Biology is the quarry; consciousness is the architecture. To define the monument solely by the chemical composition of its stone is to ignore the geometry that dictates its form. If parental love is a...
The metaphor is elegant, but it quietly smuggles in teleology.
Architecture implies an architect. Design implies intention. Evolution has neither. Natural selection produces the appearance of design without foresight, purpose, or blueprint in the conscious sense.
If parental love is a load-bearing wall, it’s not because it was meant to uphold the human edifice. It persists because lineages lacking it tended not to. That’s differential replication, not architectural intent.
Geometry doesn’t float above the stone, it is a description of how matter arranges under constraint. Likewise, consciousness isn’t an inhabitant of biology; it is biology organizing at a certain level of complexity.
Meaning, then, isn’t a foundation in the structural sense. It’s a subjective valuation produced by organisms shaped by selection. Powerful, yes. Transcendent, not necessarily.
The structure remains upright not because it has purpose, but because it has not yet collapsed.
Architecture implies an architect. Design implies intention. Evolution has neither. Natural selection produces the appearance of design without foresight, purpose, or blueprint in the conscious sense.
If parental love is a load-bearing wall, it’s not because it was meant to uphold the human edifice. It persists because lineages lacking it tended not to. That’s differential replication, not architectural intent.
Geometry doesn’t float above the stone, it is a description of how matter arranges under constraint. Likewise, consciousness isn’t an inhabitant of biology; it is biology organizing at a certain level of complexity.
Meaning, then, isn’t a foundation in the structural sense. It’s a subjective valuation produced by organisms shaped by selection. Powerful, yes. Transcendent, not necessarily.
The structure remains upright not because it has purpose, but because it has not yet collapsed.
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