Non-literal atheism?

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm not just talking about tactical cleverness or artistic thought. When I say creative I'm talking about roads that tie the continent together and the power grid that lights up the night. Yes, there are some very intelligent species out there. Elephants have grave yards, ants build city-like structures, bee hives are pretty sophisticated, beavers are masters of irrigation and some birds sing, dance and build colorful nests. I think if anything that only serves my point.

But none of them possess the same dynamic ability to master rapidly expanding creativity.

That's all good and well, but you know what? Well more than 99% of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct, and there's not much reason to doubt that we will escape those grim odds. All the self-congratulation on our creativity strikes me as whistling past the graveyard.

Indeed, as the global-warming issue illustrates clearly, our creativity might well be our downfall.

Also, the fact is that humans evolved from predecessors which presumably didn't have our creativity. That, in itself, illustrates the plasticity of the process of discovery, and even more the fact that while we may now be at the apex of mental creativity, our place is not assured.

Natural selection kicks ass. We would be arrogant to assume we are exempt from its demands.

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Roads are (marginally) straight lines made of crushed rocks. Lightbulbs are just slow burning fires(new ones are nice, you know, an arc under a lens.....). I just don't think that either is all that impressive in context.

Maybe you are just hard to impress. I'm pretty impressed our mistakes. I'll just use the great planes as an example. It was originally dominated by Bison stampedes that would stretch for miles upon miles. Then we wiped them out to near extinction within a hundred years. Then our agricultural habits turned the great planes into an expanding wasteland, blowing dust all the way to the Atlantic.

Our achievements redeemed our horrific mistake. We found an ancient water source buried beneath the surface of the earth and cured the land of drought. We also preserved the bison, so today you can enjoy a delicious buffalo burger.

It's okay if you're not impressed. You think the horses we rode across the planet were garbage. That is where we throw shit we no longer need. Lets hope whatever AI program we build to be smarter than us doesn't catch on to your philosophy.

However, the bison are still about 99% reduced from historic levels, the aquifer under the Plains is being depleted faster than it is being replenished, and if you think the land is being "cured" of drought, go to California or central Texas and run some numbers.