Re: If life is a benefit...

<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 18:01:58 GMT, ipse dixit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> If life is a benefit, then it's logically certain that
> no life [ie never existing at all] is a loss.

Life is not a benefit. Life is not an argument. Logical certainty and loss
are meaningless, unthinkable, and impossible without the existence of some
being capable of  harboring them. To the best of our knowledge humans are
the only beings capable of  logical certainty. Other (some) critters are, I
believe, capable of a sense of loss. Both cases require life; specifically
animal life. If life never existed it could not possibly be a loss. We can
contemplate the extinction of all life and make value judgments as to
whether or not it is a loss (noting that the extinction is, in one sense, a
definite loss. Extinction = all life - all life. - as subtraction is a
lessing or loss), but never existing at all prohibits the possibility of
loss - one needs something to loose.