purpose of planets

[Nader]

Looking at our own plant, every natural element serves a purpose. There is no natural "thing" on our planet (perhaps with the exception of humans) that do not serve a purpose. I imagine the universe should be the same and for the most part it appears so but what is the purpose of lifeless planets? They must serve a purpose in the universe or else they would not exist. They cannot be an "incomplete process".

[Area54]

Why do you think everything must have a purpose? Indeed, why do you think anything should have a purpose, other than things constructed by intelligent beings such as beavers, humans and ants?

What you perceive as a purpose is simply the natural interaction of chemicals and the application of physical laws. "Lifeless planets" are a consequence of the same processes that produce life bearing planets, minus the conditions necessary to generate and sustain life.

[Sensei]

19 hours ago, Nader said:

Looking at our own plant, every natural element serves a purpose.

You're mistaken.

19 hours ago, Nader said:

There is no natural "thing" on our planet (perhaps with the exception of humans) that do not serve a purpose.

You're mistaken.

19 hours ago, Nader said:

They must serve a purpose in the universe or else they would not exist.

Obviously they would exist, without any purpose.

Jupiter, and other giant gas planets, accidentally played very important role in Solar System formation. They attracted cosmic dust, comets, to them self. If they would not exist, rock planets would be bombarded by asteroids,planetoids,comets,cosmic dust, much more often, and life could never appear.

But don't turn it up-side-down. Jupiter just helped development of life on the Earth, but was not designed to do so on purpose.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by Sensei

[mathematic]

If you believe in god, then things must have a purpose.  Otherwise things are the way they are due to the laws of physics.

[Bender]

8 minutes ago, mathematic said:

If you believe in god, then things must have a purpose.  Otherwise things are the way they are due to the laws of physics.

If that premise is true, than god cannot exist

[swansont]

!

Moderator Note

This is posted in a science section. Let's leave deities out of it.

 

[Damateur]

On 7/28/2017 at 8:17 PM, Nader said:

Looking at our own plant, every natural element serves a purpose. There is no natural "thing" on our planet (perhaps with the exception of humans) that do not serve a purpose. I imagine the universe should be the same and for the most part it appears so but what is the purpose of lifeless planets? They must serve a purpose in the universe or else they would not exist. They cannot be an "incomplete process".

Except this is in no way factual. There is no purpose in nature, elements, or planets except where a living thing has acted. There is no "incomplete process" - not that you explained what you really mean by that.

A huge part of the problem here is that people have an innate drive to find the cause or purpose in natural events. While evolving we needed to note the movement of a branch, the fall of a rock, or other anomalous events as they could signal the presence of a predator (which could kill them) or a prey animal (whose escape would deprive them of food). This assumption of agency behind natural events gives rise to our propensity towards superstition and the search for purpose where there is none.

So, like myself, you must learn to govern your natural superstitious inclinations and not make false claims of purpose where no being has acted.

Edited July 30, 2017 by Damateur

[beecee]

Apparently spacetime, the universe, stars, planets, us, are just a fortuitous hicup or fluctuation in the pre BB quantum foam.

Edited July 30, 2017 by beecee

[Karim Solano]

Just as each element belonging to a system has a purpose within the system, a planet also serves a purpose. The planet earth contains biological life, in addition there are millions of millions of planets in the universe, on the other hand, life that is not "apparently" common in the universe, the planets do, as well as the stars. So it can be inferred that the purpose of a planet is to host life and the stars provide adequate heat to sustain life. 
 

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, Karim Solano said:

So it can be inferred that the purpose of a planet is to host life and the stars provide adequate heat to sustain life. 

Bad inference, since there are so many lifeless planets.

And don't you think you have it backwards wrt suns? It's not their "purpose" to provide heat. They radiate a LOT of it due to the enormous pressure of gravity, and life takes advantage of it, but only because life is better at managing heat from the sun than non-living matter. 

[joigus]

The way I see it, purpose does exist in the universe, but it is an emergent property. Intelligent beings have purpose because they have goals. The universe has no goal, as far as we can tell.

It's no wonder that we, intelligent beings, have a tendency to see purpose everywhere.

[MigL]

To be fair, we don't know of any lifeless planets.
There are places on Earth which were thought to be lifeless until recently. All we know for sure, is that there are planets that don't support 'our kind' of life, in the universe. But 'other kinds' of life … we're not so sure.

Mostly, however,planets do serve a purpose.
To stand on.

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, MigL said:

Mostly, however,planets do serve a purpose.
To stand on.

Not if they're twice as big as Jupiter, where the gravity might not support the formation of skeletal structures.

And what about water-covered planets and gas giants? 

[Danijel Gorupec]

lol, anything discussed on this forum has a purpose... to be discussed on the forum.

Seriously, don't you think the word 'purpose' is has a funny purpose - it is a word that actually tells something about a subject, while disguised as if it tells something about an object.

[J.C.MacSwell]

48 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Not if they're twice as big as Jupiter, where the gravity might not support the formation of skeletal structures.

And what about water-covered planets and gas giants? 

They'd be there for a porpoise...

Happy New Year everyone!

[Karim Solano]

Like you or me, a planet has a purpose, just as each element belonging to a system fulfills a function within the system. This planet, where we inhabit and live, houses or contains life, and there are millions of millions of planets in the universe, on the other hand, life "apparently" is not common in the universe, but planets are, as well as stars. Therefore, it can be inferred that a planet has the purpose of harboring life and the stars provide adequate heat to maintain life.

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, Karim Solano said:

Like you or me, a planet has a purpose, just as each element belonging to a system fulfills a function within the system.

I think you've rendered the term "purpose" meaningless by equating it with "fulfills a function within a system". Most things fulfill multiple functions, but their purpose is usually something more overarching.

People can determine their purpose, but a planet is just a stage for an environment, which may or may not support life. It can fulfill many functions, but it has no purpose the way I think that's defined. As joigus said, purpose is more of an emergent property assigned by intelligence to set goals. Planets have no purpose in that sense.