Awkward existential not-so-crisis moment
In other news, my mind has been hovering in some foreign terrain post-SATs.
Going through material for SAT Biology, particularly the evolution and diversity section has been a refreshing experience. It is admittedly not something I'd find myself typically interested in. Nonetheless, it seemed some of things I learnt, or at least the fundamental concepts have left lasting impressions. Color me fascinated, they have been steering me into a lot of thoughts about the way we are as humans. Now, I'd explain, if you'd excuse the awkward existentialist moment.
All the principles of evolution and diversity proved eerily reminiscent of Buddhist philosophy. Of change being constant, or every experience being transient. The concept of evolution shares some startling parallels. We see a lot of our experiences in permanence - yet it is the very concept of transience that made possible the survival of the human species. Take for example oxygen. Today oxygen is indispensible to life. Yet innumerable years ago, oxygen was toxic to life on earth and the catastrophic rise of oxygen levels was responsible for the greatest extinction on Earth. Of course, that mass of extinction eventually led to life today, and humans today.
It also made me think about this quote I posted many weeks ago. Indeed we are speaking of survival of our own species; life on earth may very well proceed sans homo sapiens, scary as the thought may be.
In evolutionary biology, existence is the survival of the fittest. But we're constantly reminded that this concept is not a matter of deliberate adaptation. Like how multi-resistant bacteria we see today is not a product of supremely intelligent bacteria, but rather a matter of survival of mutants that "just happened" to possess traits that allowed them to such stresses and circumstances, then proliferate.
There is so much about the chance and coincidences of life on earth that has been lingering in my head, coupled with the Buddhist philosophy I have been trying to understand more of. Strange isn't it, that survival isn't deliberate, but a summation of coincidences and random events?
I really shouldn't be thinking so much. LOL. Especially with such geeky-sciencey undertones, but yes, I think the overdose of all these all at the same time really got to me. And I admit I was at once fascinated - although it was more like a "WHAT THE SHIT. Oxygen was toxic, you must be totally shitting me." kind of fascination. HAHAHA. OKAY. The extent of geekyness inside me freaks myself out. There shall be better things to occupy this boredom.
