Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration.

"I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced.

"I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.

"This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable. — William Shatner, actor

Man cannot endure his littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level. — Ernest Becker

I remember when Ralph Nader, who I admire, cost Gore the election ... — RogueAI

Not seeing that leftward shift in independents yet — Mikie

Only the present is real. — Art48

I don't think Einstein was thinking about imagination as a faculty standing free from science, but rather in its service. — Janus

I took the point to be the claim that life originates as a chance event. — Wayfarer

... the pleasure of pursuing knowledge. — Torus34

Science has no idea how brains produce consciousness. — RogueAI

Consciousness requires nerve impulses??? — RogueAI

No possibility of machine consciousness?

No possibility that this is a simulation?

How do nerve impulses create conscious experiences? — RogueAI

... anything designated 'revealed truth' will be discounted ... — Wayfarer

The problem isn't whether it's a probable possibility but, rather, that it cannot be logically ruled out. — Torus34

The court's decision on affirmative action is as surprising as its decision on abortion. [ ... ] If affirmative action is a gateway to a BA, MA, and PhD, a ton of debt, and a run-of-the-mill job (which it will be for some) the loss isn't as great as it might seem to be. — BC

I'm not as familiar with philosophical literature as you are, so I Googled ...

With no formal training in Philosophy, I began from the conjunction of two modern sciences --

My primitive understanding has evolved ...

My personal worldview ... PanEnDeism ... rehash of outdated mind/body Dualism/Spiritualism.

So the question then becomes, is intelligence [adaptation] physical? — Wayfarer

So, what is it that organises the elements of the periodic table in such a way as to give rise to living beings?

Of course you will assume that information is physical ... — Wayfarer

If we suppose that there no realist notion of language, what is it that language does when we attempt to describe reality? — Tom Storm

(I've generally held that language is metaphorical, but then what?)

... do we need a theory of language that explains how any realist claim is possible in order to accept those claims?

If we do not employ a realist account of language (as per postmodern thinkers), what is it we can meaningfully say about this notion of 'reality' we are so fond of describing and seems to be a substitute for god?

... theory of language was not possible because it falls to the self-referential paradox that it is unable to give an account of itself.

Is this problem insurmountable or overstated?

The apparently inviolable constraints of physical laws have been transcended many times in the history of science. — Wayfarer

Discerning precisely what is meant by materialism, physicalism or naturalism can seem tricky. — Tom Storm

And in a broader sense, many of our intellectual processes rely on immaterial entities, such as numbers, ratios, laws, and so on. Humans are situated between two worlds, so to speak - the physical world, governed by the laws of physics, but also the world of ideas and reasons, 'the space of reasons' as it has been called. — Wayfarer

... has anything physical passed between us? — Wayfarer

We have no knowledge or experience of any immaterial entity of process. Absent evidence, reasoned argument that such may or must exist is idle speculation and leads nowhere. — Fooloso4

Some of the materialists here get all huffy when you ask them if insects are conscious. — RogueAI

Shall I paraphrase? — Wayfarer

Say if I suggested 'mind' or 'consciousness' as a hypothetical answer - — Wayfarer