Contingent evolution (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Tuesday, July 01, 2014, 09:02 (3587 days ago) @ David Turell

DHW: Again, this provides an explanation for what I see as the higgledy-piggledy bush of evolution.
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> > Tony;This is probably where we disagree more than anything. You see a higgledy-piggledy bush, I see a beautifully crafted symphony of life where each part is as elegant, graceful, and wonderful as it is strange and amazing. Each piece has its part to play, a purpose, and there is a time for every purpose under heaven. ....I struggle to find the purpose, because I have yet to be presented with anything which I could not find a purpose for, and it is all the more beautiful for it.
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>David: What dhw means by the bush is that life is so diverse nd so startlingly branched it resembles a bush more than a tree. I'm with you in that this enormous ocean of life, this exhuberance is a testimony to the purpose of life appearing and it supplies an amazing balance of nature, which we humans tend to corrupt, resulting in some very bad results. Look at Australia and all that should not have been introduced.-Yes, we've discussed that before. My point is that it only looks like a bush if you assume a bunch of things that are not necessarily true. It looks like a bush if, for example, you assume that we all had a common ancestor. It looks like a bush if you assume common descent down specific lines. It looks like a bush if you assume that our classifications, based on superficial things such as appearance, have any relationship to reality, which is something that DNA evidence is refuting daily. You yourself have posted numerous examples of where our understanding of the 'bush of life' is turned on its head. When something is disproven over and over and over again, do we continue to cling to it as if it were gospel truth?-Perhaps it is a clear sign that our view of 'the higgledy-piggledy' bush of life is no more than a flight of fancy dreamed up by Darwin; a shared hallucination along the lines of 'the world is flat' and 'the sun circles the earth'.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.