This athiest is unsure how to take the OP. It seems oddly repellent and self-indulgent. But then maybe it’s meant tongue-in-cheek or as a straw man. Does Boyo really consider trashing the earth, or is this just grist for the mill?
I don’t have polio. Sounds like it can be pretty horrible. I remember when the sugar cubes came out, lining up at a local school to get one. Somebody I never met worked out a way that I don’t have to get polio. I can’t possibly repay that person, per se. I owe that debt to everybody else to come.
It isn’t incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.
Wait, wait, wait - suppose there had been a God that had a purpose for us - why should that purpose be fulfilled anyway? How do we know THAT’s a good idea? Where’d the purpose come from, what was the purpose for that origin? I know, very clever, sonny, but it’s turtles all the way down.
You life’s purpose isn’t really anything but what you think it is. But my hunch is that it’s unnatural for us to think there isn’t one. I have a cat here trying to get my attention, and he’s very clear what my purpose is. Maybe he’s right. Soon he will be satisfied…
Heh, I forgot about that ‘right to be the dominant species’ thing. Human beings aren’t dominant because it’s right, but because it’s correct. We are the dominant species because we are more badass than any other species. That’s really what it comes down to.
First I heard that atheist equates to conscienceless. You might spare a thought for the rest of us. If we fellow humans so offend you that you cannot bring yourself to do so, you might think of the other species harmed by your “trashing”.
The Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”) is entirely an atheistic principle. As a hedonist, you want to live the most enjoyable life you can. Being able to do that depends on the world being a place where one can live enjoyably. Hence, if everyone in the world is selfish, evil buggers, then you won’t get to live a very good life. Unless everyone tries to “pays forward”, your life would have sucked.
Thanks, Elelle, for coming close to what I want to say.
I, too, am a childless atheist. I’m also committed to doing my darnedest to help this planet, and if I can, my fellow humans while I’m here. This earth is the greatest science experiment ever, in my opinion. It has changed so thoroughly since it started - I’d rather it stick around for future generations to be able to enjoy and observe. I find beauty and elegance in every little thing around me, and I know that it only got that way because it was given the opportunity to evolve. Who am I to believe that I have the right to stop that?
I am childless because I care about this earth, and felt it was the best way for me to do right by it. I am atheist because I feel that this beauty happened without intervention, and because I feel no belief in a higher power.
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
I had these thoughts that led me to this conclusion. That’s not to say I WILL trash the Earth – I can’t afford to trash much of it even if I want to.
But anyway…
I don’t believe the human race has a “purpose”. I don’t believe the human race has any inherent right to be the predominant species. I don’t believe I have a “purpose” other than to follow my will and judgement as best I can. Frankly, if I had to judge the worthiness of humans to have domain over the planet, we would get a thumbs down.
I have already decided I will have no children. I have even had surgery to enforce that.
So it doesn’t particularly bother me if humans of the present and future continue to poison themselves and squander the planet’s resources, to the point when our own species is no more. I will be long dead. I don’t believe in reincarnation. I don’t believe in punishment after life, and especially not for being an energy hog.
I don’t believe I have a debt to society. I have given society all that it has asked of me. I certainly have some debts to certain people, and not one of them would say to me, “I’ll forgive your debt if you buy a higher mileage car”. I will pay my debts in the coin demanded of me, and I will be very surprised if someone wants payment in crushed aluminum cans.
The only real incentive I have to be as energy efficient as I can is economics, so that I myself might live a more comfortable life. But we all know that with the economic system as it is, more often than not we benefit by being more wasteful. More indirectly, my own health might be marginally improved or my own life marginally lengthened if I and another billion or so people act in concert. What are the odds?
Now, if they come up with a practical form of immortality. or a drastically increased lifespan, then I will have some serious rethinking to do.
In the meantime, I feel a lovely sense of freedom.
Whaddya think?
[/QUOTE]
I think you’re a selfish asshole.
As a pantheistic father, I would pop a cap in your ass for spoiling the commons. But kidding aside, extreme narcissism tends to be held in check by society. If you don’t have internal restraint, external restraint will be provided.
