"If sentience did not abate the accidents of a blind universe, what meaning had sentience itself?" (p.161)
"'A cosmos of random changes must be senseless, ultimately self-destructive. In it could be no freedom.
"Has the universe therefore brought forth sentience, in order to protect and give purpose to its own existence? That is not an answerable question.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, July 1991), PART SIX, 1990 A. D., p. 435.
The two main philosophical questions are the natures of time and of consciousness. My two favourite kinds of science fiction are future histories and time travel. Poul Anderson's main future history series is the Technic History and his most substantial work concerning time travel is the Time Patrol series. Thus, it is good to find parallel passages in these two major series.
13 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
God created the universe and intelligent races like mankind from caritas, because He wanted other sentiences capable of declaring to Him "I am." That is what Dante wrote in the DIVINE COMEDY, and I believe the poet was right.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
That assumes that consciousness, i.e., God, is primary. I think that it is emergent. First, being. Then, consciousness.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Whereas I believe it was the other way about: a Primary Cause, God, existed first.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes but the evidence is that this universe began to exist, then conscious organisms evolved within it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
* I * would have said we INTERPRET that evidence differently. God created the universe at the Big Bang and life/conscious organisms thru the laws (including evolution) He instilled in the cosmos.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But that God created the universe is a statement that goes beyond the evidence. It is a doctrine of faith.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But neither does it contradict the evidence.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But it is not an INTERPRETATION of the evidence.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
At the very least what I wrote COMMENTS on the evidence.
Ad astra! Sean
Why should the universe have any "meaning"? Meaning only occurs inside the heads of human beings. Then we project it onto other things, which in fact merely exist in and of themselves
I completely agree. The universe does not refer to anything outside itself and thus cannot mean anything. We can find value and significance (maybe better words) in the way we live. Conscious beings create value. They do not find it already waiting for them in the preconscious universe.
Paul: true. But bear in mind that Vikings, Temujin-era Mongols, and Stalin all found value and significance in their lives, too.
If we create value (and I agree we do), then basically value is an -opinion-.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I seriously doubt the victims of the Vikings, Genghis Khan era Mongols, or Stalin would have approved of what they valued or found "meaningful"!
As one prayer from the Viking Age put it: "Save us from the fury of the Northmen, O Lord!"
Ad astra! Sean
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