Theories about our Existence

[Dark Phantom]

This is an anything goes topic. It doesn't matter if you are religous or not, whether you believe in a god, a number of gods or none. The fact remains there is so much about our universe that remains uncertain. Our species, being self-aware, tends to fill in the gaps as to why we are here; In order to ease the anxiety of death. Sure there are plenty of ancient scriptures that try to simplify our limited comprehension of the universe. The difference is in how many followers had faith in their belief opposed to the other ideas that were rejected over time. So really, any individual belief or theory shouldn't be rejected right away. Afterall, it could be your own way to cope.

So what I'm asking is for those to share their wildest theories. Even if they don't make sense. You could believe that the world was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. You could even believe that the Big Bang Theory might have been misinterpreted as something else altogether. Remember, none of this is fact only wild speculation. It's supposed to be fun.

 

[Lighthouse]

Interesting that this thread should pop up right after I finished re-reading Sarte's "No Exit".

 

[Heretic]

I blame the Beyonder...

 

[terry78]

You know something we don't?


It's possible we're all in the Matrix, plugged into a virtual world. But I wouldn't be able to sleep thinking about that ****ed up possibility.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Yeah had the forces of the universes not aligned exactly the way they did, and there wasn't much room for error, there would be no atoms and it would be completely inhospitable. I don't think it is a coincidence. We have problem been programed by a superior race. The universe works exactly the way a super computer computes. We are most definitely living in the matrix if you ask me.

 

[Dark Phantom]

It's funny you should say that. Ever since watching the series "Into the Wormhole", it brought up some possibilites about our very existence that we haven't even considered.

[YT]3KH95YCSP_c[/YT]

If you don't want to watch or if you can't, basically this scientist has a theory that our universe is just one highly advanced artificial intelligence simulation. now at first that might sound crazy, but there is a lot of evidence that could support this. First of all, within the next decade or so, artificial intelligence will become so advanced that simulations will be self-aware. You're next "Sims" game will possibly be able to respond on a level like Hal 9000 in 2001: Space Odyssey. This is very interesting when you think about it, because then we can observe the balance between free-will and design. If this next step is taken in the evolution of technology, it could possibly unravel answers about ourselves.

 

[Anita18]

Yeah had the forces of the universes not aligned exactly the way they did, and there wasn't much room for error, there would be no atoms and it would be completely inhospitable. I don't think it is a coincidence. We have problem been programed by a superior race. The universe works exactly the way a super computer computes. We are most definitely living in the matrix if you ask me.

Perhaps, but if you looked at the inner workings of biological systems (as I do), our programmers would be the messiest, most inefficient programmers in the history of anything. We are a huge honking mess of biological processes.

IMO, life was able to find a way through everything through billions of years of trial and error, not by design, and it's truly amazing that we are even alive at all. Not even the evolution thing, but our present actions of living and breathing and eating and stuff requires an enormous amount of things to go right.

So don't waste it. Cherish the miracle instead.

 

[TimBisley]

That series is already full of win for having Morgan Freeman narrate.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Perhaps, but if you looked at the inner workings of biological systems (as I do), our programmers would be the messiest, most inefficient programmers in the history of anything. We are a huge honking mess of biological processes.

IMO, life was able to find a way through everything through billions of years of trial and error, not by design, and it's truly amazing that we are even alive at all. Not even the evolution thing, but our present actions of living and breathing and eating and stuff requires an enormous amount of things to go right.

So don't waste it. Cherish the miracle instead.

What systems in nature are more efficient than biological systems? We require more energy if that's what you mean, and we are a lot more complex than other simple systems, but I don't see how it is inefficient? And it is only temporary.

 

[Hound55]

Subscribed.

Think I'll be visiting this one a lot.

 

[Hound55]

It's funny you should say that. Ever since watching the series "Into the Wormhole", it brought up some possibilites about our very existence that we haven't even considered.

[YT]3KH95YCSP_c[/YT]

If you don't want to watch or if you can't, basically this scientist has a theory that our universe is just one highly advanced artificial intelligence simulation. now at first that might sound crazy, but there is a lot of evidence that could support this. First of all, within the next decade or so, artificial intelligence will become so advanced that simulations will be self-aware. You're next "Sims" game will possibly be able to respond on a level like Hal 9000 in 2001: Space Odyssey. This is very interesting when you think about it, because then we can observe the balance between free-will and design. If this next step is taken in the evolution of technology, it could possibly unravel answers about ourselves.

I'm not providing any argument AGAINST this theory, but I will point out that the point of technological advancement that WE have reached as a species has no logical bearing on this theory whatsoever.

Even if we were still living in caves and beating each other with sticks it wouldn't make such a theory any more or less likely.

It may however make it easier for us to perceive as a possibility, as our own grasp on technology strengthens... but that's purely perception and has no rational link to the theory as a whole.

 

[Hound55]

I did have a theory many moons ago when I was around 19 that the universe is comprised of practically infinite dimensions and all that separated us from each was perception.

That each individual life form throughout the universe has it's own perception and that each is it's own dimension in terms of what is reality... Perception can be altered and thus every dimension has it's own flexible reality as we each grow from the input of new "facts" constantly coming to the fore.

 

[Anita18]

What systems in nature are more efficient than biological systems? We require more energy if that's what you mean, and we are a lot more complex than other simple systems, but I don't see how it is inefficient? And it is only temporary.

...what? I don't get the temporary part. Evolution? I guess, but at the same time, the higher the organism, the more complicated (and inefficient, in some ways) we get too. Yeast is incredible simple, but it's also incredibly efficient. You change something in a yeast gene, you can see a huge change, like 20x from normal. In a mammal, you'd be lucky to even see a 2x change if you mess with a gene. That's because there are tons of "failsafes," and lots of things interacting with each other to make us tick. Failsafes are great, of course, but it makes us incredibly difficult to study. And sometimes yeah, it's inefficient.

What I mean by inefficient is just the number of things you need to get things done. I work in a lab studying DNA repair, and you'd think it'd be pretty simple, right? No, there are probably hundreds of proteins involved in fixing DNA breaks, and we think there are different processes used depending the type of break, how big it is, how big the repair is, where it is, how many there are at one time, etc etc etc. It just goes on and on and on, and I just feel like if we were created by some higher programmer, s/he'd be fired long ago for being a crap programmer.

Not to mention a huge part of our own genome is stuff we never use. It gets cut out before it's encoded as protein. Some of it, we understand now, are parts of other genes that we stole from foreign bacteria, and do nothing aside from periodically coming back from the dead as zombie genes and making us sick.

 

[SuperFerret]

I'd think that the fact that the convoluted mess that is a biological system works and works reliably is a good indication that there was a design process and not just random crap thrown together. Regardless, worrying about the origins of existence is a tedious, rewardless waste of time. I say enjoy it while you can and don't worry about what exactly it is and what it means if it means anything at all. (Of course, I know the meaning of life already, so I might be biased.)

 

[Anita18]

I'd think that the fact that the convoluted mess that is a biological system works and works reliably is a good indication that there was a design process and not just random crap thrown together.

How so? When you design something, you're very methodical about how it goes together and are ruthless in taking things out that don't add directly to the work. If it isn't used, it's dead weight and needs to go.

Whereas if you study the stuff I do, the more you're convinced that life is just a bunch of random crap thrown together and it somehow figured out a way to work out. It doesn't have to work all that well either, it just has to work and then evolution adjusts it the best it can. (Have you seen how a human shoulder is held together? No wonder why it gets dislocated so often, that thing is not even connected properly. ) It's like if a bunch of monkeys in a room banging on typewriters somehow churned out Shakespeare. A miracle, as it were.

Design is no miracle, design is methodical work with an intent.

 

[FaT_tONle]

...what? I don't get the temporary part. Evolution? I guess, but at the same time, the higher the organism, the more complicated (and inefficient, in some ways) we get too. Yeast is incredible simple, but it's also incredibly efficient. You change something in a yeast gene, you can see a huge change, like 20x from normal. In a mammal, you'd be lucky to even see a 2x change if you mess with a gene. That's because there are tons of "failsafes," and lots of things interacting with each other to make us tick. Failsafes are great, of course, but it makes us incredibly difficult to study. And sometimes yeah, it's inefficient.

What I mean by inefficient is just the number of things you need to get things done. I work in a lab studying DNA repair, and you'd think it'd be pretty simple, right? No, there are probably hundreds of proteins involved in fixing DNA breaks, and we think there are different processes used depending the type of break, how big it is, how big the repair is, where it is, how many there are at one time, etc etc etc. It just goes on and on and on, and I just feel like if we were created by some higher programmer, s/he'd be fired long ago for being a crap programmer.

Not to mention a huge part of our own genome is stuff we never use. It gets cut out before it's encoded as protein. Some of it, we understand now, are parts of other genes that we stole from foreign bacteria, and do nothing aside from periodically coming back from the dead as zombie genes and making us sick.

I don't get how more means disorganized and discombobulated? I know that many genes are redundant and sometimes we don't understand why some genes are there, but everything still comes together in an organized, mathematical way. Your still using the laws of physics to eventually get to life.

And how is is just random stuff just thrown together? How is DNA a bunch of random stuff? It's an incredibly simple yet elegant molecule. It's what, 4 simple compounds, two pairs of which belong to the same family of structures. Phosphates and ribose units. Perfect anti parallel symmetry. How is protein coding random? Only a handful of aa's, each corresponding to a simple coding language. I guess when you move to more macro-molecular scales, everything looks like an amalgamation of **** that's not even worth understanding, but it's all just chemistry coming together.

 

[SuperFerret]

How so? When you design something, you're very methodical about how it goes together and are ruthless in taking things out that don't add directly to the work. If it isn't used, it's dead weight and needs to go.

Whereas if you study the stuff I do, the more you're convinced that life is just a bunch of random crap thrown together and it somehow figured out a way to work out. It doesn't have to work all that well either, it just has to work and then evolution adjusts it the best it can. (Have you seen how a human shoulder is held together? No wonder why it gets dislocated so often, that thing is not even connected properly. ) It's like if a bunch of monkeys in a room banging on typewriters somehow churned out Shakespeare. A miracle, as it were.

Design is no miracle, design is methodical work with an intent.

When you build a city of legos, do the lego people know why or how you do it? If there was something that was capable of creating everything we are and see, we would not be able to grasp its methods. I study biology, and the more I do, the more I marvel at the intricate design and redesigns of the living organism.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I'd think that the fact that the convoluted mess that is a biological system works and works reliably is a good indication that there was a design process and not just random crap thrown together. Regardless, worrying about the origins of existence is a tedious, rewardless waste of time. I say enjoy it while you can and don't worry about what exactly it is and what it means if it means anything at all. (Of course, I know the meaning of life already, so I might be biased.)

is it 42?

 

[Zanham]

We(humans) are not from this planet. Common sense should tell us that we don't look like, act like, or live like anything else on this planet. We've been sucked into this place just like all the other species before us.

Dogs(or the Dogmen), also known as man's best friend, were the species brought here before us. Cat's(or the Feline people) we're the predecessor to the Dogmen.

WHAT this planet does is it act's similar to a universal prison. In fact, it is likely a death row wing of the universe. This does not mean Humans, or Dogmen, or Feline-men will become extinct throughout the universe. What it means is this particular strand is set for extinction on a universal level. There are many level's to extincting something that I can no way know. What I do know is that being relegated to 'pet' status is the next level of decension for humanity. That will occur when the next species is brought into the eco-system, the species that will make us their 'dogs.'

Why our species, this strand of humanity, has been targeted for extinction is beyond me. What I DO KNOW is that this planet, although very possibly a death row for defunct or ******ed strands of species, is not the end-all be-all to existence in the universe. Although it's damn near impossible to get out of here, there is a way - in fact, there's only one way.

We overtake, and do this death row planet a favor, and extinct the species that will reign over us and make us their pets. The dogs, our immediates in the chain of command, will likely be our only back-up and the term 'mans best friend' will show you it's true origins. Maybe the Feline-men will help sparingly.

BASICALLY, it's do or die for our strand of humanity on this death row planet that has brought us here. We overtake that which is making us pets or - we become extinct.

MORE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THIS SITUATION:
We CANNOT launch ourselves into space in an effort to escape. We'd still be housed and kept alive by this planet and hence, still being extincted by it.

We did not create computers, machines, or any other technology here. IT DOESN'T BELONG TO US. It appears we are building and creating and working these things but the truth is - it's all a tool of the planet being used to extinct us. The building, creating, and working we think we are doing is actually just us trying to defend ourselves against this place. We are overwhelmed.

The species that has been here the longest is - the Arachnids, although I am pretty sure their original form is far from the eight legged web makers we all now know them as.

And oh yeah, one more little minor thing... this planet is not called Earth... THE NAME OF THE PLANET IS GOD AND THE NAME OF THE MOON IS JESUS!!! THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE!!!

 

[Metamorpho1977]

We(humans) are not from this planet. Common sense should tell us that we don't look like, act like, or live like anything else on this planet. We've been sucked into this place just like all the other species before us.

Dogs(or the Dogmen), also known as man's best friend, were the species brought here before us. Cat's(or the Feline people) we're the predecessor to the Dogmen.

WHAT this planet does is it act's similar to a universal prison. In fact, it is likely a death row wing of the universe. This does not mean Humans, or Dogmen, or Feline-men will become extinct throughout the universe. What it means is this particular strand is set for extinction on a universal level. There are many level's to extincting something that I can no way know. What I do know is that being relegated to 'pet' status is the next level of decension for humanity. That will occur when the next species is brought into the eco-system, the species that will make us their 'dogs.'

Why our species, this strand of humanity, has been targeted for extinction is beyond me. What I DO KNOW is that this planet, although very possibly a death row for defunct or ******ed strands of species, is not the end-all be-all to existence in the universe. Although it's damn near impossible to get out of here, there is a way - in fact, there's only one way.

We overtake, and do this death row planet a favor, and extinct the species that will reign over us and make us their pets. The dogs, our immediates in the chain of command, will likely be our only back-up and the term 'mans best friend' will show you it's true origins. Maybe the Feline-men will help sparingly.

BASICALLY, it's do or die for our strand of humanity on this death row planet that has brought us here. We overtake that which is making us pets or - we become extinct.

MORE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THIS SITUATION:
We CANNOT launch ourselves into space in an effort to escape. We'd still be housed and kept alive by this planet and hence, still being extincted by it.

We did not create computers, machines, or any other technology here. IT DOESN'T BELONG TO US. It appears we are building and creating and working these things but the truth is - it's all a tool of the planet being used to extinct us. The building, creating, and working we think we are doing is actually just us trying to defend ourselves against this place. We are overwhelmed.

The species that has been here the longest is - the Arachnids, although I am pretty sure their original form is far from the eight legged web makers we all now know them as.

And oh yeah, one more little minor thing... this planet is not called Earth... THE NAME OF THE PLANET IS GOD AND THE NAME OF THE MOON IS JESUS!!! THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE!!!

After reading this, this came to mind. Watch and tell me you don't agree.

[YT]p7w64fbqYQY[/YT]

 

[Zanham]

After reading this, this came to mind. Watch and tell me you don't agree.

[YT]p7w64fbqYQY[/YT]

How about 'no' and 'no'... and now you have two!

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I think God put everyone in their own private universe and you interact with God posing as other people/places/things.

Just a theory I came up with when I was off my meds. I still like it though.

 

[Dark Phantom]

.....There's a practical way of living somewhere in that theory, Zanham.

 

[Anita18]

I don't get how more means disorganized and discombobulated? I know that many genes are redundant and sometimes we don't understand why some genes are there, but everything still comes together in an organized, mathematical way. Your still using the laws of physics to eventually get to life.

And how is is just random stuff just thrown together? How is DNA a bunch of random stuff? It's an incredibly simple yet elegant molecule. It's what, 4 simple compounds, two pairs of which belong to the same family of structures. Phosphates and ribose units. Perfect anti parallel symmetry. How is protein coding random? Only a handful of aa's, each corresponding to a simple coding language. I guess when you move to more macro-molecular scales, everything looks like an amalgamation of **** that's not even worth understanding, but it's all just chemistry coming together.

Biochemistry is actually pretty elegant (proteins folding to make the one possible active version of themselves is a miracle in itself), but the hard part is figuring out how all the proteins interact to do what they do. That's the part that seems randomly thrown together, IMO.

I guess when knowing that all cystic fibrosis is is a mutation that deletes one amino acid - 3 missing base pairs out 158 million on one chromosome, it puts the miracle of life in perspective. That little mistake causes your lungs to constantly fill up with fluid and thus you are in danger of dying every single day. Of course, the failsafe is that you need only one working copy of the gene to escape this fate, but the fact that it's one piddly mutation that causes all the grief...

When you build a city of legos, do the lego people know why or how you do it? If there was something that was capable of creating everything we are and see, we would not be able to grasp its methods. I study biology, and the more I do, the more I marvel at the intricate design and redesigns of the living organism.

And yet, can you also see the repeated designs in various organisms? We all have a common ancestor, all animals are related and you can see how similar animals have adapted to suit their environments and fill certain niches. But if you mean to tell me that the best design for a bird that feeds on flower nectar is a tiny bird whose wings beat 200x a second and who needs to eat so frequently they're in danger of starving every single day of their life, the only thing I can do is at you. Hummingbirds exist as they are because they struggled to make life work for them. They didn't choose how they were born, they had to adjust with what they had. Many die along the way, but some flourish.

My point isn't to mock life as a joke. My point is to marvel at it, the struggle that life is at every second of every day to even exist. That's the beautiful part of it. Life makes it all work somehow.

 

[SuperFerret]

And yet, can you also see the repeated designs in various organisms? We all have a common ancestor, all animals are related and you can see how similar animals have adapted to suit their environments and fill certain niches. But if you mean to tell me that the best design for a bird that feeds on flower nectar is a tiny bird whose wings beat 200x a second and who needs to eat so frequently they're in danger of starving every single day of their life, the only thing I can do is at you. Hummingbirds exist as they are because they struggled to make life work for them. They didn't choose how they were born, they had to adjust with what they had. Many die along the way, but some flourish.

My point isn't to mock life as a joke. My point is to marvel at it, the struggle that life is at every second of every day to even exist. That's the beautiful part of it. Life makes it all work somehow.

Nothing is perfect, even things that are designed by something. That's what evolution does, it irons out the wrinkles in biology. Also, those hummingbirds are fairly efficient in what they're meant to do, in what all life is meant to do, which is to make more of themselves. That's the meaning of life, reproduction.