Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Atheism - episode 1

There are a lot of reasons why I'm an atheist. They include things like belief in chance, and the random movement of molecules. A strong belief in democracy and a reluctance to think in moral absolutes. A sense of privacy and the knowledge that very little actually matters to normal people, much less a god.
But one argument that baffles me is evolution. How can anyone look at the totally random way some life has evolved and tell me that was a coscious decision on anyone's part? A consciousness would be smarter.
Think of all the dumbest looking animals you can. Platypus. What the fuck? They're wobbly, egg-laying, poisonous, swimming mammals that can detect electric fields generated by muscle movement (wait, what?). Think about why they look goofy. See how they walk, with their belly hanging down, like they ate too much. They'd make more sense with normal teeth like an otter but no, they've got a bill like a duck, so as to dig in river sand and eat things there (i guess). So basically, they could have been a nice water-loving, cold-blooded bird thing, but they had to ride the tree all the way to mammals before they decided, "Hey those birds might have the right idea of things"...
Anyone could see that the poor platypus would be happier if it's legs were longer or if it had bigger teeth so as to maybe hunt fish and frogs. It could avoid attack without poison. Get away or maybe attack back. That would make the platypus a happier animal. A better self-defense system.
Now look at the human reproductive system. This cannot have been a conscious invention. Its too dumb. Your vital reproductive organ rips itself to shreds periodically in order to function properly. How does that make sense? You'd think that lining would be important to have in order for an egg to latch on and grow. A seed needs plenty of dirt, right? Nope. You have to periodically purge the lining in order for there to be little enough to satisfy an egg. But every egg doesnt always latch on. They dont tell you in bio or in sex ed that fertilized eggs sometimes, actually often, never find a place to settle and so never grow. Maybe thats cuz your body's so damn busy purging all that nice spongy egg-growing stuff! This system is moronic. Anyone with half a brain could come up with a more efficient way to reproduce. And dont tell me there's some sort of moral lesson to this because thats just stupid. There's no morality in irony.
Every funcional aspect of an animal is actually an extremely roundabout and inefficient way to function. When something works well, it's a marvel (cockroaches: efficient, strong, resourceful,adaptive and still alive). When humans invent things, usually we think of the most efficient way to achieve our goal before we set out. Evolution's only measure of what works is what creatures aren't dead before reproduction. Any random mutation that works will continue, but you have to wait for the lottery to get it. And then, when the mutation reproduces, you still have a chance of losing it! If there were a consciousness present at any point, it wouldnt be quite so outlandishly absurd, inefficient, and pointless.
I guess unlike most people, the idea that life is pointless is actually a comfort to me. Means if i dont get it, there's nothing to get, and no reason to sweat it. Another reason i'm an atheist.
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