something does not have the capability to reproduce, it does not live. As it was already mentioned, the urge to reproduce is a selection advantage in evolution, in other words those lifeforms live “better”.

 

[eichenb2]

There are Why questions and How questions. They are related but not identical. The main problem, that I see, in this thread is that people are talking past each other. I can only speculate as to why that is so. We ask WHY questions to get real answers to the questions of how we ought to live. We ask HOW questions so that we can better understand the natural that affect us everyday and attempt to improve our quality of life. Both type of questioning are valid and useful. HOW questions are usually called science and WHY questions are called metaphysics or philosophy.
The WHY questions are NOT answered by giving facts observer and measured by our sciences. The HOW questions are adequately address by the sciences. However, we should not do scientific inquiry with an eye to preserving metaphysical doctrines. Likewise, we should not restrict our metaphysical WHY questions, so as to preserve a dogmatic scientific naturalism that is purely phenomanological.
I heard an Oxford Chemist illustrate the HOW vs. WHY distinction by saying that science tells us that giving strychnine to your grandmother will kill her. However, science will not tell us whether we should give it to her.

 

[shoewindow3000]

I can’t make it any more simple…

Let me explain it this way:

Why does life want to continue?

Why the effort?

(This has nothing to do with non-living objects.)

It is a simple question-Stop dodging around it!

Answer me this question:

Why Exist?

 

[liquidpele]

I can’t make it any more simple…

Let me explain it this way:

Why does life want to continue?

(This has nothing to do with non-living objects.)

It is a simple question-Stop dodging around it!

Answer me this question:

Why Exist?

Dodging it? It’s been answered about as clearly as it can be answered. I think the problem is that you want some kind of higher purpose as the answer. Get rid of your preconceived notions and re-read the posts above. You may also want to consider the Anthropic Principal.

 

[hatsoff]

I can’t make it any more simple…

Let me explain it this way:

Why does life want to continue?

Why the effort?

(This has nothing to do with non-living objects.)

It is a simple question-Stop dodging around it!

Answer me this question:

Why Exist?

If you mean this the way I think you do, then the answer is, there is no reason. There is no purpose. We and every other species exist because that’s just what happened to happen.

 

[shoewindow3000]

If you mean this the way I think you do, then the answer is, there is no reason. There is no purpose. We and every other species exist because that’s just what happened to happen.

What I was looking for was how an atheist would justify the necessity to for a living creature to exert any energy or effort to exist.

At least* your* answered it honestly!

 

[shoewindow3000]

What I am looking for is the answer to this question:

(Just out of curiosity)

Does an atheist justify the necessity for a living creature to exert *any *energy or effort to exist?

If so, how?

 

[eichenb2]

The species that die out aren’t around today for you to question their “motives.”

(Species don’t “try” to avoid their extinction – like being a Jedi, it is either do or do not. There us no try. As for individual animals’ fear responses, that has already been covered.)

However, homosapiens differ from other species, fundamentally. My proof is this thread. Human ask why and distinguish between what is and what ought to be. If our brains are simply a result of many years of successive levels of evolution, why should we trust that there is any coherence to our “science”. Also, why should we trust scientific theories that are forming by a consciousness that may not be fully evolved. Perhaps we are like Tim Robbins character in the movie “Jacob’s Ladder”; laboring under the delusion of rationality.