Learning

As conscious and intelligent organisms, we are here to learn. Are we? I do not believe that we were created to fulfill any purpose. However, now that consciousness and intelligence have evolved, it is natural to use them to learn. I regard knowledge not only as a means to practical ends like survival but also as an end in itself. It is good to know about the universe - I think, although I have met people who deny it.

So what do we learn? Two practical kinds of knowledge are:

(i) how to achieve existing ends more effectively;
(ii) the error of our ways.

Queen Gunnhild, wife of Eirik Blood-ax and the title character of Poul Anderson's Mother Of Kings, learns nothing of (ii) and has only a limited ability to learn (i).

"She had better not get angry with him. The abidingly faithful could become few."
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book Three, Chapter III, p. 196.

The abidingly faithful become very few for rulers who are callous and overbearing. Eirik's opponent gains an enthusiastic following by promising justice and the restoration of ancient freedoms. Gunnhild's reflections continue:

"It was not enough to hope for victory. She must learn beforehand how to deal with the worst of outcomes, for her sons, her daughters, the blood that ran in them." (ibid.)

Gunnhild is a determined survivor (i). But she does not learn whether Eirik and she have conducted themselves in ways that put their children at risk (ii). Meanwhile, it is good to live in a period when ambitious politicians must campaign in elections, not divide the country between warring armies!