what is life exactly?

[Timber Loftis]

, since I'm pretty much a nihilist (nothing matters)

Dude, say whatever you want about the tenets of Nationalist Socialism, but at least it's an ethos. -- The Big Lebowski

In the words of Chef from South Park..."That doesn't make any G$#@$&% sense!"

I plead the Chewbacca Defense.

[Tom]

1) Ability to reproduce
2) Ability to respond to environment/stimuli
3) Have a life cycle, birth>life>death
4) Have cells
5) Ability to manipulate energy.

[Dadams1]

Hogwash! If other animals feel threatened by something they will attack and kill it by whatever means at their disposal. They will attack and/or kill anything which invades what they perceive as their claimed territory.

Humans do this, but we go further, and destroy innocents and those who have done nothing to call for the slaughter.

Plenty of organism would multiply and wreak havok if left unchecked by competing organisms or environmental limitations. We are unique in the fact that we can create our own environmental conditions to propigate ourselves (build shelters, wear clothing, grow food, etc.).

Animals build shelters too, and establish their own environmental conditions, or didn't you notice? Birds' nests? Bear caves? Rabbit warrens? Even anthills. Come on, man.

We can augment any of our physical limitations through the use of tools. Unlike other animals, we are intelligent enough to at least try to limit ourselves without the need for competing organisms or environmental limitations.

We are the weakest and most unsensible form of life on the planet, and what we call our "intelligence" is merely an advanced form of the need to expand. As you can see, intelligence does not mean anything. Animals do what they can in order to survive and reproduce. We do these things (for the most part), but we also do things that are completely irrelevant to our survival, the biggest example of which is probably art. Society created the need for laws, and the need for war. I say need... What I mean is the incentive. Humans are lesser because we do these useless things, malicious and wicked as some of them are. Hating someone is detrimental to your survival, thus hate is useless and not heard of in the animal world.

Just trying to make my point a little clearer...

[Dron_Cah]

feeling a bit self-loathing, dadams? [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] And, I dont think people building sky-scrapers, and a bear hibernating in a cave are very comparable, IMO. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Dadams1]

Yeah, actually I hate myself and want to die ahahahaha.

But oh well. Just kidding.

[burnzey boi]

but how is it that a monkey evolved into a cave man then reached the middle ages discovered science in the modern ages. there must be an explanation how we've traveled so far in a matter of centuaries..

[Stratos]

The human race is 150 000-200 000 years old (if you go by the evolutionist thinking.) Most of this time, humans were 'cavemen', and most of the developments and discoveries are recent events. The creation of agriculture, and later on, cities and states probably has alot to do with the rapid development. You spend less time fending off wild animals and more time thinking about the nature of things.