why bother?

As I watched a documentary on different cave systems and the highly specialized life that lives there, I wondered why any life bothered to live there at all. There is life on virtually every imaginable part of the earth. But why? All of these animals have specialized and adapted to live in harsh and inhospitable conditions. They tend to be the most interesting animals and plants. But I can't help but wonder why they've decided to live there. They can because they've adapted- but it still can't be fun. There are fish that can live in waterfalls, in acidic water, or thousands of feet below water. Lizards are excellently adapted to live in scorching dessert heats. Still, wouldn't it be easier to live somewhere else, somewhere that doesn't require such adaptations and harsh changes? Yes they can live there- but why live there? Why does life insist on living in every possible area it can find, and cling desperately to whatever purchase they can find there?

Money

When you really think about it- isn't money a bit of an abstract idea? We are exchanging a piece of paper for something that we want. But it can't be any paper-it has to be special paper with pictures of green dead men on them. But with this magic paper, you can buy a car, a house, or a cup of ice cream. I think it made much more sense when we traded something you wanted for something they wanted. It seems far less crazy. And if you think about money as just printed pieces of paper, it seems so much simpler to get more. Why can't we have more of it? It's just paper.