I know science is more geared towards answering the "how" questions instead of the "why" questions, but why do living things even survive in the first place? Why do they perform homeostasis? Why don't they just die?
Presumably, the first living organisms were just a bunch of chemical reactions contained within a semi-permeable membrane. If the microorganisms couldn't withstand the heat or the cold, it was "unfit" and died. Got it.
But for the more "advanced" organisms, what purpose does survival even have? Why does a conscious entity, aware of its surroundings and even possibly of itself, want to continue to live and reproduce?
Organisms all react to their environments in order to survive. But why? What is so special about survival?
I know science is more geared towards answering the "how" questions instead of the "why" questions, but why do living things even survive in the first place? Why do they perform homeostasis? Why don't they just die? Presumably, the first living organisms were just a bunch of chemical reactions contained within a semi-permeable membrane. If the microorganisms couldn't withstand the heat or the cold, it was "unfit" and died. Got it. But for the more "advanced" organisms, what purpose does survival even have? Why does a conscious entity, aware of its surroundings and even possibly of itself, want to continue to live and reproduce? Organisms all react to their environments in order to survive. But why? What is so special about survival?