Exercise 7
Instructions
Do humans have a function? I mean to ask you this question. It’s a question for you. What do you think? If your answer is yes, proceed as follows. What do you think that function is? Write it down. Now observe that, if that really is the human function, then a human who cannot perform that function well is a bad human. (Similarly, a knife that cannot cut well is a bad knife.) Do you agree with that? Similarly, a human who can perform that function well is a good human. (A knife that can cut well is a good knife.) Do you agree with that, too? If your answer is no, proceed as follows. Why do you think that there is not a human function? Observe that the function of something is whatever only it can do or whatever it does better than anything else. Is there not something that only humans can do or that humans do better than anything else? Explore your thoughts in response to these questions. If your answer is maybe or I don’t know, then proceed as follows. Catalog your thoughts. What is causing you to hesitate? What is confusing you? What would you need to discover to have a firm answer to the question of whether there is a human function? Set a timer for 15 minutes, and then begin this exercise. If you discover that you want to keep writing after the 15 minutes, keep going. The important thing is to write for at least 15 minutes.
I do not think rationalizing is the human function. it's too broad. animals can rationalize, AI can maybe rationalize, and even though they might not do it as well, it's pretty broad. what separates life from machines is doing something a bit more complicated than reacting to an input.
In class I brought up the idea that the human function is communicating, but that's not quite enough. Many other animals and things communicate. When I think of the "function" of some group, I think of the function of that group as the most specific generalization that can be made over the whole group. Every individual has an even more specific function that derives from the generalization; all knives should cut, but some cut in different manners or are used for different reasons. Likewise, I think all animals rationalize. I think all life acts. I think all matter reacts. But as a subset of animals, I think we do more than just rationalize. What makes humans special is that communication, and our ability to rationalize collectively and share complex thoughts. The human function is cooperation.
Humans that do not cooperate [with our decided morals and rules] are "bad" or "evil". We imprison them, we exile them, we kill them. Good humans cooperate, plan, and build things together. They grow their communities. They succeed, they create more "good" humans. Humans that don't cooperate don't usually succeed. Even in paleolithic times, complex human cooperation is what allowed us to survive, spread, and dominate. It's what has made us the dominant life form on our planet.
Trying to go through your life alone--today, in greek times, or even as long as biologically modern humans have been around--is practically impossible.
