Self-directed evolution

I am putting my daughter down to sleep as I do every second night. I sing to her a few songs and then hum until she falls asleep properly. It has been this way nearly every second night for almost 3 years and I think this is normal parental behaviour.

Sometimes when I talk to other parents about the or various experiences, I am surprised at how different life can be. I understand there are many options but it is kind of funny that after 2 million years of humanity, we still aren't certain what is the best way.

This is a crocodile. They are dinosaurs and haven't changed much in 60 million years or so. That is some pretty successful adaptation to the environment considering how much the world has changed in that time. Do you think humans will make is another 58 million years?

The next 58 years are iffy.

I find evolution interesting but I am not so technical in the understanding of it. The basics I get for my narrative is that nature does the best it can by using the resources or has to react to experience the best it can. The other trick is that it introduces is randomisation through mutation increasing the probability that at least one version will survive to make it through to replicate itself.

What is kind of funny when it comes to humans is that while we understand evolution, most of us judge ourselves as being somewhat outside of the system due to our awareness of it.

What I think is that awareness means that we are the most capable species around to influence our own evolution. We do this in many ways as we can heavily affect our environment, choose what we consume as well as store resources to be utilized or consumed at a later point in time. We also have a pretty good grasp on our own complete lifecycle, with the limitation in visibility of the "after death" part.

Even in life we have control of our personal evolution as we can choose pathways of behaviour that we understand leads to different results. We can practice skills of varying degrees, eat diets knowing where it leads and build relationships with people who we believe aid our growth in some way.

From a utilitarian perspective, all relationships offer some value and we build ones that satisfy our needs. Even a romantic relationship or friendship has utility, even if it is just to satisfy our desire for companionship or, avoid loneliness. There is always a return.

The least material return might be parental as there are many more costs in time, money and energy than what will ever likely be repaid, but that doesn't mean there isn't return. After all, I feel good about myself believing that I am a good parent, that I am preparing my daughter for the world and, the belief that things things have value, that they matter.

I care.

Because I care I think that I should behave in a certain way, perform well and do the best I can. If it is a job worth doing, so to speak. This means that what we care about is going to dictate our actions and affect our behaviour in am attempt to satisfy our caring needs.

This means what we care about is going to drive our existence and our very evolution as a species, because it is our behaviour that creates the world, our wants that guide us, our relationships that allow is to perform tasks too large for one person alone.

What do you care about and, what do you do for it? Some of the greatest things humanity has ever achieved have come through what people care about. Some of the greatest horrors humanity has ever committed have come through what people care about.

Our existence in this life is a supply and demand curve. We demand, the world evolves to react to us and supplies the best it can.

Do we care enough about what we should - or too much about what we shouldn't?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
_{(from the phone of evolving thoughts)}