Why does life want to survive?

I mean, the need to survive is what drives evolution, it's ingrained in literally every single living thing on Earth, but why? Life is just an insanely complex mix of chemicals, and yet they fight to stay alive, and pretty much everything an animal does is for the purpose of survival and continuation of their species. It just blows my mind beyond belief to think that all these species have the exact same ultimate goal, yet for no apparent reason... I mean, why surive? What's the point? I know there's no definitive answer to this, but I'd like to hear some your insane and/or stupid theories.

Only something that has the will to survive can go on to reproduce. Natural selection dictates this trait becomes dominant.

Why does physics dictate that which we clas*ify as "life" comes to exist in the first place? I don't know. Just because. I don't suppose that there needs to be any particular rhyme or reason to the laws of nature. At some point, something just is, and there's no real reason.

Of course, some people would say everything exists becasue of God or something similar to that, but that would just lead right back to the similar question of why God exists.

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

I mean, the need to survive is what drives evolution, it's ingrained in literally every single living thing on Earth, but why? Life is just an insanely complex mix of chemicals, and yet they fight to stay alive, and pretty much everything an animal does is for the purpose of survival and continuation of their species. It just blows my mind beyond belief to think that all these species have the exact same ultimate goal, yet for no apparent reason... I mean, why surive? What's the point? I know there's no definitive answer to this, but I'd like to hear some your insane and/or stupid theories.

yabbicoke

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

Animatronic64

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

[QUOTE="yabbicoke"]

I mean, the need to survive is what drives evolution, it's ingrained in literally every single living thing on Earth, but why? Life is just an insanely complex mix of chemicals, and yet they fight to stay alive, and pretty much everything an animal does is for the purpose of survival and continuation of their species. It just blows my mind beyond belief to think that all these species have the exact same ultimate goal, yet for no apparent reason... I mean, why surive? What's the point? I know there's no definitive answer to this, but I'd like to hear some your insane and/or stupid theories.

cybrcatter

Regardless of my sobriety, I still think it's a fascinating question.

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

my_mortal_coil

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

[QUOTE="cybrcatter"][QUOTE="yabbicoke"]

I mean, the need to survive is what drives evolution, it's ingrained in literally every single living thing on Earth, but why? Life is just an insanely complex mix of chemicals, and yet they fight to stay alive, and pretty much everything an animal does is for the purpose of survival and continuation of their species. It just blows my mind beyond belief to think that all these species have the exact same ultimate goal, yet for no apparent reason... I mean, why surive? What's the point? I know there's no definitive answer to this, but I'd like to hear some your insane and/or stupid theories.

yabbicoke

Regardless of my sobriety, I still think it's a fascinating question.

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

yabbicoke

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

yabbicoke

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

I dunno. Animals exhibit conciousness, they sense stimuli through perception and react to it. They "live" without being aware of their own "life". Maybe it's as simple as a knee-jerk reaction to pain. Pain is negative, enough of it will lead to death. So an animal avoids pain and thus "survives"?

But what of the organisms who might not feel pain? Apparently fish don't have the capacity to feel pain ... so that logic can't apply. Bacteria?

I dunno.

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

yabbicoke

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

[QUOTE="yabbicoke"]

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

cybrcatter

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

Well yeah, our intelligence adds an immense depth to the will to surive, but when you boil it down it's still pure instincts, which leave my question unanswered. Why does life have this most basic instinct? Why does it want to surive, even life that has no conscience wants to live... why!?

[QUOTE="yabbicoke"]

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

StopThePresses

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

Yeah, it's known that other primates and even other animals like dolphins and elephants pass self-awareness tests. I have heard of parrots also possessing self-awareness. Even though we can't test em, I bet anyone a dollar whales are also self-aware.

EDIT: How weird it is for me to think of a whale looking in a mirror and thinking, "I am whale, hear me moan."

[QUOTE="cybrcatter"][QUOTE="yabbicoke"]

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

yabbicoke

Well yeah, our intelligence adds an immense depth to the will to surive, but when you boil it down it's still pure instincts, which leave my question unanswered. Why does life have this most basic instinct? Why does it want to surive, even life that has no conscience wants to live... why!?

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

yabbicoke

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

yabbicoke

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

Many other animals have self-awareness, and I'm not sure "free will" is even a well-defined concept.

How do we know only certain animals are sentient? Just because a test proves it's self-aware doesn't mean a mouse or even a cockroach isn't. We can't comprehend how other organisms percieve the world so we shouldn't be too comfortable with our beliefs. It's possible every living thing is self aware to some extent; trees, grass, mold, jellyfish or even bacteria. It just cannot be proved or disproved. While I personally feel it's hard to believe a tapeworm would have any philosophical insights, I do at least think if a creature can suffer from boredom it has some notion of being alive. After all, if it likes toys and observing how the world works and then becomes depressed if it is shut in an empty room then it enjoys life. There are plenty of animals like this: dogs, cats, parrots, cephalopods, primates, dolphins, whales, elephants, rats, possibly even crocodillians.

I thought it was something called instinct. It is something ingrained in all life. I wish I could detach myself from it. Only because it is my belief that living life causes the pain of other living beings. I'm just not comfortable with that.

I thought it was something called instinct. It is something ingrained in all life. I wish I could detach myself from it. Only because it is my belief that living life causes the pain of other living beings. I'm just not comfortable with that.

DEVILinIRON

Life is all about survival in the first place. Whether we admit it or not, we all want to survive and be at the top. And your question "Why does life want to survive" has no definitive answer as you mention.

[QUOTE="my_mortal_coil"]

[QUOTE="Animatronic64"]

Why survive? Because you want to. If you don't want to, well, you know what to do.

yabbicoke

It's really as circular as this.

To be, or not to be?

It's part of Will, and Will is based in awareness. Once you know you are, you want to continue to be.

Yeah, but that's just the thing, humans are literally the ONLY living thing that has both self awareness and free will. Why does something like a mouse want to survive? It has no idea it's alive and it has no idea why it does what it does...

I have to disagree with this, I think animals have self awareness and free-will. Their intelligence is just TOO low compared to us. They don't mind doing stuffs like crawling in the dirty corners, eating garbages etc. But what they're doing is what makes them survive.

Most methods that lead to death hurt. Sex feels good. Thus animals procreate and live on. It is all about pain vs. pleasure.

Most methods that lead to death hurt. Sex feels good. Thus animals procreate and live on. It is all about pain vs. pleasure.

Plzhelpmelearn

Yet only two animals have sex for pleasure: humans and dolphins. Animals like oysters don't even have pain receptors yet they possess the survival drive.

[QUOTE="Plzhelpmelearn"]

Most methods that lead to death hurt. Sex feels good. Thus animals procreate and live on. It is all about pain vs. pleasure.

pengo93

Yet only two animals have sex for pleasure: humans and dolphins. Animals like oysters don't even have pain receptors yet they possess the survival drive.

[QUOTE="pengo93"]

[QUOTE="Plzhelpmelearn"]

Most methods that lead to death hurt. Sex feels good. Thus animals procreate and live on. It is all about pain vs. pleasure.

Plzhelpmelearn

Yet only two animals have sex for pleasure: humans and dolphins. Animals like oysters don't even have pain receptors yet they possess the survival drive.

I never said they didn't get pleasure from it, it's just only humans and dolphins that would have sex only for pleasure (how and why they figured that out is anyone's guess). But when it boils down to it almost everything anything does is at least in some part instinct; the will to live, reproduction, obtaining food and water. "Free will" is basically an adaptation for an organism to solve complex problems driven by instinct: For example let's say a wild pig was foraging fruit on the forest floor but quickly eats it all. Before it risks leaving to find more food it notices monkeys playing in the trees and as they jump around they shake fruit and leaves off the tree which the pig can eat. If it was smart enough it might follow the monkeys around as it realised they help it obtain food. By passing this foraging technique on to it's young they could aquire the ability to approach problems from a different angle, effectively becoming smarter. The instinct of eating drives it to think of new ways to obtain food, such as following the monkeys.

Even with people, what we choose to do is dictated by instinct, a buisnessman might undercut his clients in whatever company he works for to get a better profit. This profit could amount to a better house, car, comforts or social status. He is instinctively outperforming others by any means necessary. In the animal world outperfoming others generally means more food and females for the victor, therefore competition becomes instinct.

Why is the world somewhat the way You envision it?

You have some form of control, i.e. an achievable goal.

Why wouldn't it want to?

I mean, the need to survive is what drives evolution, it's ingrained in literally every single living thing on Earth, but why? Life is just an insanely complex mix of chemicals, and yet they fight to stay alive, and pretty much everything an animal does is for the purpose of survival and continuation of their species. It just blows my mind beyond belief to think that all these species have the exact same ultimate goal, yet for no apparent reason... I mean, why surive? What's the point? I know there's no definitive answer to this, but I'd like to hear some your insane and/or stupid theories.

Life doesn't want to survive, life is driven by the instinct to survive. Logic is not relevant. Life is only as complicated as you make it. Obligations make life complicated. If you keep your life simple your life remains simple.

Parents are probably too easy on their kids, so once the kidsare faced with a little responsibility or hardship they suddenly hate life. I don't know about anybody else here but I wasraised by someone that treated me like a military recruit. I was in basic for about eighteen years. I'm pretty sure the army that my father was in warped his mind in some way because hi brother is nothing like him.To be fair my father was a flight systemsinstructor as well as a crew chief & door gunnerso he became accustomed to chewing people out everytime they did something wrong,gave the wrong answer or just made a mistake period.

Life doesn't want to survive, life is driven by the instinct to survive. Logic is not relevant. Life is only as complicated as you make it. Obligations make life complicated. If you keep your life simple your life remains simple.

Parents are probably too easy on their kids, so once the kidsare faced with a little responsibility or hardship they suddenly hate life. I don't know about anybody else here but I wasraised by someone that treated me like a military recruit. I was in basic for about eighteen years. I'm pretty sure the army that my father was in warped his mind in some way because hi brother is nothing like him.To be fair my father was a flight systemsinstructor as well as a crew chief & door gunnerso he became accustomed to chewing people out everytime they did something wrong,gave the wrong answer or just made a mistake period.

MagnumPI