From: Lyle Burkhead (LYBRHED@delphi.com)
Date: Tue Jul 30 1996 - 02:57:07 MDT
Eric Watt Forste writes,
> Human beings have diverse purposes, but I see no evidence that
> the cosmos has a purpose. To attribute a single purpose to
> cosmic evolution is IMHO an inaccurate anthropomorphism.
At some point (soon) we are going to take charge of our own evolution.
It will be directed toward some goal. It is true that different people will
have different purposes, at least for awhile. I'm not sure this situation
will be stable, however. The Darwinian competition is going to turn
rather vicious, and people with frivolous goals may not survive.
> I doubt that your "complete vision" is attainable, because such a
> complete vision would have to make manifest all causal relations
> *including* the causal chains that pass through the internals of the
> people "having" the complete vision.
Ok. Your point is well argued. I may have to give up the word
"complete." As Freeman Dyson says, the universe is infinite in all
directions. I agree that this fact is a source of deep joy.
However, I am speaking of a vision that I have already seen on several
occasions; at least I got a glimpse of it. There are many questions in
my mind about how to characterize it, but no question about whether it
is real, or whether it is worth pursuing.
Lyle
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