^no one can create a complex world as it is the result of millions upon millions of years of evolution.
So perhaps looking at the world now is a bit like looking over the shoulder of an artist at a painting that isn't yet complete and finding fault.
Maybe it isn't. But maybe it is. 'Meant' would seem to imply some kind of conscious will behind creation. For the materialist, there's no question of 'meant' as that would imply some purpose to evolution, which they assert isn't there. Religious people sometimes deny any process of evolution, or if they accept it, tend to think that humankind is the ultimate. Evolution has run it's course and we're the end product. I'm not so sure they are right about that. Maybe Homo Erectus, if we could go back and ask one of them, had a similar idea.
It's up to humans to save or not save our fellow creatures at this point in the continuing evolution of life on earth. Other species have continued to live their lives, large and small, by refining and fulfilling their roles in their own cycles of life. This is a world of creatures/plants that need sustenance for continuing their existence. That sustenance has to come from some other substance that has become the proper evolutionary path for each being to continue its life force. And then WE showed up, with our big brains, our self importance and ability to subvert the natural order of the life cycles that had prevailed for millions of years. Popular ancient literature GAVE us permission---nay--- commanded us to go forth and conquer the earth for OUR uses,regardless of other factors/cycles, that would inevitably vitiate what, IMO, could have been a sensible way to consider how fairness, equality and consideration could/would be more in line with the cycles that we have interrupted. Humans would have to grow up and face the reality of what "we" are actually doing to our planet and totally change the way "we" approach the care taking of our tiny home in space. It has been said recently that another large die=off in in progress. Do we need elephants and other beings around? Probably not. Do we need unthinking huge industries that care not a whit about the cycles of life, but only profit at the expense of all sentient beings? Probably not. Crops don't "jump up" from the ground with price tags on them. It's up to "us" as to what the future holds for life on earth. To me, what is happening now----is insanity. Not much any of us can do. We're born into what has come before--but that doesn't make it right for us to keep accepting the status quo. All wars must stop. Everyone on earth deserves proper medical care. Including psychological. All electricity will be generated from the sun with advanced battery storage Gasoline engines will be relegated to race tracks School/education will be free to all who can cut it. No more stock market or stockholders Guns relegated to gun ranges Closed military base open to ALL who want to do BAD drugs-H,Meth, Crack, etc. Free (budget item) with rehab available Weed legal LSD used for alcoholism, mind clarity and to destroy ridiculous ideation. The centers of freeways (where possible) will be bike lanes with camping areas. Nationwide. Work will be redefined to adhere to the idea that cleaning up the messes humans have made, will be cleaned up. Employ hundreds of thousands to do so. Maybe millions Money will have to be consigned to the trash heap of history. People will not be millionaires, billionaires while ANYONE STARVES, as is the case today. And never again. Hunting will be seen as the ancient blood lust that it is. More vets will be trained and will do a year after graduation performing spay and neuter services for wild cats No more puppy-cat mills Money completely out of elections. Television enterprises will broadcast debates and do them free. Lying, if proved gets a jail term! Just a dream, where everyone is somewhat equal, healthy, and would be all in for changing the way we, as the top dogs change the "business" of humanity.
I know---never happen. Those who could change the trajectory of life on earth--have no intention of doing so. So, just lay back and enjoy the decent fucking we're getting.
The creatures of light already exist ... you fleshy thing , you . Some people have thought to join them in a sense of after-life . I have . Just a transient thought for me though . I am a thought they have passed through .
I would still want a world where animals chase each other as though they're about to eat each other. But then once the chase is up, a magical tea set should appear and the animals should sit down for tea.
I doubt I could improve on 4.1 billion years of trial and error. It's a pretty amazingly intricate system.
I'd create the exact same world as today. except all the animals that I think are stupid wouldn't exist, thus giving the throne to all large predators really, and of course, some cute little deer and things for them to eat.
I consider myself a Christian, but I don't think that requires me to be a simpleton or a fundamentalist. Process theologian Charles Hartshorne did a good job of disposing of the "omnipotent, omniscient" problem in his book Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes.. An omnipotent God can choose to limit His power, e.g., by giving us free will, and still be omnipotent. After all, it was His will to do so. Theologian Diogenes Allen points out that the Bible doesn't say God is "omnipotent", just "almighty", which is a little different. The traditional (i.e., naive) Judeo-Christian view is that the earth was perfect until humans screwed it up. Lions and lambs were buddies, and all were vegetarians. Not an ideal situation from the vegetable's point of view, but otherwise pretty idyllic. And there was no death. The only problem was that it was a myth--not that myths are bad if you treat them allegorically, but not to be taken literally. Metaphorically, it can actually be something to keep in mind as we make decisions on war and environmental degradation. Theologians tell us God is ineffable, and we can only catch glimpses of the great Mystery by considering such things as the integrated complexity of the universe. "God's Plan" includes gravity, the strong and weak nuclear forces, gravity, natural selection, etc., and whatever follows from these. Our metaphors can be useful but woefully inadequate in capturing it, and complaining about it, or asking why it has to be that way, is as useful as complaining about or questioning the weather.
Barbaric!? To a certain extent but it just ties in to a more grandiose picture, Wax & Wane, Ebb & Flow, Sunrise & Set, The movement of stars, the fluidity of gravity. Everything is cyclical. Back and forth, to and fro. Transfer of energy from one life form to another is part of these cycles. Hypothetically, no abosultely not if there was a way around it, I would not have created a world where this was the standard. But I highly doubt other fuel sources could produce the complex and cool variety of creatures we have on spaceship earth