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Life PurposeI strive to positively contribute to evolutionary progress in my generation in the most significant way I can. The things I choose to do satisfy these three criteria:
My role in the Universe and the evolution of life is what is most important to me. I do not selfishly just strive to go to "heaven" -- it's not about me. It's about the Universe and the evolution of life on Earth and beyond. It's about how I can contribute to that. I am just a part of something much bigger than myself. I am not a materialistic person, nor am I selfish. Happiness is a means, not an end. I seek to understand and thoughtfully manage my human animal nature so that I am not very distracted by basic needs, and can focus more on the intellectual things and contributing to making the world a better place instead of just my own interests. Basic instincts and needs include sufficient comfort but not excess luxury and consumption, family and romance (DNA surviving in next generation), social status (ego, competing), dietary desires (natural, not modern junk food), and so on, and try to balance things to maintain maximum health, both mentally and physically. However, all these are just basic needs, not goals or ends. Everything fits into a bigger picture. I strive for maximum productivity in life, both quality and quantity. Some people have a selfish purpose to just go to heaven, and follow some rules to get there, e.g., following some egomaniac preacher's authority, or some ancient book written in primitive times. I don't believe in that kind of heaven any more than I believe in Santa Claus. I do believe in a holy spirit which is not specific to any particular religion, and consider denominationalism and religious warfare sins. I am sure of my connection to a holy spirit. I do not follow a particular religion or denomination or dogma. (The closest thing to my outlook is Buddhism, though I'm not 100% conforming to any of its sects.) One thing to emphasize is that I don't believe in religion just for "saving souls" and "personal salvation" and all that salesmanship to selfishness and individualism. Life is about doing things for the world, to improve things. We are part of something much bigger, and should not think we are just individuals, even after death. Our first order of business is saving our own species from extinction, which I cover in my one-web-page summary, www.HumankindSurvival.com The above website summarizes my purpose and main work concisely, as well as where I see the world is going, including with human-created artificial intelligence transcending humans, and basically creating god in the image of man, rather than the other way around. The beginning of the home page of this website also covers my purpose in life. Nevertheless, many years back, I wrote this section on "Purpose", so I will include a lot of what I wrote, in the text below, edited a little bit just to work into the newer version of this website a little more smoothly.
The advancing of human technology to the potential of causing human extinction, and destruction to so much life on this unique planet in the Universe, is why I dedicated my life to promoting space settlement, starting in the 1980s. I added a website in the late 1990s, which is now: www.spacesettlement.com Its goal is to get life from planet Earth off into outer space, where life will survive self-sufficiently and not dependent on supplies from Earth, so that humans can survive any catastrophe on Earth such as a human extinction event. I'm not into dreaming, I'm into practical, sustainable ways, to really make it happen. Space settlement will be a difficult life. It's not for people to take a holiday and then return to all their creature comforts on Earth. Life will be difficult and rustic out there for the early years. I realize that romantic visions can sell it into financial sustainability, but we must be careful to send people who understand what they're getting into, and are committed for purpose in life. The vision I am an advocate of is a school of thought and work of professionals who I joined for developing space using materials already in space -- asteroids near Earth and lunar material -- not blasting up everything from Earth. For example, the pioneers of America and Australia did not bring their bricks and cement from Europe, but used local materials. I am convinced that humans on Earth will destroy ourselves by emerging biotechnology or nanotechnology, and that this will happen a lot sooner than most people realize at this time. For the first time in the history of the Earth, a species has the capability to technologically modify viruses, and to create new novel super pathogens from synthetic biology. This is pushed by commercial races among drug companies to produce new vaccines and treatments. It includes creating more contagious strains in laboratories in order to test vaccines and treatments. It cannot feasibly be controlled. Money desires and wanton selfish greed are part of our DNA, and we will destroy ourselves before we reform our DNA. There are also military interests working on this, but I think those are less a threat than money interests. (Consumers also see genetically modified crops and GMOs (organisms), the tip of the ongoing R&D.) An accident is just waiting to happen. It takes only one. We are developing the technology to destroy our own species, and this now-new technology will certainly progress in the years to come to dangerous capabilities. It will most likely be a laboratory accident. (I wrote about this many years before COVID-19. Regardless of whether or not COVID-19 was a lab leak, what matters is just the technological capability of things far worse than COVID-19.) A supervirus could kill only our species, or a nanite could wipe out lots of other life on this planet as well, especially animals, and nearly the entire food chain. I think this will happen in my generation. Actually, I'm sure. But in any case, because the continued existence of our species is on the line, it's our responsibility in this generation to solve this problem in a practical and effective way. It is not enough to just take care of your family, like a typical mammal. As humans in this generation, we have greater responsibilities. Even as regards your family, it will all be for naught if your children or other descendants are wiped out by new technology in synthetic biology. You have a chance now to do something about it, but there will be no second chance once it happens. You can't turn back the clock, so the time is now to do something.
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