"The mediocrity principle is the notion in the philosophy of science
that there is nothing special about humans or the Earth. It is a
Copernican principle, used either as a heuristic about Earth's
position or a philosophical statement about the place of humanity. The
mediocrity principle is further boosted by:

Fossil evidence supported by genetics concluding that all humans have
a common ancestor about 100,000 years ago and that they share a common
ancestor with chimpanzees about six million years ago. Therefore
humans are part of the biosphere, not above it or unique to it.

Humans share about 98%% of their DNA with chimpanzees. Chimpanzees have
actually undergone more genetic change than humans.

The answering of Schrödinger's question What is Life? through the
discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA and the reduction of
life to organic chemistry, negating the vitalism of previous
centuries.

Francis Crick's "Astonishing Hypothesis" suggests that consciousness
is simply the function of the brain.

You didn't know that there wasn't anything special about humanity
before??

After the extinction of Homo sapiens, the universe will continue to
operate as it did for the 15 (or so) billion years that preceded
humanity's first appearance (however that happened)...

**Mediocre** pretty much sums it up...

K e v

How about another musical link to pass the time???

On Oct 30, 1:51 am, kevirwin comcast.net> wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv5kjAFMXyo

On Oct 30, 2:11 am, turtoni fastmail.net> wrote:

Excellent!!! "Closer" is still my favorite...

K e v

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:32:44 -0000, turtoni fastmail.net> wrote:

Hubris has its functional place in our evolved processes as a way for dealing
with certain issues..
Just as does our false consideration that our mental model is reality.

Any "intelligent" structure must deal with similar issues.
Including AIs (Frankensteins and machines) and ETs.

Even in mediocrity, the question remains :
Why is there something, rather than nothing?

On Oct 30, 2:58 am, Sir Frederick fuzzysys.com> wrote:

Cos for mediocrity there must be something more or less! Nothing is
perfect.

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:34:28 -0000, zinnic gate.net> wrote:

What is to measure in nothing?
There is no measure in nothing.
Why is there something to measure, and measure
in the apparent situation?

"turtoni" fastmail.net> wrote in message
news:1193718764.776963.139840@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
"The mediocrity principle is the notion in the philosophy of science
that there is nothing special about humans or the Earth. It is a
Copernican principle, used either as a heuristic about Earth's
position or a philosophical statement about the place of humanity. The
mediocrity principle is further boosted by:

Something such arguments always overlook is that the very contemplation of
the entire universe sits atop our craniums...pissants that we are in all
other respects. "Capacity to have mind" might be the rarest thing in that
universe, thusly making us valuable. In that capacity, both the infinite
and eternal can be embraced

Fossil evidence supported by genetics concluding that all humans have
a common ancestor about 100,000 years ago and that they share a common
ancestor with chimpanzees about six million years ago. Therefore
humans are part of the biosphere, not above it or unique to it.

Humans share about 98%% of their DNA with chimpanzees. Chimpanzees have
actually undergone more genetic change than humans.

--------------------

In article <1193718764.776963.139840@22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com>,
turtoni@fastmail.net says...

Looking for ETIs Earth does appear to be special.