What is the meaning of life?
It is most likely that life has no meaning, the theory of evolution provides an explanation for how simple chemicals can become as complex as modern organisms through autocatalysis.
An autocatalyst simply increases the rate of its own production, otherwise known as replication or, once part of a more complex system, reproduction.
We would expect the universe to be filled with stable things, stability meaning something's likelihood to persist over time. Most things in the universe, like planets or rocks, are stable because they are reasonably inert. However, one method by which more reactive chemicals can increase their stability is by replication. As long as they can replicate faster than they are destroyed they will remain or, in some cases, grow in numbers.
It is important to note that this stability applies only to a chemical pattern, and not necessarily to any particular molecules or atoms. If one molecule creates a replica of itself, it is irrelevant whether the original molecule or its offspring is the one to survive, replication has increased the stability of this type of chemical.
Once a population of replicating molecules has emerged, their evolution is far from inevitable. Evolution requires the possibility that a change in chemical structure (mutation) can increase the molecule's ability to replicate. Most autocatalytic molecules will be too simple, and any change to their structure will simply prevent further replication, effectively killing it. However, evolution does not necessarily require a large complicated molecule that can maintain its ability to replicate even when slightly altered. It seems more likely that these changes could succesfully occur in a complex autocatalytic system of much simpler constituent molecules who, by themselves, are incapable of, or less proficient at, replication.
"We are all related." - Native American saying
The value of life
"If a new car built by my company leaves Chicago traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and the rear differential locks up, and the car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside, does my company initiate a recall? You take the population of vehicles in the field (A) and multiply it by the probable rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average cost of an out-of-court settlement (C). A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall. If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one gets hurt. If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall." - Tyler Durden
Many people claim that human life is beyond a monetary value. Most would always value human life above that of non-human animals.
It costs 30 pence (50 cents) a day to protect someone from malaria. Most pet owners spend significantly more than this on pet food. Over 1 million people die from malaria each year.
Why don't we help?
Three reasons are commonly given:
1) There are too many people that need help / You can't change the world / Who should I help? - Such excuses rely on seriously flawed reasoning, namely that the more people that are in need, the less you should help.
2) Nobody else helps - The number of people that do something does not change whether it is right or wrong.
3) What are you doing about it? - Someone else's behaviour does not change whether something is right or wrong.
"although he hated the Yahoos of this country...he no more blamed them for their odious qualities, than he did a gnnayh (a bird of prey) for its cruelty, of a shrap stone for cutting his hoof. But when a creature pretending to reason could be capable of such enormities, he dreaded lest the corruption of that faculty might be worse than brutality itself." - Lemuel Gulliver