Thank you again for these responses.
Regarding evolution, a topic on which I am a layman so I enjoy the discussion and chance to learn, I would say that I do not claim to know where evolution is headed, but in an atheistic worldview I would speculate it is going no where, There is no meaning or purpose objectively embedded into the universe and thus the process of evolution would not have a goal in mind (there is no mind to have a goal). I certainly don't claim to know what evolution is 'up to'; I believe that it can't be up to anything. It just is.
If this is correct, and I honestly want to be wrong, then the participation in the evolutionary struggle is as meaningless as the evolutionary struggle itself. Being corrected that I do not pass on mental illness but rather the predisposition to mental illness (thank you for the correction), I still find that it follows if one does not subjectively value suffering than those whose genes highly predispose progeny to severe physical defects or mental illness should not be encouraged to reproduce.
It has been mentioned that social darwinism is irrational and abhorrent by another commenter in this thread. I, too, used to hold these positions. I earnestly want to be shown how this is so. I want to be wrong. Yet, merely claiming that I am mentally ill and thus the position is compromised does not constitute demonstrating how these claims are invalid. That is, respectfully, an ad hominem. I am mentally ill, depressed, but I can still be right about claims and I believe, until shown otherwise, that these claims are correct.
Whateverist, thank you for the video. I must confess that most of this went a bit over my head and I wasn't able to ascertain the point. Can you perhaps summarize the post for me? Also, you mentioned that I was given the 'purpose in my creation' to serve. In an atheistic worldview, how can you find purpose beyond something subjective? That is, I do not have a purpose as the existence precedes the essence.
Regarding evolution, a topic on which I am a layman so I enjoy the discussion and chance to learn, I would say that I do not claim to know where evolution is headed, but in an atheistic worldview I would speculate it is going no where, There is no meaning or purpose objectively embedded into the universe and thus the process of evolution would not have a goal in mind (there is no mind to have a goal). I certainly don't claim to know what evolution is 'up to'; I believe that it can't be up to anything. It just is.
If this is correct, and I honestly want to be wrong, then the participation in the evolutionary struggle is as meaningless as the evolutionary struggle itself. Being corrected that I do not pass on mental illness but rather the predisposition to mental illness (thank you for the correction), I still find that it follows if one does not subjectively value suffering than those whose genes highly predispose progeny to severe physical defects or mental illness should not be encouraged to reproduce.
It has been mentioned that social darwinism is irrational and abhorrent by another commenter in this thread. I, too, used to hold these positions. I earnestly want to be shown how this is so. I want to be wrong. Yet, merely claiming that I am mentally ill and thus the position is compromised does not constitute demonstrating how these claims are invalid. That is, respectfully, an ad hominem. I am mentally ill, depressed, but I can still be right about claims and I believe, until shown otherwise, that these claims are correct.
Whateverist, thank you for the video. I must confess that most of this went a bit over my head and I wasn't able to ascertain the point. Can you perhaps summarize the post for me? Also, you mentioned that I was given the 'purpose in my creation' to serve. In an atheistic worldview, how can you find purpose beyond something subjective? That is, I do not have a purpose as the existence precedes the essence.
