Last monday’s blog on the quest for human immortality needs a broader perspective. This quest is unique for human thinking and human beliefs. Life in Nature has 3 stages: Needs (all life forms), Wants (life forms using tools) and Beliefs (only humans). These 3 stages coincide with some other concepts, like Body (needs), Mind (wants) and Soul (beliefs), and also consciousness (all life forms), (self-) awareness (life forms using tools), and thinking (only humans).
The quest for human purpose – why we are here – is closely related to my concept of the 7 Belief systems and its answers: Love, Money, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science and the Truth. These 7 are grouped in 3 domains: Knowledge (eg, Science), Power (eg, Religion), and Love. Faith belongs to the domain of Love: for a deity, for others, and (for/in) oneself.
Throughout human history, Knowledge and Power have been close and successful companions. In due time, Love for – and faith in – a Supreme Being (deity) changed into the man-made institute of Religion. Given the equation Knowledge = Power, Science (Knowledge) and Religion (Power) became each other’s opponents. Also, Faith lost its meaning. For centuries, Science became the #1 enemy of Religion due to its promotion of atheism and its quest for human immortality.
In response to the human quest for purpose, Aristotle (384–322 BC) promoted eudaimonia which is the strive for happiness through a good (eu) soul (daimon). There is a clear link with the teachings of the Iranian-Persian prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) in which good/bad souls are defined by good/bad deeds, words and thoughts (see my blog label Zoroastrianism).
Today, the human quest for purpose in the Western world is often in hedonism, which is a Philosophy (also in the Knowledge domain) that “argues that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most important intrinsic goods and the proper aim of human life”. To some extent, the political Islam, radical Islam, and Islamic terrorism could be seen as a response to Western atheism and hedonism. It’s like a renewed Crusades (see my 25 November 2015 blog).
The human quest for immortality now finally separates the human body, mind and soul. The body is replaced by an artificial humanoid. Its mind is an enhanced human download. The ancient and/or religious concept of a human soul has never been proven by Science and can thus be ignored. The quest for human immortality is an extreme belief in Knowledge (Philosophy, Science, the Truth), and Power (Money, Politics), and narcissism (self-Love).
The human quest for immortality has an indirect and ironic answer to the human quest for purpose. The quest for immortality seems to dehumanise us and may thus remove the need for a human quest for purpose.
The above is loosely related to 2 new books and related interviews: Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari, and The Power of Meaning by Emily Esfahani Smith.
Get a Life / What’s the Meaning (1989) by Soul II Soul – artists, lyrics, video, Wiki
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