Discussion Why the universe has created us capable of self-destruction?

[Deleted-User-0]

We could have been totally unaware of the possibility of self-destruction like most of the animals (I said most as some animals like dolphins apparently commit suicide) however the universe has evolved us in a way to realise the act of self-destruction as a possibility, but why?

 

[esse_est_percipi]

I'm not sure that there is any conscious purpose behind our ability to willingly self-destruct. It is maybe just a by-product of the evolution of consciousness to the point of self-consciousness, as with humans and possibly a few other animals.

I mean, when you have a being with a sense of self, self-awareness and also awareness of its own death, that it will die at some point in the future, like humans, then intentionally causing the death of the self will naturally arise as a possibility.

Then again, some insects will actually commit suicide, but only to protect the colony, and it is probably only an instinct with no real awareness behind it. "Some species of social insects will commit suicide in an act of altruism through autothysis. These insects will sacrifice themselves if the colony is in danger, to alert the colony of danger, or if they become diseased they will sacrifice themselves to prevent the colony from becoming diseased. " (Wikipedia article on animal suicide).

So maybe suicide in humans is just a very refined and sublimated form of insect self destruction. It is nature's way of 'protecting' the human gene pool or something.

 

[Superdeterminist]

I think it's just a case of having enough intelligence to know that it can be done and that it solves the problem of individual suffering. And the reason we evolved higher intelligence is, in simple terms, because it was advantageous for survival.

It could be, as you noted, that other animals are also aware of the capacity for suicide. We aren't born with an awareness of suicide but we can learn it, just as we can learn many other things.

 

[AllReturnsToNothing]

I'm no professional evolutionary biologist but honestly there are lots of animals that commit suicide given the right circumstances. Guinea pigs for example will literally starve themselves out of loneliness so it wouldn't surprise me if it has or has had some evolutionary function.

Extrapolating off of that (and probably only very tangentially related) why does life even exist? The natural order of the universe is complete entropy so why is it that instead of trending towards states of entropy, atoms formed molecules that eventually became complex enough to develop mechanisms to go AGAINST entropy? Like how fucked up is that? Our entire existence can be boiled down to the defiance of an uncaring universe which ultimately doesn't matter in the end since eventually the universe will completely decay and entropy will win as it was always meant to be. Just something that's been on my mind lately.

Obviously this is coming from a secular perspective on the origin of life, not looking for a discussion involving personal belief here. Believe whatever you need to if it makes you want to die less.