The idea that we are “alive” is illusory and clearly driven by evolutionary adaptation.
By definition, what exists is what has not at some point in the past ceased to exist. That simple concept underlies the very essence of evolutionary theory (and it also underlies the Cruel Truism. Billions of years ago, stuff existed. As time progressed, some stuff was preserved or replicated, while other stuff dissipated, or was not preserved. Random chance resulted in some things existing that were more likely to be preserved or reproduced because of certain traits they had. Over billions of years, the adaptive characteristics piled up, until the chain of causation between the fundamental logical principle (that what exists can only be what has been preserved or reproduced in the past) became so convoluted, and its result so complex, that the creation of “life” started to look like magic.
The results of the logical chain gained the illusion of sentience, the illusion of life, and the illusion of agency by means of their extraordinary complexity. But those things were not gained all at once; they evolved over millions of years. Over those same millions of years, as the perception of self evolved, mechanisms for preserving the self in response to the dangers of perception of self likewise came to fruition.
If mankind were truly a series of individuals, the world would live in a constant state of warfare. Men would constantly murder, steal, and otherwise harm one another for their own individual benefit, but in the aggregate, to their own detriment. The existence of a lawless “commons” leads inevitably to a “tragedy of the commons.” Life, it seems, is comprised of an almost infinite variety of situations in which individualistic behavior can be detrimental to groups of individuals. The destruction of mankind is doubly disadvantageous to the goal of preservation of “individual structure,” as it fails to preserve not only the individual directly, but also the other which is structured “like” the individual.
Long before man, then, animalia evolved the fundamental basis of what might today be termed, “morality.” That is to say that evolutionary adaptations sprung up which encouraged creatures to not kill wantonly, or perhaps even to take proactive steps to protect or nurture other creatures, especially those most similar. A baboon recently rescued another unrelated baby baboon from a lioness. The lioness herself, perhaps not hungry, had not exhibited any intention of harming the baby baboon (which is a distant relative in Mammalia). Instances of animal “altruism” can be explained by fundamental evolutionary adaptations that are geared towards the indirect preservation of one’s inherent structure. Further, the inherent desire to avoid unnecessary harm or to aid others (at least when personal resources are sufficient) can be invaluable in the formation of social structures. Religious/moral ideas essentially operated as primitive government. Morality/religion facilitated the collective action necessary to avoid some tragedies of the commons, and so, enabled man to flourish into cohesive social units. The ability to and actual likelihood of forming governments was likewise evolutionary adaptation of the same kind.
However, evolution is an organic process, and as such, does not proceed in a strictly linear manner. Evolution is the effect of stuff being preserved that is likely to be preserved. Stuff is constantly subjected to random variation, and it is not the case that a single, discrete variation is inevitable picked as the “winner.” The same discrete modification may occur randomly multiple times and in multiple locations before gaining fixation in the population. A modification which is beneficial may, by random chance, disappear, while a modification which is deleterious may wax strong. The conglomerate of “stuff” that exists forms a great, complex mesh of constant flux. There may be a predisposition to believe in God centered in the specification of three discrete alleles in the human genome. There may be other pieces of the genetic code which code for attributes conducive to altruism, and still others which predispose religious hallucinations. The perception of a threat of hellfire and brimstone may reduce the likelihood of taking actions which are harmful to the chances of preservation or reproduction of stuff which is similarly structured. The perception of God, and of a reason for the existence of the world, for the occurrence of pain and suffering may reduce the chances of committing suicide. The perception of understanding the world around may be conducive or even necessary to the continuation of activities beneficial to chances of survival or reproduction of organisms that are the same or similar to the self. A perception that we are “alive,” that we are “human,” that we are special in some way, that we are more than merely the culmination of an extraordinary series of causality that is so complex as to be unfathomable, a perception that we have actual “choices,” may be invaluable to our preservation, and we may therefore have a complex mesh of genes built into us that actively inhibit our mind from processing or accepting that probability.
In short, evolution implies a complex web of human traits which are actually found in humanity. Evolution is an indisputable logical truism: that what exists is what hasn’t stopped existing. We are probably not alive. We probably don’t make choices. We probably made up morality and God. We probably aren’t special. And we probably aren’t going to believe a word that I am saying.
On the upside, though, we can now start to seriously engage with the reality that seven billion people are hurtling through space on a rock that follows rules for no apparent reason, who have no idea what is going on, and most of whom have no idea that they have no idea. Personally, I find that idea incredibly disconcerting, but also comforting. There is clearly something going on. It just probably isn’t anything that anybody has ever thought of, and may be something that nobody ever will think of. Whatever the case may be, I vote that we get to work trying.
Sometimes Profound 