Purpose of Life

I watched 'March of the penguins", a famous documentary about emperor penguins' yearly journey to breeding grounds and the struggle to keep the chick alive in the harsh winters of Antarctica. A beautiful work everyone should watch. How did they get all those fantastic shots of penguins in colonies? The central thesis of this note is to discuss some thoughts that came to mind on the purpose of life. If you look at the life of the adult penguins, almost 80% of its young-adult life is spent on breeding related activities. Every year these penguins travel around 70 miles to the breeding ground by trekking in snow for almost a month. Since that point, they do not eat anything for several months. Mating happens, the egg is laid after around two months. Then male penguins will take care of eggs on their feet for another two months, when the mothers go to the ocean (another 70 or so miles) to eat, get food and come back. By the time they come back, chicks would be just hatched.  By this point, the males would have been fasting for almost four months and would have lost almost half of their body weight. The dads will "feet over" the chicks to mother's custody and trek back to the ocean to eat and bring more food. Mother and father take the turn for this trekking several more times. After around. They would stop this exercise and leave the chick to their own by 9 or 10 months after they started the march. They spend almost three months of "summer break" to fatten up to start the rally again in the winter.

Emperor penguins: Wikepedia

 

 

 

This cycle repeats itself every year. It seems to be a life solely to perpetuate the genes. If we observe, it is the life of most of the animals in the wild. Eating, procreating, taking care of babies, and dying. How come we are the only species, as far as we know, who is worried about things outside these limited philosophies? Why, out of millions of species ever lived on the planet, only one "think big." We now know that there were other humanoids, who were alive, and who were probably brutally assassinated by our (human) ancestors. We are probably the only species that is capable of thinking these thoughts. The only species which is aware that they are thinking. The only species that is consciously thinking about the future. The only conscious being. How did this sudden evolution of the brain happen? We share most of the DNA with the rest of the animals and plants, which support the origin and evolution. Was there a period of rapid evolution that accelerated brain growth? 

I am writing this in January. The emperor penguins are probably enjoying the "summertime" to stock up ATPs to make babies in the next few months and getting ready, for the harsh year ahead, without having any thoughts of making a boat and escape the depressing climate for a change. While I am, even in the middle of many looming deadlines, writing up this nonsense, in the middle of the night to put it online, to be read by none! Well, each of us finds purpose in different things, don't we?