A prior Templeton Foundation discussion of the "Big Questions" -- this time featuring 12 scholars:

LINK

Unlikely: Lawrence M. Krauss

Very Likely: Bruno Guiderdoni

Yes: David Gelernter

No: Christian de Duve

Perhaps: Paul Davies

Yes: John F. Haught

No: Peter William Atkins

Not Sure: Neil deGrasse Tyson

Indeed: Nancey Murphy

Certainly: Jane Goodall

Yes: Owen Gingerich

I Hope So: Eli Wiesel

We were put here as witnesses to the miracle of life. We see the stars, and we want them. We are beholden to give back to the universe.... If we make landfall on another star system, we become immortal. ----Ray Bradbury

Click here for proof.

Depends on how you define purpose, which almost needs consciousness, as I doubt one grain of sand thinks that the one next to him has a purpose. Without accepting an Intelligent Designer, I would say that it has no purpose beyond what we see for it, to give us a place to live.

We were put here as witnesses to the miracle of life.

Bradbury was an ID'er.

Posit the non-existence of the universe. No space. No time.

In that frame, nothingness would not last and would have no place.

Therefore, the universe is necessary to allow nothingness a place and duration.

Both place (space) and time are necessities. Without them, nothingness would not exist; there would be neither nothingness nor space nor time.

Therefore, either way (nothingess or somethingness) both space and time come into being (from logic).

Why space and time require matter, however, is not clear. There COULD be a world of empty space lasting for infinite time.

A better question would be why matter arose (or must logically arise) from space-time.

I'm not sure if the universe has a purpose, but archaeo's example is good enough for me.

I do know that I have a purpose, although at times I have wandered and strayed and certainly didn't know what my purpose is or was.

I remember my time in Afghanistan, I had been there for 3 months, my ex-wife had just served me papers for divorce and I was pretty down. I was out on what is called an elicitation patrol, with my partner and an interpreter. Elicitation is where you go out and talk to locals and try to obtain some sort of intelligence from them. I was in the Army but you couldn't tell with my very full beard and longish hair.

We stopped at this shepherd's house and he was very inviting. He welcomed us in, roasted a lamb and his wife made flatbread. Which if you ever had the flatbread there you will never go back to the inferior stuff you find in the US. He had at least 9 kids running around and I told him that I was I family man as well and we really hit it off because I whipped out some photos of my kids and after awhile of good rapport building he told me of some Taliban mullah locations. It wasn't OBL, but it was good stuff.

As we were leaving he stops us. My terp says to me, "he wants you to have his son." My immediate thought was that he was offering the kid for labor and that my terp had left an important part of the translation out. I told him that no, I don't need anything done, I was thinking getting my shoes shined or my uniforms pressed. No the terp told me, he is offering his son for sexual concourse. The boy was no more than 13 years of age.

I stood there, I couldn't speak. My thought at that very moment was to put a round through the father's skull at that very second. My hand rested on my pistol and with every inch of restraint I had. I didn't kill that man, if I had I would be in jail for a war crime as I write this.

I couldn't believe it, this was not the enemy, he was a local shepherd. I learned that the Taliban mullahs had the boy for their own pleasure long before I showed up and this was how this father appeased them. He did it for survival and he merely wanted to appease me. I walked away, paid 40 dollars for a bottle of Johnny Walker at the black market and woke up three days later.

I don't fight this war now for anything other than but the hopes that someday these people don't have to give their children to be ass-raped by the powers that be. I do it for that kid.

Just...holy fuck.

Yeah, not sure what else can be said about that!

Please top repost this as a top-post. Everyone needs to read this.

Wow, it’s a good thing you didn’t shoot the father. Cultural misunderstandings and the dysfunctions precipitated by a generation of brutal conflict can be a toxic brew, eh? Anyway, working to protect and lift up the powerless and exploited sounds like a very good individual purpose to me, whether the universe cares or not. We may perhaps differ over how best to fulfill that very human purpose, but surely it’s one we can all get behind.

Take care of yourself, BK.

I DON"T KNOW WHICH WAY IS MORE ABSURD - IF YOU'RE A LYING SACK OF SHIT, OR IF YOU'RE NOT. I DO LIKE THIS BIT

I walked away, paid 40 dollars for a bottle of Johnny Walker at the black market and woke up three days later.

I don't fight this war now for anything other than but the hopes that someday these people don't have to give their children to be ass-raped by the powers that be. I do it for that kid.

THAT'S PURE JIM THOMPSON THERE. BEAUTIFUL. BUT IF IT'S TRUE, IT'S EVEN BETTER. EITHER WAY THAT'S ONE FOR THE SCRAPBOOK.

Patty: "(she lies down on the bed) You know what I'd like to do?"
Navin: "What?"
Patty: "Guess your weight."
Navin: "Hey, that would be interesting for me, no one has tried to guess my weight! You see, I guess their weights..."
Patty: "Put your arms up."
Navin: "This will give me a whole different perspective on this. (Patty squeezes Navin's backside) Hey! You're really trying to be accurate! Is it getting hot in here? Wait a minute - what's happening to my special purpose?"
Patty: "What's your special purpose?"
Navin: "Well when I was a kid my mom told me... there goes my special purpose! And someday I'd find out what my special purpose was!"
Patty: "Today's the day!"
Navin: "(the whole trailer shakes) Hey, this is like a ride!"

(above is from the movie: "The Jerk")

Yes.

First to inspire. Second to question.

Nanotech:

Yes.

First to inspire. Second to question.