Who or what created the universe

[Anomalocaris]

because that kind of empowerment is selfish and does not accumulate benefit for humanity. the most it will gain humanity is a slightly greater sense of idiot self complacent while still being no better at eking out a subsistence living because of it.

[Ahriman]

because that kind of empowerment is selfish and does not accumulate benefit for humanity.    the most it will gain humanity is a slightly greater sense of idiot self complacent while still being no better at eking out a subsistence living because of it.

Who cares if it's selfish. What is "benefit for humanity"? What does that mean?

[Anomalocaris]

obviously not you.

benefit for humanity means creating a condition for future generations to live materially less precarious lives.

[Ahriman]

obviously not you.  

benefit for humanity means creating a condition for future generations to live materially less precarious lives.

Okay, well that's pretty much been accomplished, or at least, as accomplished as it's ever going to be. Now what?

[Anomalocaris]

obviously not you.  

benefit for humanity means creating a condition for future generations to live materially less precarious lives.

Okay, well that's pretty much been accomplished, or at least, as accomplished as it's ever going to be. Now what?

no, it has not been accomplished.  human civilization is very new and has not lasted near long enough to experience even the milder of the stressors which natural environment on earth inflicts on a geologically frequent basis.   for example the continental glaciation wax and wane every few tens of thousands of years.    resurgent caldera volcanic eruption able to create global nuclear winter also reoccur on that time scale.   earth experience asteroid impact with global consequence every million years or so,   and emplacement of large igneous provinces with the capability to drive up global temperature by 15C also happen on the order of every few tens of million years.   we would like to be sure we can survive those when they come, and make our survival margin less precarious when they come.

and that doesn’t even include self inflicted stressors like anthropogenic global warming, we like to be able to deal with that in some non-luddite way too,  so in the effort to deal with one, we don’t unduly weaken our ability to deal with others.

[Ahriman]

Okay, well that's pretty much been accomplished, or at least, as accomplished as it's ever going to be. Now what?

no, it has not been accomplished.  human civilization is very new and has not lasted near long enough to experience even the milder of the stressors which natural environment on earth inflicts on a geologically frequent basis.   for example the continental glaciation wax and wane every few tens of thousands of years.    resurgent caldera volcanic eruption able to create global nuclear winter also reoccur on that time scale.   earth experience asteroid impact with global consequence every million years or so,   and emplacement of large igneous provinces with the capability to drive up global temperature by 15C also happen on the order of every few tens of million years.   we would like to be sure we can survive those when they come, and make our survival margin less precarious when they come.

and that doesn’t even include self inflicted stressors like anthropogenic global warming, we like to be able to deal with that in some non-luddite way too,  so in the effort to deal with one, we don’t unduly weaken our ability to deal with others.

None of that shit is even an issue. Why would we go out of our way to do anything about that stuff? Do you think humans should be God, who can control all of those things?

[Anomalocaris]

because we, as in not you, have rationally informed survival instinct that we apply to our own kind and posterity?

[Ahriman]

because we, as in not you, have rationally informed survival instinct that we apply to our own kind and posterity?

Your survival instincts didn't tell you to care about all that stuff you mentioned. You got that from somewhere else. Regardless, no one, literally not a single person, is obligated to care about that stuff.

[Anomalocaris]

because we, as in not you, have rationally informed survival instinct that we apply to our own kind and posterity?

Your survival instincts didn't tell you to care about all that stuff you mentioned. You got that from somewhere else. Regardless, no one, literally not a single person, is obligated to care about that stuff.

you have no idea what my survival instinct tells me, and you certainly have no clue how rationalism can inform survival instincts

[Ahriman]

Your survival instincts didn't tell you to care about all that stuff you mentioned. You got that from somewhere else. Regardless, no one, literally not a single person, is obligated to care about that stuff.

you have no idea what my survival instinct tells me, and you certainly have no clue how rationalism can inform survival instincts

Rationalism is a philosophical framework, it can't "inform survival instincts"