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Re:Six Signs of Scientism (2009) [pdf] by shrimp_emoji on Sunday May 10, 2020 @01:55PM (#23134553)
Maybe humans are some of the only animals smart enough to put other things above survival.

Is spending eternity in the cramped room of Paleolithic life satisfying? (And by "eternity" I guess I mean the remaining lifetime of the Sun or biosphere[0].)

To me, it's not. I'd rather sacrifice my basic survival and that of the whole species for something greater. (Especially since "survival" is a zero-sum, doomed goal in the long-run anyway.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbbwrfp9toE&feature=youtu.be... unironically. xD

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future#Fut...

Re:Six Signs of Scientism (2009) [pdf] by zkmon on Sunday May 10, 2020 @02:10PM (#23134672)
Satisfaction and happiness were wrong goals! Producing mutations that can fit better was the only goal. After pursuing the wrong goals, you can't prove whether today's life is more satisfying or happier than paleolithic life. By evolution standards, the humans are weaker now (due to dependencies on many things) than ever.
Re:Six Signs of Scientism (2009) [pdf] by varjag on Sunday May 10, 2020 @03:34PM (#23135401)
Evolution has no standards.
Re:Six Signs of Scientism (2009) [pdf] by zkmon on Sunday May 10, 2020 @06:05PM (#23136717)
you know what I meant. Biologically, human got less capable, less fit into the ecosystem and less tolerable for changes. That's how evolution measures the progress of a species.
Re:Six Signs of Scientism (2009) [pdf] by varjag on Tuesday May 12, 2020 @03:22AM (#23151352)
What I mean is you are attributing virtue to an emergent process. Evolution doesn't care, and survival in primordial forest is not any more "important" metric than existence elsewhere, elsehow.

Either way the human species are perhaps the most successful in fitness and survival of all thus far.