RE: Why is life programmed to survive?
August 28, 2016 at 10:21 pm
(This post was last modified: August 28, 2016 at 10:24 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
(August 28, 2016 at 9:30 pm)Macoleco Wrote:(August 28, 2016 at 9:24 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Because otherwise we'd have died out. That's why the sex drive is so strong. We have to be wired for self preservation and reproduction, or we wouldn't have existed this long.
Yes but the question is why.
A world with or without life is no different for the universe.
Religious people would answer this question by saying "Because God created us and we have a purpose". We as atheists need a real answer.
Living beings care about living, do not want to die. Why not simply die? Why are we encouraged to live?
Because animals with the urge to live tend to live longer, thus capable of propagating their genes more widely, on average, than apathetic animals. Over time those apathetic animals -- surprise! -- die out of the gene pool.
That is why -- those who struggle are the ones left to pass on their genes and teach their young (whichever has more influence beats me, probably depends on the species) to struggle.
