Instinct is an automatic reaction to sensed phenomena. What we consider intelligent consciousness is prediction based on memory. Following scent to a waterhole is instinct, remembering where it is and going there the next time you are thirsty is predictive intelligence.
The human species and its predecessors expanded that immensely. Predict how to strike a rock to make a tool. Predict that in the future a tool will be useful. That type of train of thought and all its ramifications is the key to who we are.
Logically that leads to “why”, especially when we are learning. “Why should I strike the rock this way?” “Because it will put an edge on the ax head.” “Why do I need an ax head?” And so on questions right up to modern equivalents of “why should I become a dentist?”
But we never stopped at practical matters. We can ask “why is it cloudy today”, “why did mommy die”, “why am I so unlucky?” And over time there were many answers, most involving gods or spirits, some involving conspiracies. “Nobody knows” does not satisfy.
Science is prediction on steroids. It gives us marvelous technology by being able to repeatably predict what will happen under certain controlled conditions.
But it fails at the grander “whys.” I do not trust it when it relies on math _ much as priests rely on faith. The quantum multiverse is a creation of pure math.
I only respect its speculations when they yield predictable results not otherwise accounted for. And even then, I add more than a single grain of salt.
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 