Teleology Part Two

DNA is a complex chemical organization that, from itself, can create organs and organisms. It appears to operate deterministically. From this creating humans glean a sense of purpose and creativity. It is possible that all human insights, expressed as religion, science or philosophy, are derived from the experience of our DNA activities, from the living patterns of our construction.

The first major step in the evolution of the human brain came with a special sense of self, an awareness of this this as opposed to the this in regular this and that interactions. Ethics, then, had its origin in a Self that could empathize with other selves. The two main ingredients that are missing from atheistic ideas about evolution are found in the questions is it personal? and is it purposeful? I’d say it is both. Despite the contributions of genetics and memes it is still an individual self that has evolved as personal and purposeful. If that were not the case why would a self need any other or a shared sense of reality. It is possible that destruction of ecosystems will bring about the demise of humans as a species. After all genetics favors bacteria with adaptation success that spans a few billion years on the planet Earth.

A third step in human evolution came when the human brain came to visualize metaphors of how the senses and the brain operate. Examples; sight allowed invention of the camera; sound permitted the construction of radios; neuronal feedback in the brain suggested invention of computers. In short all of these inventions come from seeing the activities of the senses and the brain as metaphors for creative endeavors.