Abstract
What kinds of creatures are we? Why do we do what we do? Where are we headed? What should we be doing? These are the questions that humans have struggled with since the capacity to ask them first emerged. And with such questions came the first collective systems of justification that ultimately separated the human world from the rest of the universe. Following Matter, Life, and Mind, Culture became the fourth great emergence.
With the outline of the unified theory now in place, we can return to these timeless questions and reflect on them anew. Humans, the unified theory tells us, are the justifying animal. Our singularly unique accomplishment was not tools, opposable thumbs, or the ability to walk, but instead our ability to construct systems of justification that coordinate human groups and provide narratives for how the world works and our place in it. I want to suggest here that our future destiny is tied to the kind of justification systems we build. It is in that light I submit that our transcendental purpose is the construction of a new global system of justification that effectively merges wisdom with science and technology in a way that fosters the emergence of a new global age.
The singularity is near.
Kurzweil (2005)
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Notes
- 1.
Emily Post was famous for her writings about etiquette and manners in the early 1900s.
- 2.
Although this is by far the most common statistic reported for tracking the presence of young earth creationist beliefs, I believe the question is flawed and should not be interpreted as the percentage of individuals who believe in a young earth. The reason is because a person could easily see humans as having souls given by God in recent history, but still believe in a theistically guided evolutionary narrative. A much better question to get at the crux of the age of the earth issue would be something along the lines of the following: True or False Dinosaurs existed millions of years ago. I believe this question would be answered false by a much smaller percentage of the population.
- 3.
When I hear of terrorist attacks involving suicide bombers—an all too frequent occurrence—I often think of the contrast with Thich Quang Duc and consider the remarkably different reactions the two kinds of acts engender and think what a different place the world would be if those who were so committed to addressing the injustices they see would use only the sanctity of their own lives to make the point.
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Henriques, G. (2011). The Fifth Joint Point. In: A New Unified Theory of Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0058-5_9
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