Why Are We Here?
In this short documentary, Dawkins takes a look at the purpose of human existance and asks the earthshaking question – Why are we here?
Pointing out that religious stories of human purpose fail miserably, Dawkins indicates that science may be able to offer a better explanation for human existence. Starting out with Darwin, he claims that Darwin’s theory of evolution may offer the only explanation for humanity’s raison d’état that we are likely to ever get.
Many religious believers may claim that answers for our existence offered by evolution theory mean that humans are nothing special, that we are just another species of animal. They are, of course, correct in saying that we are just another animal species but this does not necessarily mean that are not special.
Clearly humans are different from our animal brothers in that we have the ability to ask questions like why are we here. This also means, however, that with our ’specialness’ comes extraordinary responsibilities. This brilliant documentary helps clarify some of the arguments made by evolution and is in no way just more of the same from Dawkins.
Watch the full documentary now
I d rather say it s biased… yeah, the purpose of billions of people is to pursue e.g. technological advancements in such a manner that our lives are a piece of garbage? The purpose is to work or be happy that governments take money to claim they actually do sth e.g. fake moon trip ~ apollo 11? buahahaha… no matter he is atheist and i m as well, i think his purpose leading to some extend to consumerism is rather a bad idea. Even though this quite short movie could have been one of the best (to which i have doubts), it doesnt satisfy my rational perception of world any more that i could have said by my own
You know, I generally find Dawkins’ publishings quite interesting and tought provoking. I’ve read a number of his books, and watched other documentaries. This is the first one that made me feel skeptical inside because he seemed to be subtly encouraging viewers that the best thing that we could have done was to break away from nature and create. Possibility of being skeptical may be due to having watched a number of other documentaries of late from this site and gaining different perspectives, I’d like to acknowledge that there are definitely some good things that can be accomplished with science, but what bothered me most was Dawkins’ statement pertaining to the ability to feed the hungry, which is yet to even be accomplished at any real acceptable rate. I recommend the documentary on Monsanto which illustrates the bastardization of these positive sides to our scientific endeavors.
And I certainly agree with Jojo that it did little else to explain a possible purpose for human beings or for life itself which hadn’t already been fairly widely known or put forward.
inspiring!
Okay 2 thoughts on this:
If there is a creator, he sure as hell isn’t called “God” or “Allah” or “Jahwe” – and he definitely doesn’t care if we pray or believe in him.
If there isn’t, there might or might not be a higher purpose to our existence, in any case, we will never find out.
I could write pages on this topic – just my thoughts summarized here.
I recently commented on another doc regarding humanity’s temporary removal of itself from natural selection. This short video addressed that somewhat, but I did get the impression that Dawkins is filling in an invisible crack. I believe that civilisation (such as it is) is a blip in the natural process and technology will only sustain it for a brief time. I also believe that other civilisations have come and gone. More than we might ever know about.
As for “purpose.” That is the real question. My thoughts are we have no more purpose than does any other creature. It’s yet another concept we have invented to massage our egos. Our purpose is to live; simple as that.
To be aware that we are hear. A light in the darkness of nothing.
Nice overview about evolution. However, does not mention in any way WHY we are here. And how would Richard Dawkins know…
@Yavanna
Agreed 100%, and I also feel, that when you accept this as truth, you get a deep apprectiation for the life you have gotten(by complete fluke) and a general sense of gratitude.
well i guess we will never know why we are really here, but considering the fact that we r the only species capable of advanced logical thought processes (apparently). so the logical thing for us to do is live our lives, work to our own individual interests without undermining anyone else’s which is probably what most religions dictate.
@ Hardy:
Just sifting through the comments. what you said, we will never find out, says it very succinctly.
Unless someone who has been there, to tell us what oblivion was like?… Good luck!
My view point is there is no oblivion. Out one door and into another instantly because oblivion means there is nothing, you cannot taste, hear, see, or smell or even think oblivion, there would not be any thoughts, there would not be any time span, would there? Only to the observer that is stuck in time, not the observed.
Does this make sense? It does to me. Since we are made from energy, that can never be destroyed.
I think I know what you mean.
My idea up until 1-2 years ago of the ‘life after death’ was more a less an unconscious sleep. It is neither good, nor bad – it really doesn’t matter or bother you, just like a few hours of sleep. I’ve explained it to my friends as a state of ‘egal’, which is actually quite hard to translate from German to English. Basically the state of ‘whatever’.
In any case, through my pondering about this topic, I have lost my fear of death. I am quite interested, actually, to see whats on the other side. I don’t know it, but I also need not fear it. Without nerve cells, after all, how would I feel pain in hell?
Because of this conclusion, I’ve decided to enjoy my life as much as I can, to do as much ‘good’ (or what I perceive to be good) as I can and to keep an open mind to what is in store for me. What is behind all of this? TBH, I have no clue and I will never be able to know. That’s part of the whole mystery! After all, if we knew what this whole world was all about, it would get boring, eh?
Might have been off topic, but I guess I needed to get rid of that :-)
We are just hunks of meat – Canadians even more so!
@ Yavanna:
If there is something relevant you would like to add, than do so,
or else “but the f**ck out” I take offense to what you just said!!
The most asked question by a person on the point of death is “did I love well?” was I a good Mother/Father, friend, Daughter, Son? etc.
I think it’s all about Love.
We are heare because we are hear. If there was no reason for existing, we would not have to ask the question WHY.
@Achems Razor, I find the offense your taking to be offensive! So but the fu^k out.
Why would you advice someone not to speak unless they have nothing of value to say in a way that has not value in it self? at the risk of sounding harsh dispassionate, who cares about the offense you take except for you? If being offended is such a bad thing for you I suggest that you do it less often in the same way an alcoholic should avoid drinks.
Also, I do like what you said about oblivion. But if you say there is no oblivion, or Nothingness then are you suggesting that there is always a Somethingness? That is must something always come from something? Does it do this infinitely? Or is there at least at some level a Nothingness? A Nothingness which gave rise to something.
As far this Doc is concerned the only problem I have with it, which is a problem that I have Dawkins himself, is the anthropomorphizing of the aspects of Evolutions. To say that Natural Selection is without purpose and then attribute to it ‘selfish genes’ and ‘competition’ is hypocritical. Competition implies purpose as one can only compete to win and evolution has no winners, it has no end. And selfish genes? Genes are not fighting against other genes, according to evolutionary theory they change randomly and propagate in a species only if natural selection is pressuring the effects of the gene. That doesn’t seem selfish to me, it doesn’t seem like I could put any intention behind genes at all. I just can’t figure out why Dawkins constantly uses the language that he uses.
@ Some Guy:
In answer to your first query, I do enjoy @ Yavanna’s blogs, it was just something between him and me at the time.
If I hurt his feelings than I apologize to him.
Your second query, about nothingness, you can find on my blog about “Null Physics”
On “The Elegant Universe” March 20th 2010 at 13:17…here on TDF.
About evolution, I myself am not entirely convinced of the arguments presented.
I am an Atheist, therefore I do not believe in creationism either, there has to be more, so I lean on science for some answers.
Why are we here?
When Einstein was asked this question, he answered “Why, to help each other of course, what other reason could there be?”
Einstein makes more sense than this Dawkins fellow.
Einstein was a physicist why does he get quoted as if he were a social scientist. He’s truly been lifted to cult like status in our culture.
@young
I constantly look for his quotes to know what brand of bread to buy as well :P
@Yavanna
I agree with your point of us being hunks of meat (though so interestingly laid out) but, I think you forgot an important point. There is water and bone, as well.
That is all :P
@Achems Razor
Once again standing firm against your name? :P
The simplest explanation is that we simply cease to exist and is therefore the one Occam’s Razor would lead you to. As other beliefs would lead to whole new branches of science.
Why are we here? Quite simple really. To buy stuff!! We are born, we live, we buy some stuff, we multiply produce some more people to buy more stuff then we die. Oh wait no thats not true, some people are here to make the stuff that everyone else will end up buying. So for them, they are born, they make stuff, then they die. No?
@Luke
Consider that answer stolen. lol
S.M.M:
What is wrong with whole new branches of science, if some people did not think outside of the box, we would have nothing of what we have today!!!
Anything we have gained was usually always through opposition, why are some people so scared to think against the so called “norm”??
Because they are “Sheeple”???
we are here as a biological by product of the chemistry and physics that were available during the big bang.
we have no purpose and no intent.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
Carl Sagan
The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
For most of human history we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Who are we? What are we? We find that we inhabit an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
- Carl Sagan.
If we have no purpose and intent, then what is the driving force that causes us to be us, and if you are going to say biological, there still has to be purpose and intent.
@Achems
Well….what was the purpose of the other species of humans which have gone extinct? Surely the intent wouldn’t be failure before prosperity would it? I think our fate is just as undirected as theirs was.
Yes our fate is undirected, that is called survival of the fittest via. evolution. Foreseeing any Earth maladies or interventions of course.
the driving force that causes us to be us is our central nervous system. the drive for pleasure and comfort.
You are getting warm Epic. keep trying.
@Achems Razor
There is nothing wrong with new branches of science, but Occam’s razor favours answers that don’t need to come up with them to explain stuff. Merely pointing out the continued irony of your name.
S.M.M:
Whatever you say. getting bored with the same old, same old.
Have a good day!
This purpose of behavior that sets us apart doesn’t really hold up in our aggregate behavior. There’s plenty of chaotic behavior in the way that our economy functions and in the way that governments interact. As an aggregate, we continue to consume irreplaceable resources and pollute the environment much like a culture of bacteria uses up the nutrients in its petri dish before it dies off in its own waste. Interesting how our large scale behavior seems to mirror that of mindless microbes in spite of the spectacular intelligence that we possess as individuals.
@Epicurus
“We are here as a biological by product of the chemistry and physics that were available during the big bang.we have no purpose and no intent.For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.Carl Sagan
I watched this last night and the comments posted . I thought , why is it that when someone talks on life they assume purpose? And when talking death assume life?
You put it simple when you quote ” we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.
What is that song Randy, you’re old school, Dust in the Wind?No disrespect. You know this.
@Achems
“If we have no purpose and intent, then what is the driving force that causes us to be us, and if you are going to say biological, there still has to be purpose and intent..”
Why does there have to be anything ? Maybe it is what it is and we are biological product from a strictly cosmic era , that like the sun or everything else we belive in will cease to exist in its own time?
You guys are to sharp to be debating this.
Slainte!
@ eireannach666:
Don’t know if I ever said, there is no purpose and intent?
This might sound like new age, but our intent and driving force is consciousness, trying to know itself.
But what is consciousness you say? How can it be defined? is it just the Brain? or is the Brain a product of consciousness?
The Brain is meat, what is the “spark” that sets everything in motion.
When the meat is biologically dead (matter), energy remains, cannot be destroyed, my take is that energy is consciousness without any time constraints.
Then people have to figure out what is energy, this delves into Quantum mechanics, which people are also trying to figure out. Ad Infinitum:
@Achems_Razor
Nah , not new age. A very good point. I guess survival can be considered intent . However, I will add that consciousness or survival is really just living our natural life . Well , unless you are a vegtable.
This doc is good because it does actually explain why we are here. If you don’t understand the implications of abiogenesis and evolution then read more about it, really interesting stuff. If you came here looking more for a purpose of life, then you must realise we are not here for a purpose, it is up to you to give your life purpose and meaning. We need to take responsibility for our own lives and decisions, and not be inclined to think that fate or some other force will fix everything for us.
This doc has given me no answers whatsoever. If our forward thinking or reasoning was triggered by some genetic survival impulses that took eons to develop it begs the question why just us. I mean, why have many other animals not developed such huge leaps in genetic code like we have? So what next? Surly if evolution goes on and on like some believe, then what is the next step and the next and so on. Will a pig someday in the future be able to talk and think and want things just for the sake of having things? Will they start wars with the pigs in far of lands? Surly by that stage we will have learned to do without a physical body altogether. We won’t need emotions or even sex. Mind you we aren’t to far from that stage already. To say that it’s just “ego” to believe we, each of us, have real significance and a meaning for being here is rubbish. What is the point of forward thinking or love, sorrow, reasoning, wondering, hope, despair and so on? Surly there is a reason why we have these gifts?
I believe we are here to find the truth. The truth of who, why and where. You may think of yourself as nothing but “here today gone tomorrow” but I believe we possess a spirit or a soul and we move on, but before we can move on we need to find out what that truth is. Some believe we live many physical lives and some only one. Either way we still need to find the truth. Maybe animals move on too but just not in the same way. If my life has meaning and if there is a reason for me being here right now at this time and place then surly that reason lays in the future somewhere. The past only gives me the clues I need. All other animals rely on the past and that is why they have not developed like us. We on the other hand are here for a future reason. We don’t need to repeat the past though we often do, but it’s our future that is our main reason for being here. All major religions have some clues as to what that future is. As for science, well now what was that I said about ego? The fact is if Dawkins and his likes have their way then they will leave us with no reason to be here in the first place and then we will just die off like all the other wretched animals. Maybe pigs will overtake us in evolution and kill us with pig-made global warming or swine flu.
oh i nearly forgot to say.
Jesus is the truth.
My son passed away 9 months ago. He was 22 years old. There is life after death. Ive seen my son and Ive seen the other side. The first place he went. Do you want to know what it looks like, then in the early morning, walk into thick fog. So thick you cant see anything around you. When you go there there isnt floors, walls, nothing that we call solid. There is no time as we know it here. My son knew I was there the second or even the moment I went there. We talked by telepathy. The more intense your emotions the louder you speak. You look exactly like you did in body but the first time I saw my son I only saw from his waist up. Then I saw him in my kitchen a week and a half after his death and I could see him full body with every detail and color as if he was standing there but let me say lighter mass. Lighter in not so solid but not able to see through him either. Every single detail of his skin etc. I then saw him in my kitchen a week or so later. He had a messege for me. I sat at my kitchen table and without trying I saw to my left his hand next to me reaching out writing on a white board. It was his hand in full detail. The space next to me was dark but his hand was lit up as if he was in the room with me. Normally I would turn to him and want to hug him. But for some reason the purpose is known to you so I just watched him write on the board. each letter he wrote I still saw (expected to see) I love you. He wrote IM Ali. then he knew I wasnt seeing what he was trying to write so he kept circling the dot on top of the i untill I saw what he was truly writing. It was IM ALIVE. When your on the other side your body is gone. you see, hear, think as you do here, feel as you do here. You do not actually feel like you do with your skin. But yet you feel. My son came to me crying and put his head on my chest. It was as the same as when he was in body but yet you couldnt physically feel it but yet the effect was the same and it didnt enter your mind that you couldnt feel him. I tried to pull him back into my home with me but I couldnt physically hold onto him, but mentally held onto him. Thats when I saw him standing in my kitchen. To move on the other side you have to do it by thought and focus. Its very difficult to learn to move towards something or someone. Intense emotion, more like a adrenalin rush I would describe it will move you easily. Of course there isnt adrenaline in actuality. Its a different world there. I have practiced for twenty years metaphysical and didnt know Id need it like I do now. Im learning third eye and have seen so many things on the other side. There is valleys and beautiful places there just like here. People look the same. Some different than we do. Ive seen black holes I call them with purple to blue to green color around the black hole and when you learn to move forward through them you see peoples faces and amazing things there. Its a completely different world with different physics there. Try meditating with your third eye and visualize and go see for yourself. You have the ability to do so. There is life after death, Ive seen it and you can to. You can visit. Just depends on how much effort you want to put into it and that it is with a open heart with good intentions. My son allways thought after death there was nothing. He now knows different.
I allso forgot to say in the other post that the light is not like our light here on earth. It has different intensitys and even a very intense light does not affect your eyes as it does in physical for. Its more of if I had to try to explain it a difused light. A very clear white light. There is not really a source as here on earth. Every person or thing is lit as if light is shining on it as we know but it isnt. It is just lit. For instance you can see every detail of a persons face but there is no sunlight shining on it. You dont have the shadows and highlights. It is just all seen with its own light. It doesnt glow or anything, it just, is. There are also the vast areas of dark with nothingness and then you will see a arched doorway and it will have intense white light aluminating from the other side. But it doesnt hurt your eyes. There will be a person in a robe, very large standing in the doorway. You will acknowledge him and he will aknowledge you just by a look to each other. you know that you cannot go through the door. How you know this i cant explain except that you just know it and its accepted as such with no more thought to it. There is no strong emotions when you see this. It just is. You will also see solar systems, stars beautiful scenes. You will sometimes see the earth from far away. But the light even in the beautiful valley was very strange. It looked as if it was early evening when the sun would possibly be going down and the lights on the houses would be turning on. But it wasnt dark at the same time. There are things there that we have no words for here to explain. There are things Ive seen that I have no idea what they are. Ive had a angel I call it, wether or not thats what it was, holding a baby out to me from a distance with the babys feet facing me. A women with a beautiful full flowing gown on and beautiful clear white light radiating from her. Ive had a man that had brown hair that went little past his shoulders show himself to me and he had a cheese cloth like white shirt on, loose shirt and he held the pawm of his hand towards me and it came so close to almost touch me. Ive seen a mother in clothing from 100 years ago brushing her daughters long pretty hair. The light is pure and clean and white but not the light we are use to. You do not smell there with your nose. There is no sense of smell. But you dont miss it nor think about it when your there. It doesnt matter to you. You move yourself and do things with a body but yet you dont see your body. But I see others physical form. Why this is I dont know. You do not feel but yet a hug is just as great as it is with physical form. Its the same but different. You think the same, reason the same, have emotions, you can see the same, move, you can talk and communicate the same but through telepathy. Forget all the rest of what you know from your senses from a phyical body. It is then by soul, energy, love, will, intention, thought, emotion. This is what you have to use on the other side. This is what Ive learned and experienced so far. Ive got alot more to experience and learn. But for now this explains a little about the other side. A drop in the bucket literally. Look up near death experiences. Its interesting but learn to use your third eye and its alot different seeing it for yourself.
I’m very honoured to receive this information teresa..oh my..i’ve just remembered..I had an angel reading from a complete stranger i was introduced to by my friend..this is now beginning to freak me out a bit.
It said a woman called teresa will be of great significance. A few nights ago I dreamt that I had a near death experience, although it was me in observer roll and I was being shown that if I dont stop smoking (i think it was that) then I would have to go through this or maybe it is the only way i will let go of my past??..
This is all too synchronistic for me.. better take heed.. also in my reading there was a bit about unicorns, before i believed angels, fairies, unicorns! to be the preserve of new agers but now i’m not so sure.
Anyway thank you for your insights, I fully believe you. God Bless
WOW….what a coincidence! My pocketwatch is of the same make as the one he picked up on the heath! Looks like a Chronometer Lip of French origin. Now I know that R.D. is an avowed atheist and with all that does happen on this planet I am pendulumn-like swinging back and forth from belief to dis-belief on this matter. After watching “Did Darwin kill God?” and the narrator professing his belief in both Darwins Theory of Natural Selection and a belief in God and then them throwing in the theory of Memetics…I am really confused now and finding out that rice and grapes have way more genes than we humans do…what’s up with that? Arguably something happened and maybe someday with our innate curiousity we will solve this conumndrum…or will we. Is God Nature or is there an Intelligent Designer? I’ll leave it up to you. I am getting a headache!!! Thanks Vlatko! regardless, the docs you post are the best. Time to break out my Darwin and Bible and what the hell maybe my Milton and Blake books also…But for soothing of my battered soul there’s always Kahlil Gibrahn to fall back on!
It seems to me that Dawkins’ little diatribe here fails to adequately answer his question. “Why Are We Here?” cannot be answered with “Because we are here.” You’d think as brilliant a mind as his wouldn’t fail to see such a basic thing as circular reasoning. Just an opinion.