Saturday, October 10, 2020

The goal of teleology





I used to believe in a kind of evolutionary teleology, in which the emergence of human-like intelligence was bound to happen, sooner or later, not because of chance or blind necessity, but due to some kind of "law" or even "plan". Ironically, I believed in teleology even during my materialist period! Over the years, I have drifted away from "hard" teleology to a much softer position. At the moment, I wonder whether "teleology" captures my position at all.

Yes, the potential for intelligent beings to emerge certainly exists within the universe. Indeed, this might be a "spiritual" property of the cosmos which really comes from elsewhere. However, the universe and its Buddha-field is pregnant with innumerable other possibilities, too. Even when we speak of intelligence, there are several intelligent creatures on planet Earth: chimps, ravens, whales, octopi... There are also huge variations between individual humans when it comes to intelligence (in all its forms). If you believe in the paranormal, the number of intelligent entities rise even more sharply. So what makes us think that human intelligence is the teleological goal of the entire infinite 15-billion year universe? Not even "intelligence" itself might be a goal. Perhaps it always existed...

From the viewpoint of the Divine, humans are just as tiny as blue-green algae. "But God communicates with humans". What makes you think he doesn't communicate with blue-green algae?

As for human history, there doesn't seem to be any teleology at all. But sure, you can postulate it, if you like. But so could Hegel or that Florentine humanist who believed 15th century Florence was the zenith of human civilization (as a good Gerrie, Hegel naturally chose 19th century Germany). Or you could grab the bull by its horns and say that there is no teleology in history. 

History seems contingent. There are many instances where it could have taken an entirely different course. Hitler and the Axis could have defeated the Allies. Operation Valkyrie could have succeeded. The October revolution could have failed. The United States could (perhaps) have refrained from invading Iraq. The Arabs, the Mongols or the Turks could have conquered Central Europe. And what if the Natives in the New World had developed "herd immunity" against European disease?

How would history had looked like if the 14th century plague epidemic had never happened, if certain volcanoes had never erupted, or certain comets never impacted Earth? Or if Julian the Apostate had been emperor for as long as Constantine? (The battle of Salamis doesn't count.)

Where in all this is the teleology? And more importantly: What is the "goal" anyway?

Maybe the only telos is the infinite creativity of Brahman... 

28 comments:

  1. A 17-year old girl with Aspergers endorses a 78-year old man with dementia praecox. A second-rate TV show host and first-rate tax dodger makes a speech at a balcony of a white house. A very fat man who used to be in charge of a New York suburb called "New Jersey" is released from a hospital. Another fat man shows off his rockets in a town previously inhabited by unicorns. Two tribes in a hill tract who interpret the death of a mysterious carpenter 2000 years ago somewhat differently agree on a ceasefire.

    10th October 2020 in a world without teleology.

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  2. You think the Andorians give a damn? Or the Mandalorians...

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  3. Has the Spartacist League been exterminated by the corona virus?

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  4. The non-avian dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago.

    That's 66 million years.

    Yet, it feels like yesterday. "Modern period" = mammals "dominate Earth".

    We don't really understand deep time.

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  5. I'm old enough to remember when Jimmy Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan. That makes me freaking old. Carter (who is pushing 100) is even older.

    Now, try to imagine 66 million years...

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  6. It's funny to imagine that an intelligent race of reptoids might have roamed the Earth for a couple of million years, and we would never even know! Especially not if they were so intelligent that they never destroyed their living environment...

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  7. But we are God's special darlings, or atheist supermen destined to conquer the galaxy, right?

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  8. God might save us one of these days, but just you wait until he resurrects the stegosaurid reptoids of the Emerald Forest of Laurasia...

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  9. Anta att ur-atomen hade någon form av medvetande, och mänskligheten uppstod för att åtminstone något av detta medvetande skulle finnas kvar när explosionen slog ut det centrala medvetandet.

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  10. Jag lutar att allt har ett slags ur-medvetande. Alltså panpsykism. Vilket egentligen inte motsäger en form av dualism. Var kommer medvetandet ifrån från början?

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  11. Taliban just endorsed Donald Trump.

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  12. The coalitions in US politics have never been broader.

    Joe Biden: Richard Spencer, Greta Thunberg, George W Bush, Bob Avakian, LRP-COFI, the Pope, China, Satanic Temple.

    Donald Trump: Taliban, QAnon, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, John Michael Greer, Ashtar Command Book Blog strongly suspected.

    Hmmm...

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  13. I forgot to mention David Horowitz. So he is on the same side as the Taliban?

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  14. The popular fronts haven't been this weird since Chairman Hua's Three Worlds theory...

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  15. "Jag lutar att allt har ett slags ur-medvetande. Alltså panpsykism." Som Blavatsky, Besant, Tingley, Bailey. (Och jag antar också Steiner, även om jag har undviket att läsa honom.) Apropå allianser. ;-) Sämre sällskap kan man ha....

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    1. Vem kommer du att välja, Adyar, Pasadena, eller United Lodge? Men du bör nog stänga ner bloggen innan du ansöker om medlemskap, om de kan läsa denna har du nog inte en chans. ;-)

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  16. PS. Var kan man läsa om att Vietnam stöder Trump?

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  17. Nja, det var snarast en geopolitisk reflektion...

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  18. Jag har bara den senaste månaden eller spå utvecklats i en mer panpsykisk icke-dual riktning. Fast problemet med en sådan syn är att den inte riktigt kan förklara ondskan. Där finns det ju fortfarande en dualitet, mellan ont och gott. Det är ju detta som gör t ex gnostikerna instinktivt tilltalande...

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  19. Samtidigt är det ju av metafysiska skäl svårt att tro på en *total* dualism av gnostisk eller markionitisk typ.

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  20. Ondskan verkar fundamentalt obegriplig. Vi kanske på något sätt befinner oss långt "ner" i den metafysiska kedjan... Varför? Det vet vi inte.

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  21. Varför syndade Adam och Eva? För att de missbrukade den fria viljan? Hur kunde de göra det? De var ju perfekta och hade allt man kunde önska sig. Eller var Adam och Eva faktiskt inte perfekta? Då var Gud medansvarig till fallet. Osv...

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  22. Såg inte det du skrev om vilka jag ska ansluta mig till. Ha ha, ingen av dem, tror jag.

    Är ULT fortfarande Blavatsky-Judge-ortodoxa?

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  23. Vet ej, Men de som tror att jag jag är paranoid kan kanske använda sig av det jag skrev här.

    https://kiremaj70.blogspot.com/2020/10/aterigen-till-bingcom.html

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  24. Har kollat. Just nu ligger förtalstråden högst. Dock inget om Erik XIV. Underligt nog kommer ett inlägg av mig upp också, "En ny teori om wärlden" där vi diskuterar Steiner!

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  25. Erik XIV försvann får nån halvtimme sen men jun nu är han tillbaka längst mer på sidan 2. Jag har en skärmdump av den sidan. PS, Ja, din blogg kommer ofta upp på B ng ppm mas söker på mitt namn men så vitt jag kan se aldrig på Google.

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  26. PS. Det var jag, men mitt efternamn kommer inte med när jag skriver på Safari.

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