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If you really boil it down, all that any species ever does is in some way an attempt to propagate its genes. We aren't any different either. The artistic spark that got Davinci to paint the Mona Lisa was there due to such behaviour being an evolutionarily beneficial trait (being good at art increases the social standing of a person and thus increases their chances of reproduction). I don't want to sound cynical about this because I'm not. That's just life. It really doesn't matter. The painting is still beautiful.
I don't try to propagate my genes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Perhaps not with conscious intent. I suppose even staying alive and contributing to a society still means that you help your relatives pass their genes on. Even gay penguins do this when they adopt an orphaned egg.
I don't even live near any of my relatives, and anyone I would help would be about as related to me as any other human (so, not related). Perhaps in another time period I would've helped my tribe, but that is not the society I live in today.
Not that it really matters here, because I have no obligation to help genes.
Every other human around you has almost the same genes as you. Just being kind to others is already a tiny contribution to the survival of the species and the genes we share. Pretty sure one would have to be actively suicidial or a Bond villain in order to not to help the genes that survive on with every breath anybody ever takes.
No, i don't think there was ever a time where artists had a high social standing because of the art. Not even the greek philosophers we admire today.
Fair point, but despite how we as a society treat artists, I still think that the underlying impulse to do art is an attempt to capture the interest and appreciation of others, building social bonds. Rarely is art made without a tought of presenting it to others. This is how art seems to happen with every other species on earth that does it.
That's where I've always been confused. Every living being wants to propogate their species through innate biological urges and behaviors, whether they realize it or not. Obviously humans recognize these behaviors and are able to choose whether or not to actually have children or to simply act on these urges without procreating (condoms, birth control, etc.). But the innate biological inclinations are still there.
It's odd for me because I've never had these urges or inclinations for sex. Sometimes it makes me feel like I'm not human or something. Because every living being seems to experience this. Even when I discovered the concept of asexuality, I found that a very significant number of these individuals either oddly still had a sex drive or they were sexually traumatized in some way which blocked it. I have never had a sex drive and was never sexually traumatized. I was not a "late bloomer", as I'm in my 30s with the same lack of normal human feelings.
It's not limited to direct reproduction of one's own genes. Keep in mind that we live in a society. Contributing to that society means helping others of our species (with almost the same genes) pass their genes on. Just being kind to others is already great. You're valid.
Thank you very much