I want to know what people think about life. Human life, animal life, plant life. I think life is beautiful and i think that the life I have is the same as that of an animal or plant. I do not mean the value of life, i mean the spark that happens at conception, the thing that animates us and makes move, think and exist. What do you brillant minds out there think?
Bleh. I tried 3 times to formulate an answer to this question, but couldn’t think of anything good. I’ll just say that life is important to me. Not really much else to say…
I don’t claim to have a brilliant mind, but I don’t think the spark that makes me “move, think, and exist” is the same as that of a brussel sprout or a wombat.
- All life is edible.
- Not all life is tasty, or nutritious.
- Don’t eat all of it at once–leave some for tomorrow.
Arg…DD Goose took my answer. I would add only that sometimes life is tangy.
It is a gift from God. (See the first chapter of Genesis.) This same chapter tell us that God created life to serve different purposes. Man was to have dominion over the earth and the animals, which is why human life is more valuable.
I’m not sure if all life is tasty. Isn’t mold considered to have a life span?
and yet, without plants, there would be no human life
honest curiosity re: “dominion over the earth and the animals”…why is this frequently interpreted to mean “the right to exploit everything else” instead of “responsibility to take care of everything else”?
The chemicals in a human being are worth about 96 cents, at least I’ve heard that number kicked around.
Not if you were bottled. We’re mostly water and a bottle of water goes for $1.50 or better (I guess French people would be more expensive since they’re naturally fizzy).
As for the value of life OP it brings to mind a piece George Carlin did on this. Sanctity of life is crap in his opinion. We only raise it to that level because–well—we’re alive! It’s in our interest to sanctify it since we don’t want to die.
Carlin puts this in the same category with the ‘Save the Earth’ crowd. As Carlin puts it the earth doesn’t need saving…WE need saving! The earth will continue to orbit the sun quite merrily regardless of what we do. (Carlin also speculates that the earth let us evolve because it couldn’t make plastic on its own.) 
How valuable is life? Depends on what kind. A cow’s life is less valuable than mine, my life is, by law, less valuable than the president’s, etc. Life itself has no value. Living beings with a mind and consciousness have value. Is life all-important? Your life has a value you assign it. Freedom is the ability to put your own value on your own life (my life is more important that a few thousand barrels of oil, but I’d die for the right to free speech) as opposed to having another do it (Louis XIV would have valued me at slightly more important than his own excrement, regardless of how tenaciously I clung to my life). In short, there is no real ‘value’ of life. Different cultures value life differently (Fascists, Zealots, and all other Totalitarian systems valued the individual little, but held the leader in excessively high regard. Democracy tends to do the opposite. Historically, Democracy has been more successful.) and sometimes it’s based on faith (Zealots regarded life as little more than a short, brutish path toward an eternal fate. Dying for a cause seemed logical, as it assured a place in paradise while ending the torment of Earthly existence. Humanists regard life as a generally plesant experience that is to be lengthened. Self-sacrifice is rather stupid. Better 1 living, working person than 1000 rotting bodies. There aren’t too many Zealots around from any faith anymore, at least not in the industrial world.) What I’m saying is that, while self-worth is a trait given by the person and the culture, people and cultures with a high average value for the individual have triumphed over those that sacrificed the individual for a cause or elite. Learn from history or you will be doomed to repeat it.
Yes sometimes I am struck by the unfathomable beauty and joy of it all and can only chuckle to myself, attracting some funny looks from passers-by. Sometimes, though, it just sucks. I actually think there is a common element to living things - we all exist in the same universe and are bound by the same rules. Isn’t it wonderful?