Why Are We Here?
The question of “why we are here” has been at the forefront of human questioning for all of recorded history. Possible answers have been proposed primarily from two perspectives: via religion and philosophy. The philosopher Nietzsche is famously quoted as saying “God is Dead.” I’ll let that statement stand on it’s own as I am not concerned with the religious answers. In the end I will answer the question, but what I really want to focus is on why this is a terrible question.
Let’s take a look at the question again. Why are we here? At best you could call this question vauge, and at worst you could call the question meaningless. Of the four words that make up this question you can very easily call into question what three of those four words actually mean. A question whose purpose cannot clearly be defined is a terrible question.
“Why” is a word that is at the basis of questioning. We are often told that the “why” is really the most important thing that you can learn about something. However, there is some ambiguity as to what “why” actually means. It has innocently, but inccorectly, been used to ask how something has happened. If that was the intent of the question then the answer becomes decidedly simple. We are here as a result of the documented evolution of species over millions of years and more recently the documented history of our species.
Webster defines “why” as “for what cause, reason, or purpose.” For our purpose, answer the question, I’m going to narrow that down and only think of it as “for what purpose”. This definition gives the question the must intellectual and philosophical weight. With the scope of the question narrowed down, let me restate the question to reflect that scope. For what purpose are we here? This is still a bit vauge however, so let’s continue.
“We”, by definition, indicates a group that includes oneself. Most people, however, identify with many groups. Starting at the small end you have couples in romantic relationships, sibilings, close friends, parents and children, and family units. Moving only slightly larger you have neighborhoods, social circles, and coworkers. The next jump brings us to cities, corporations, social networks. We’ll skip some of the intermediates and jump to the big guns. At the top of this spectrum you are looking at nations and ethnic groups with the only larger group being the human race as a whole.
The easiest way to answer this question would be to pick one of the more limited groupings. It is fair to say however that in doing so you have also devalued the answer aswell as ensuring that the question is meaningless. The entire spectrum of “we” presents this problem with the exception of the largest of groups, the human race as a whole. To restate the question once again. For what purpose are human beings here? Not specific enough for you yet? Then let us continue.
“Here” is used to refer to the specific time and/or place that an individual or group is located at. Had we examined this question in reverse I could expound on many ways in which that could be interpreted, but by clarifying the rest of the question we can pretty easily define what is meant by here. The only way to use “here” in a way that fits and provides meaning to the question is to replace it with “exist.” Any other meaning brings you to geographical location which is a function of evolution and history.
For what purpose does the human race exist? This is the best way to state the original question. It not only makes it specific enough to be answered in similar ways, but it also is the most difficult way of stating it. I cannot hide behind the semantics of this any longer, and I’m sure more than a few people are already going “TL:DR”.
The purpose of humanities existence is to ask the question. We have no evidence that any species has ever reached the level of intelligence and awareness that we have achieved. More than once throught the 100,000 plus history of our species we have nearly gone extinct. The purpose of our perseverance is because we have developed the ability to ask the question, but lack the ability to answer it.
The moment that true purpose has been definitively defined from the chaos that was our past and present, our future will exist in such a way that we would no longer be associated with the same beings that asked the question in the first place. Put another way, when the question has been answered, we will cease to be Homo Sapien, and will begin to be something else entirely.
Let’s take a look at the question again. Why are we here? At best you could call this question vauge, and at worst you could call the question meaningless. Of the four words that make up this question you can very easily call into question what three of those four words actually mean. A question whose purpose cannot clearly be defined is a terrible question.
“Why” is a word that is at the basis of questioning. We are often told that the “why” is really the most important thing that you can learn about something. However, there is some ambiguity as to what “why” actually means. It has innocently, but inccorectly, been used to ask how something has happened. If that was the intent of the question then the answer becomes decidedly simple. We are here as a result of the documented evolution of species over millions of years and more recently the documented history of our species.
Webster defines “why” as “for what cause, reason, or purpose.” For our purpose, answer the question, I’m going to narrow that down and only think of it as “for what purpose”. This definition gives the question the must intellectual and philosophical weight. With the scope of the question narrowed down, let me restate the question to reflect that scope. For what purpose are we here? This is still a bit vauge however, so let’s continue.
“We”, by definition, indicates a group that includes oneself. Most people, however, identify with many groups. Starting at the small end you have couples in romantic relationships, sibilings, close friends, parents and children, and family units. Moving only slightly larger you have neighborhoods, social circles, and coworkers. The next jump brings us to cities, corporations, social networks. We’ll skip some of the intermediates and jump to the big guns. At the top of this spectrum you are looking at nations and ethnic groups with the only larger group being the human race as a whole.
The easiest way to answer this question would be to pick one of the more limited groupings. It is fair to say however that in doing so you have also devalued the answer aswell as ensuring that the question is meaningless. The entire spectrum of “we” presents this problem with the exception of the largest of groups, the human race as a whole. To restate the question once again. For what purpose are human beings here? Not specific enough for you yet? Then let us continue.
“Here” is used to refer to the specific time and/or place that an individual or group is located at. Had we examined this question in reverse I could expound on many ways in which that could be interpreted, but by clarifying the rest of the question we can pretty easily define what is meant by here. The only way to use “here” in a way that fits and provides meaning to the question is to replace it with “exist.” Any other meaning brings you to geographical location which is a function of evolution and history.
For what purpose does the human race exist? This is the best way to state the original question. It not only makes it specific enough to be answered in similar ways, but it also is the most difficult way of stating it. I cannot hide behind the semantics of this any longer, and I’m sure more than a few people are already going “TL:DR”.
The purpose of humanities existence is to ask the question. We have no evidence that any species has ever reached the level of intelligence and awareness that we have achieved. More than once throught the 100,000 plus history of our species we have nearly gone extinct. The purpose of our perseverance is because we have developed the ability to ask the question, but lack the ability to answer it.
The moment that true purpose has been definitively defined from the chaos that was our past and present, our future will exist in such a way that we would no longer be associated with the same beings that asked the question in the first place. Put another way, when the question has been answered, we will cease to be Homo Sapien, and will begin to be something else entirely.
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