what is the driving force.....

[snorbury]

......behind nature? I suppose I could equally ask what motivates or drives you? It's the same question isn't it?

 

[Dubversion]

surely not, because we have consciousness and nature doesn't

 

[snorbury]

surely not, because we have consciousness and nature doesn't

nature has two driving forces, consciousness and something else?

 

[Dubversion]

no, nature - other than humans (which admittedly is a slightly iffy distinction) does not have consciousness

 

[Mrs Magpie]

THE FORCE THAT THROUGH THE GREEN FUSE DRIVES THE FLOWER

Dylan Thomas


The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.
The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman's lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather's wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover's tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

 

[fudgefactorfive]

......behind nature? I suppose I could equally ask what motivates or drives you? It's the same question isn't it?

entropy

no, it isn't the same question

 

[118118]

The prime mover?

 

[quimcunx]

replication, reproduction?

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Brownian motion.

 

[Jonti]

no, nature - other than humans (which admittedly is a slightly iffy distinction) does not have consciousness

I disagree that no other animal except for humans behaves consciously -- or even self-consciously.

If that is indeed your belief, you need to explain why some species (humans, chimps, elephants) can recognise themselves in a mirror, while others (pseuds, cats, horses) do not seem to do so.

 

[merlin wood]

But in any case consciousness is an ambiguous notion, and can just mean being conscious, which animals that are not unconscious clearly are.

 

[8ball]

Lots of energy left over after the Big Bang.

Once that's gone, that's it.

 

[iguzza]

There is no driving force, nature just 'is'

 

[weltweit]

The driving force is life itself ..