Philosophical Questions E-Mail Swap

For this swap, you are going to answer some philosophical questions. Send your partners an e-mail (use BCC) answering the questions below. Write at least 2-3 sentences per question. You can write more if you like.

Since these questions are philosophical, we will all probably share some more personal thoughts and opinions. Do not rate your partners down if you disagree with them.

Newbies allowed with a well filled-out profile!

Here are the questions:

• Where is the line between art and not art?

• What should be the goal of humanity?

• Does a person’s name influence the person they become?

• Is humanity headed in the right or wrong direction?

• How would humanity change if all humans’ life expectancy was significantly increased (let’s say to around 500 years)?

• Will religion ever become obsolete?

• How conscious do you think animals are?

• How much does language affect our thinking?

• Would it be more frightening to discover that humans are the most advanced species in the universe or that we are far from being the most advanced species in the universe?

• Do you think that if humans went extinct another species as intelligent as humans would evolve? If life exists long enough on a planet, is intelligence and consciousness inevitable?

• Is it be possible for humans to create something completely novel and new that is based on nothing that previously existed? Or is human creativity just rearranging and building on previous ideas?

• Human memory has been shown to be incredibly unreliable. With that in mind, how do you know which of your memories are genuine and which have been altered or made up?

• If you could start a country from scratch, what would it be like?

• Would the world be a better or worse place if everyone looked the same?