Why is life programmed to survive?

[Whateverist]

A push.  All those things are in the mix, providing the backdrop which must be accounted for by the life forms which survive to reproduce.  But explain to me in what manner such conditions are intending toward a particular outcome.



All are pushes, nothing is being drawn to a particular outcome.  There is no meta-intention, just inevitable outcomes given the nature of the materials.  (This is just my own spur of the moment metaphor, probably no longer helpful.)

Gravity shapes things radially in the cosmos but on our scale the interaction is vertical. Electricity travels as a tubular skin effect in one direction.  So combining these gives me a vertical tube that flows in one direction. You probably do this each morning after coffee.

"Material" is not the only influence, there are forces and fields to account for as well.

Of course. And life does this as it must in whatever way it does and the survivors reproduce. What do you think we are arguing about? I concede that everything must be accommodated by life .. forces, materials, predators, same-niche competitors, you name it. You keep mentioning more of these but why?

My only point is that none of these things are exercising intention. There is not only no designer there is also no plan being carried out of any kind. Do you speak zen? Do you know the poem:

The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection, and the water has no mind to retain their image.

Similarly life does not intend to survive to reproduce itself, rather, that which survives to reproduce will most often produce more life of the same kind because that is all that it can do. The cosmos has no mind to impose anything, rather, the cosmos just is the totality of forces and materials with which all life must contend. Is there intentionality behind the composition of the cosmos? Of what would that consist? I don't think so.