Or that we even have a purpose?

What makes us so much more important than a virus? The only real difference is that we kill planets, not people.

We think we're so much more important because we have minds and we can use them, so we think we know everything about anything. I think an easier and more sensible lifestyle to lead is to just be, and not try to put ourselves above another person, or a tree, or a rock, or a virus. We're just bags of meat.

That's why I'm not religious, I think it's egotistical to think we hold any more importance over these things.

I agree with you.

Your post was typed on a computer Man built. You wrote in a language Man created, with dextrous skills Man utilized, thinking with a thought process Man is learning to master, using electrical power channeled by Man. The building that you've been typing in was built by Man. You're wearing clothes sewn by Man, with fibers that were crafted by Man, produced in grand quantities by Man. You eat food harvested by Man, you use common household items created by Man, you take medicine chemically surmised by Man, using properties of physics discovered and applied by Man. You're probably going to drive a car built by Man, or fly a plane created by Man, or sail on a boat made by Man, or jump on a train created by Man, using oil drilled and siphoned by Man, going to a job created by Man, to earn money created by Man, to buy other things created by Man. You'll sleep in a bed made by Man, you'll wake up in a room built by Man, you'll walk on roads paved by Man, you'll go to school institutionalized by Man, you'll smoke cigarettes produced by Man, you'll chew gum synthesized by Man. You'll watch movies shot by Man, you'll play sports invented by Man - you'll probably masturbate to a pair of breasts made by Man.

You were raised in a religion created by Man. You'll become interested in a particular school of philosophy devised by Man. You'll go through the day abiding by a time system calculated by Man, identifying your week according to a solar calendar invented by Man, and all throughout your life, you'll be thinking of severely personal existential questions and crises using a theoretical and metaphysical construction of actions, reactions, and surmisings of consciousness made possible by the creations of Man.

You show me a penguin that can pull that off, and I'll show you the most important fucking penguin in the world.

We are important to ourselves and to our world for a short time period. But on any large scale we don't matter a bit.

Those are all very nice achievements but utterly irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. The only reason they are important is because we assign importance to them. Comparing the achievments of penguins to that of man is the ultimate example of apples and oranges. Show a penguin a man that can swim naked in the arctic catching fish with his mouth alone and the penguin will see the most important man in the world.

All of our achievements are only important when viewed from the interior perspective of our own existence. When viewed from an exterior perspective they become irrelevant.

Does any other perspective matter? I am important to myself, and as I will always only be myself my importance as ranked by someone else is irrelevant.

If that is true then egoism is obviously the only motivation to believe in the importance of humanity.

Therefore it is egotistical to believe in the importance of humanity.

[This message has been edited by FunkyZombie (edited 11-03-2005).]

I don't think it's arrogant to think humans are important, unless you believed that we are the only thing that is important. I think it's necessary for us to see ourselves as important, or else we would would go around killing eachother, and nobody would have a problem with it. I don't think we are the most important organism, we couldn't even exist without something as small as insects. Insects carry out more important duties on earth than we do. Every single organism plays a key integral role in our ecosystem, and they're all important.

quote:Originally posted by FunkyZombie:

If that is true then egoism is obviously the only motivation to believe in the importance of humanity.

Therefore it is egotistical to believe in the importance of humanity.

I suppose, but I dislike calling it that; doesn't "egotistical" imply irrationality?