Life as an accident?

[paigetheoracle]

I've always thought of the idea that life is an accident as a curious idea until now. To me know as an unopposed invasion, it makes perfect sense. By this I mean everything falling into place for life to be created and evolve (A miracle but not artificially induced - instead one that just fell into place when the right conditions arose). Panspermia is no longer in favour but what if the fact that life can survive under the most adverse conditions, means that it is always waiting in the wings, to spring into action? What if Hoyle and Wikramsinghe were right about comets seeding life? (The only question then becomes 'How did it get up there in the first place?' Could it be lightweight, single celled organisms are less held back by gravity, if disturbed by catastrophes like asteroid strikes? Multi-celled organisms wiped out by collision/ changed conditions).

[Turtle]

"accident" carries a negative connotation that makes it an unfitting term here. (imho of course :shrug:) i think that the situation is better described by "emergence".

 

>> Emergence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....

[Qfwfq]

"accident" carries a negative connotation that makes it an unfitting term here

How about fluke?

[Vox]

Can you find any "scientific" article which indicates that there is "something wrong in the universe" or "it is not functioning properly"? if you will find, they all are wrong. This moment is nothing but perfet, moments before that and following moments.. to say, if life would be described as an "accident" it was a perfect one...like any other event in cosmos

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Turtle

"accident" carries a negative connotation that makes it an unfitting term here.

How about fluke?

 

mmm...i don't care for that either. :hihi: the dictionary, the one i used at any rate, includes "accident" as one of its definitions of fluke. fluke - definition of fluke by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. the negative connotations aside, neither term nestles the nuance of life as fully & completely as emergence. if even i were to allow fluke & accident are not wrong, they are not as right as emergence. :D. no; i think emergence is what the question is on about.

 

following up on that wicked article on emergence, specifically i think we want the application to complex systems. (life for all we can tell meeting the standard of a complex system.) :shrug: :D

 

Complex system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties (behavior among the possible properties) not obvious from the properties of the individual parts.[1] This characteristic of every system is called emergence and is true of any system, not just complex ones [citation needed].

 

A system’s complexity may be of one of two forms: disorganized complexity and organized complexity.[2] In essence, disorganized complexity is a matter of a very large number of parts, and organized complexity is a matter of the subject system (quite possibly with only a limited number of parts) exhibiting emergent properties. ...

 

nonetheless, moreover, and by-the-by, i simply have to quote here the Deteriorata. thank you very mush. :)

 

Deteriorata - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You are a fluke of the universe.

You have no right to be here.

Whether you can hear it or not,

The universe is laughing behind your back.

[modest]

Originally Posted by Turtle

"accident" carries a negative connotation that makes it an unfitting term here.

How about fluke?

 

mmm...i don't care for that either.

 

"chance". Shooting a hard six in craps isn't really an accident. Making two of a kind in poker isn't really a fluke. By chance we win or lose

 

Then again...

 

All nature is but art unknown to thee—all chance direction, which thou canst not see :naughty:

 

:hyper:

 

~modest

[Vox]

Why you consider/think that Universe is separate from you?

[Qfwfq]

As I have always known the word, fluke is seldom meant with negative connotation.

 

:naughty: "Ah, no fuss... 'twas only fluke!"

[Vox]

Then again...

 

All nature is but art unknown to thee—all chance direction, which thou canst not see :naughty:

 

 

~modest

 

It is and will be only unknown when you try to understand nature, if you are it, then nothing needs to be explained/understood anymore.

 

Yes all the change happens now, not "yesterday" or "tomorrow" due they are not existing anywhere else than our minds

[Turtle]

As I have always known the word, fluke is seldom meant with negative connotation.

 

;) "Ah, no fuss... 'twas only fluke!"

 

mmmm....seldom? that's too often for me. :singer: a perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke. ~ jack nicklaus

 

is there any negative connotation to emergence that you can think of? :hihi:

[Pyrotex]

It is and will be only unknown when you try to understand nature, if you are it, then nothing needs to be explained/understood anymore...

So, to understand is to fail to know. And to fail to understand is to know. And nothing needs to be understood.

 

Vox? Did you by any chance fall out of a tall tree recently? :hihi:

[modest]

is there any negative connotation to emergence that you can think of? :hihi:

 

It might imply complexity—or, a drive toward complexity.

 

~modest

[Turtle]

is there any negative connotation to emergence that you can think of?

It might imply complexity—or, a drive toward complexity.

 

~modest

 

mmmm....mmmmmm... well nows, i suppose that first i might say that emergence is a drive to simplicity, albeit perhaps a very long drive. :steering: it does not go to complexity, but rather arises from it. (note that i do not assert complexity is necessary for emergence.) by its very nature however, we can only appreciate it, emergence that is, when it, well...emerges.

 

so thens, besides matching semantic wits with you fine fellows, i keep harping on emergence here because i think it is a promising avenue to get at the question posed by the poser. i point out that while "accident" & "fluke" may give apt description of life's origins, neither is a theoretical construct and so they do little to nothing in helping us along the way. a rose by any other name -. . . . . _______:rose:

[modest]

Ok.

 

Actually, if you mean that life is an emergent property of matter then I reckon I'm already on record agreeing,

 

It is now more widely held that life is an emergent property of matter—needing no special impetus or force of animation beyond the normal laws of chemistry and physics (

Materialism

)

 

:steering:

 

~modest

[Vox]

So, to understand is to fail to know. And to fail to understand is to know. And nothing needs to be understood.

 

Vox? Did you by any chance fall out of a tall tree recently?

 

Please stay with his "paradox" for a while and you might discover something -

 

“Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind”

[Qfwfq]

mmmm....seldom? that's too often for me.

I scarcely meant the word literally. :steering:

 

I have never heard anyone say: "This is the damage that yesterday's fluke caused." In my humble books, fluke is the term that distinguishes accidental success from accidental disaster/failure.

 

is there any negative connotation to emergence that you can think of?

Yes, of course: emergency!

 

...while "accident" & "fluke" may give apt description of life's origins, neither is a theoretical construct and so they do little to nothing in helping us along the way. a rose by any other name -. . . . .

...came just as much by chance. Chaos by any other name works just as randomly. A lottery win, befallen on any other participant, is just as fortunate...

 

And yet, mathematicians study catastrophe and chaos.

[Vox]

Vox? Did you by any chance fall out of a tall tree recently?

 

I share big portion of genes with chimpanzee.. so we could agree that I have fallen from tall tree if "recently" would be described a bit wider scope ;-)