Atheism and Hope

[robvalue]

Evolution and natural selection need no help, they simply describe what happens. After we include ourselves in it and the new way things work, you can't "help" evolution any more than you can hinder it. Whatever happens, that is evolution, by definition.

Why you'd even want to help a nonsentient natural process, I never understand.

Morality is to do with what we ought to do. That requires thinking about what is important to you. Is the happiness of humans important to you? Do you want people to have a good life and be happy and healthy? If so, do things that help people and don't do things that hurt people. That's the basis of a morality based on wellbeing. It can be built up in complex ways, but that's the very simple beginnings. No dumb religion required.

If you don't care about anyone else's wellbeing, then there's really not much that can be done. No one can make you care about it. All you have left is pragmatism: being nice to people will generally cause them to be nice to you, making you happier. Being shitty to people will generally make them be shitty to you, making you less happy. Doing horrific things will land you in jail.

If you don't care about anyone else's happiness, and not even your own, then things are really bad. Personally, I've been at the stage many times where I don't care about myself any more and want to die, but it's other people's happiness that I lived for. I knew that if I killed myself, it would devastate those who love me. All the good I could do in the world for others would be lost. Any good influence I could have, the legacy that was mentioned, would end. I very much believe in leading by example. Be a good person, and that will rub off on others. They will then be good themselves, and so on. You never know what an amazing knock-on effect you could have.