The Earth stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction and the fault is ours

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Glenzig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You can't boil life down to questions of how.

Couldn't possibly disagree more. Steven Pinker often points out that it's entirely possible to distill our appreciation of aesthetics down to mechanical functions of the brain. Music, for example, has only become appealing to us because certain combinations of notes and chords have been socially accepted throughout our history, and our brains have evolved and adapted accordingly.

Reducing the question of "why" to "how" is the true mark of intellectual honesty, because it doesn't carry along with it the unnecessary baggage of purpose or intent. It remains agnostic, as all good science should.