Postulate
I always assume the premise of a supreme architect. If you are uncertain of this, you may want to debate with me first. Nonetheless, you may find my latest ponder below to be interesting.
I’ve had many conversations about evolution and existence and/or creation. Today I was sitting in my office chair leaned back with my hands clasped together rested on the table, holding a long stare into a blank white wall while I thought over my most recent teleological discussions and I had a thought.
Many people have considered that we are possibly an experiment. If this were assumed to be true, then it would pose the question – what kind of experiment? Why?
What if the experiment of humanity, created by a supreme architect, is for the purpose of identifying the genetic markers and traits that separate humans with desirable qualities from those that are not desirable.
Desirable for what you might ask? It’s a where actually – “Heaven”, of course.
Life Extension and Senescence
I read an article in National Geographic yesterday (April 2013 issue), which described genetic markers that scientists are identifying which are common among individuals with increased resistance to certain senescent illnesses (things old people are often afflicted by); such as cancer, diabetes, alzheimer’s, heart disease, etc.
The idea behind these studies and experiments is to improve our underlying genetics to become more resistance and potentially immune to these illnesses.
I presume, similar to a vaccine, modified benign viruses are one possible catalyst with strong likelihood for hosts of genetic improvement. Nanotech is another, though far off. Either way, it seems obvious to me, when considering some of this new science on the horizon, that there is a strong likelihood for success in eliminating illness, and ultimately extend our lives indefinitely.
The ideas of life extension and genetic enhancement are quickly moving from the realm of science fiction to reality, and this thought combined in my mind with my recent teleological debates and also possibly merged with ideas on the ethics of genetic manipulation and their relation to God (recently observed this on the show Fringe).
These 2-3 ideas, when mentally merged, led me to consider something I had not thought of before. If mankind were “designed” and “programmed” to self improve our own DNA, then what if there is a reason that this is the study we are are collectively embarking upon.
If an advanced race or being were to create a lesser race out of raw materials then it may want to test indefinite permutations of these materials to find groups of combinations that were relatively unique, but also work well with each other. This would result in control groups, or a single large control group, that would make perfect inhabitants in an environment staged for a another purpose, without worrying about distractions that these individuals may cause one another if afflicted by intense greed, illness or erroneous behavior.
This sounds to me like the perfect candidates for “Heaven”.
Existence
You might consider, if a supreme being or beings existed with these kinds of capabilities, they could simply simulate the best combinations and retrieve “the winning personalities”.
I agree with this. It may re-define our existence.
Human Existence – a (tangible?) physical simulation designed to allow the self replicating internal agents (that’s us) to determine an ideal state for themselves (incl. genetic) based on predefined initial parameters (physics and absolute truths).
This is similar to an artificial bee colony algorithm and would result in a race of humans perfectly suited to solving difficult tasks encountered in their physical realm.
If we can perfectly adapt to our own physical realm, then we might make good candidates for assisting in any realms that may lie beyond.
human purpose machine 