Human purpose not so narrow
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Editor,
What is the purpose of humankind on Earth? James Pettit has urgently written here to “serve God or be destroyed.” Readers might be wise to consider other hypotheses than only that one. Just as a non-believer cannot “prove” that Pettit’s vengeful god does not exist, neither can Pettit “prove” that Thor or Odin do not exist. Stalemate.
Since “proof” seems not to be available, what else might be done to better understand? Here are at least three possibilities: (1) Look for evidence — but be careful because emotional exuberance is not the same as truth. (2) Examine statistical probabilities to give some definition to the likelihood of something being true. (3) Consider alternative explanations and hypotheses.
Option No. 3 is a worthy direction to explore. It seems that humans have an amazing ability to categorize information. From an early beginning of the ability to have single words likely came the expansion into combining words/concepts, seeing relationships, causes and effects (some accurate but others quite wrong), making predictions, etc.
Along this journey of language expansion (associated with the special development of the cortex in the human brain) there seem to have been quantum leaps both in the development of the brain itself, and also in the kinds of knowledge, which developed and built upon itself. Just realizing that the Earth was not flat was one such leap; suddenly what is available to humankind (both in actual substance and in new thinking) jumps to another level.
Today scientists are discovering relationships and possibilities which are exponentially building concrete basic understandings and also pushing the boundaries of new knowledge to come. Physicists now have many potent hypotheses to describe the origin of universes and life itself.
The use of knowledge has always been uneven. It took 200 years for the church to give credit to Galileo. So, today, Mr. Pettit still promotes a vengeful god as his explanation for the purpose of humankind. Another hypothesis is that there is no predestined purpose for humankind. Rather, humans build purpose and meaning as we go.
Gene Johnson
Polson
