What is the Goal of Human Evolution?

If we are able to enhance and/or engineer ourselves and/or our progeny what is the goal? To be stronger, bigger, smaller, smarter, faster? Do we want to live forever? Or is it to be happier, universally compassionate, more intuitive or insightful? Can these attributes be engineered? Will we find them on another planet?

We need to find remedies for our weaknesses. People who are sick or injured need to be cured or at least comforted. But I can't see that the end all and be all of human existence has anything to do with our physical existence beyond our physical comforts.

Broadly, the ultimate goal of human existence is happiness and that can't be genetically engineered or manufactured through implanted enhancements. I would like to have TiVo eyes as much as the next person. It would be a great toy but it is not the answer for my need to be happy.

http://www.businessinsider.com/humans-in-1000-years-2015-10

Unsolvable

Moral Problem; we are saving the weak and in so weakening the entire human race.  

Human evolution depends upon the weak dying before they reproduce and the reproduction of only the most evolved.  So what do we do with the lesser among us?

Capitalists' Adgenda

If it were possible to fill every job vacancy available there would still be people without a job.  How will those people support themselves?  Social Democrats suggest that the wealth of the working and just clearly rich, be spread around to feed and clothe those without a visible source of income.  Capitalists see no reason why the poor shouldn’t just starve or freeze to death.  Puritans see riches that one controls as sign of divine grace and starving and freezing to death proof of moral error.  Protestant ethic declares that riches are a matter of predestination.  But none of this addresses the problem of more people than jobs.  If there were more jobs than people the discussion would be different.  Until someone comes up with a way to create jobs out of thin air the only solution to the ‘more people than jobs’ conundrum is to reduce the population.  Limiting the number of children a couple can have didn’t turn out well in China.  And now they have upped it to two but I still don’t think they have it rite.  Until it becomes the socially responsible thing to do to have no children I don’t see the Earth’s population decreasing.

Capitalists see no reason to shrink the pool of working poor who take their underpaid jobs and put pressure on all of us to work for less.  The problems of the poor are not capitalists’ problems and hunger induces workers to withstand otherwise intolerable conditions for unconscionably low compensation. 

You are not God

If it is possible that there is a God, which is knowable to humans and that knowledge is based upon faith not merely knowledge learned as language is learned, from example and observation, then there is no reason to believe that the knowing of God could happen to anyone at any place without any prior knowledge of said God’s existence.  And that does not happen.

Could you, through faith and the sure knowledge of your everlasting spirit, know unerringly, that there is a God?  And in the absolute knowing of God wouldn’t you have to have some, possibly infinitely small, piece of God as part of yourself so as to know, rather than to believe or have faith in the fact that God exists?  Wouldn’t there have to be something within you that was God that was real for you, to unerringly know this ‘truth’?

Can and/or should we assume that God is rational?  And if we do assume that God is rational can we further assume that we would/can understand God’s rationale?

As finite beings, living in the infinitely small slice of time we call now, we are limited as to what we can comprehend concerning the infinite.

Anything that you are aware of is finite and therefore not God.

Vice and Virtue

Vice

immoral or wicked behavior.

synonyms:

immorality, wrongdoing, wickedness, badness, evil, iniquity, villainy, corruption, misconduct, misdeeds;

criminal activities involving prostitution, pornography, or drugs.

synonyms:

immorality, wrongdoing, wickedness, badness, evil, iniquity, villainy, corruption, misconduct, misdeeds;

an immoral or wicked personal characteristic.

Virtue

Behavior showing high moral standards.  "paragons of virtue"

synonyms:

goodness, virtuousness, righteousness, morality, integrity, dignity,rectitude, honor, decency, respectability, nobility, worthiness, purity;

 (In traditional Christian angelology) the seventh highest order of the nine-fold celestial hierarchy.

Why did some behaviors become labeled Virtuous and others Vices?  Vice, in general, is illegal but not everything that is against the law is considered a vice.  A vice, even when detrimental to no one but them self, is considered immoral.   Why are vice and virtue morality issues and not just legal issues?

Rationale

noun

a set of reasons or a logical basis for a course of action or a particular belief.

"he explained the rationale behind the change"

synonyms:

reason(s), reasoning, thinking, logic, grounds, sense;  principle, theory, argument, case;  motive, motivation, explanation, justification, excuse; the whys and wherefores "the rationale for offering wireless access was simple"

Vice has no need for a rationale.  Virtue needs a rationale.

Vice is understood without explanation.  Virtue needs an explanation (rationale) to be understood and followed.

Vice is obvious.  Virtue is convoluted.

Because we indulge we can over indulge.  Because we can save we can horde.  Because we can use we can abuse.  Because we can discern the difference between feast and famine we can be gluttonous.

If we cannot attain what we need to live we die.  If we can obtain what we need to prosper and reproduce there may be the opportunity to accumulate more than we need.  If we do accumulate more than we need then we have the opportunity to overindulge (engage in conspicuous consumption – gluttony – excess – extravagance – luxuries – superfluous – hording – abuse – pride – arrogance – egotism – vanity – arrogance – self-absorption) at the expense of others.  Without surplus there cannot be vice.  Without surplus and the ability to think symbolically there cannot be virtue.

Capitalists

The capitalists’ objective is to buy land, buildings, materials, tools and labor, combine them to manufacture a product they can then sell for more than it cost them to make and end up with enough profit to buy more materials and more labor and sell more of their product for a profit ad infinitum or until they have a monopoly on their market so they can simply jack up the price, to add to their profit without using capital.

The capitalists’ number one credo is; use as little capital as possible to make as much profit as possible.  To this end they will buy the least expensive land, build minimal structures, which they then fill with the cheapest equipment available.  They divide the work into the smallest and simplest segments so they can higher the least costly labor (the young and untrained, preferably female workers) who they then provide the absolute minimum education (on the job training whenever possible) who they then equip with the absolute bare minimum of tools and support.  Then they ask their laborers to work at the highest intensity they can manage (even if it is to the detriment of their health, hoping they will die, quit or be forced to quit because they can no longer do the job, before they have to be paid (as highly trained labor) a higher wage) and whenever possible they ask them to work without compensation or benefits.  And all the time wages are maintained at an artificially and unnecessarily low rate to trap the wage earners in their lot so they do not become independent and stop making profit for the capitalist.  The laborers are of no interest to the capitalist after they leave their employ so there is no reason to provide them with a pension.  And it is in the capitalists’ best interest to have a surplus of workers to compete for their jobs which help to keep the wages/benefits as low as possible.  Although the capitalist benefits most from the labor it is the labor class that is then taxed to support those that cannot support themselves and wait in reserve to jump at the chance to be underpaid.

Workers who understand the capitalists’ process/philosophy/credo, work for the highest wage they can with the best benefits.  They work the absolute minimum hours they must to maintain themselves and their dependents for as long as they can and they contribute as much as possible to their retirement.  They do everything within their power to be and stay healthy and refuse to do work that is a detriment to their health or life away from work.  They continue to work for as many years as possible to take advantage of the higher wages and benefits that seniority and well-earned skills afford them.  They never work without adequate compensation.  They demand the best tools, support and education available and they make use of these resources rather than doing other departments tasks.

We Are Not Equal

Living your life by the ‘golden rule’ is problematic.  No matter how you define your terms, and I don’t care what combination of physical, economic, mental, emotional, social, cultural and/or moral scales you use, no two humans can be measured and found to be equal.  We don’t equally desire, we don’t equally appreciate.

In general, idealistic terms, your treating me as you wish to be treated or my treating you as I wish to be treated seems like a very good idea.  But, there is a vast horde of people out there who treat themselves in abusive and/or masochistic or culturally and/or socially specific ways that I don’t want to have anything to do with.  And there are many, who I assume, believe that how I want to be treated is dreadful!  So I think the rule to live by ‘should’ be; “Treat others as they wish to be treated and let others know how you want to be treated.  And if you can’t do this, walk away”.

Your Tools Set You Free

In primitive times, when people were self-sufficient, all they needed came from the land they inhabited.  They took from the land and as they used the resources they took they gave back to the land what they did not use and their waste.  No one will argue that it was a perfect system where all the resources taken were returned to their original spot but it was close.  Now resources are taken from the land, shipped to the factory then shipped again to where they are consumed miles or even continents away and then the wastes are shipped to a land fill.  What was once resources rich land becomes exhausted and what was once pristine becomes fouled by waste.  So is the plight of modern humanity.

Before the age of capitalism, sometime in the 14 or 1500s, humans were dependent on their skills and the skills of those around them for everything from their clothes, food and homes to their safety, companionship and entertainment.  Each person was of value to themselves and those around them.  Now we are only cogs on a wheel or resisters in a computer.  We don’t rely on our neighbors and we interact more with electronics than humans.  We are isolated and ultimately replaceable.  We can change this.  We must escape our isolation and wasted, useless sense of self.

Value comes not just from the time spent to produce.  It also comes from the quality of the materials, the expertise of the crafts man and the dearness to the heart of the product to the consumer.  Skill may be the utmost of worth.  If I can produce a product of superior quality, in half the time it takes you to produce a similar product them I will ask more for the fruit of my labor than you do for yours.  And over time what I can do may increase in value or become valueless.

Capitalists need a surplus of labor to suppress wages.  If contraception and abortion were; without stigma, freely available and affordable, the number of unwanted and unsupportable children would decrease.  And so would the number of surplus workers that the Capitalists need to suppress wages and benefits.  The only path the labor class has to gain the upper hand on the owner class is to reduce the number of workers until laborers become a valued commodity, worth education and keeping healthy.  When laborers are a valued commodity, educating and maintaining the health of the labor class will become a priority for the owner class.  So long as there are more people then jobs there will be no change.

Capitalists want jobs to be so easy that education and a living wage are unnecessary and they want workers so common that the loss of many, can easily be replaced in short order.  As a result of these sentiments capitalists will never support a living wage, education, healthcare and birth control.

If I can make a profit off of something that you destroy (use up) on a regular schedule then my income is made secure.

Your Goal

How you behave is dependent upon your goal.

And your goal may very well justify your means, at least in your mind.

But before you begin your argument supporting your means, I want you to justify your goal.

If your goal is to create wealth it doesn’t matter what path you take.  Your choices will be determined by that goal, not the path.

If your goal is to deliver a product of determined quality then your path is determined by the product and its quality as is your goal.

So what is your goal?

I need to know so I can assess your path.  So I can decide if I want to be on the path with you.

And if I choose to be on your path, how do I wish to act.

We Can

If, in the production of all things,

we are satisfied with a goal of usefulness rather than perfection,

we can do all things.

Me

I am an improbable mote of dust    

that is not noticed

and leaves no trace.

Life is death's Conceit.

It is impossible for life not to exist, 

because it does. 

The universe exists and with it infinite possibilities.

Act as if you will get what you want.

Suicide is a quest for power, 

an attempt to gain control.

I fear those who put ideals before the lives of others.

Life is death's Conceit.  

As light is to dark, 

And hot is to cold, 

Order is temporary.  

I accept disorder and value light.  

In dying I succeed.

You do not need to be more than you are.

A story where everyone who reads every word of a very long book attains an insight that can only be expressed by them to someone else who has read the book.  They can’t tell anyone what they know and they can’t compel anyone to read the book.  So the story is about the coming together of those that have read the book and their relationship at the exclusion of everyone else.

You will make fewer mistakes if you think about what you are doing, 

not about what you are going to do next or what you have done.

We must learn from the past.  

We must plan for the future.  

We must act in the present.  

If you are depressed, 

stop thinking about the past and concentrate on what needs to be done in the present. 

If you are feeling anxious, 

stop considering what you are going to do in the future and do what needs to be done now.

If I spend 100 hours making a ‘things-it’ which no one wants then my labor is of no value.  If I spend 100 hours making a work of art that someone may want then my labor is worth whatever the buyer is willing to pay.  

If I spend 100 hours making a rope belt that most anyone can make then my labor may or may or have value depending upon how lazy and rich and gullible a suitable buyer is.  

If I spend 100 hours working for someone my labor is worth whatever we agreed I will be paid.

In all other animals strength/size determines possession.  

The largest bear gets the best cave.  

Humans have devised a way to invest objects with value so they can be traded.  

The richest human has the best house.

To what extent can we live off materials spontaneously produced by nature?

in itself (An-sich)

out of itself (Anderssein)

in and for itself (An-und-für-sich).

Perfection is the cosmos in a single point that does not change, 

a single point that cannot be divided 

and the empty void.

It makes no sense to think that an alien species 

(sentient individuals from beyond our solar system) 

would use their resources to come here and kill all humans. 

If all the want are raw materials 

and they have the ability to get to what we call Earth, 

they can also get to an uninhabited planet 

that has the same or more appropriate resources than can be found on Earth.  

And they can get those resources without opposition.

If they want to trade with us they are not going to wipe us out.

And if they want us as slaves they will make sure we survive.

Because my life could be worse 

I have hope 

and when all that is left is misery and death 

and all hope is gone 

I have life.

When I am confronted with a goal too large for me to comprehend, 

I do what I feel needs to be done, 

and I do not question the steps.

I am an improbable mote of dust that is not noticed and leaves no trace.

You Are Welcome.

My One Wish

If I had but one wish.  And in that one wish I could have anything at all.  I would wish that all who believe in an afterlife would be taken to something resembling there imagined afterlife immediately.  I would wish that they would disappear from this earth for all time, never to return.  And that no one who believed in an afterlife would ever live here again.

And if the meant that I would stand alone, as the only human inhabitant of Earth for the rest of my days then I would be OK with that.  And if it meant that there would be just be others here on Earth who believe that this is the one and only life they will ever live, I would take my chance with them before I would live as we do now.  Because I believe that the world would be a better place without gods, without belief in gods, without belief in a life after death.