The Purpose Of Existing

RaVeRaVe Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17538Members
<div class="IPBDescription">What is our purpose of living?</div> This would be a question many people ponder.....why exactly do we exist, or as a matter of fact, why does life exist?

In order for something to truely exist, they must serve a purpose. However, what exactly is our purpose? To just live? That is truely flawed.

Things without a purpose are treated as trash. At least, in my eyes those are.

Why is it we exist? Why do we have to live and survive through times? If we just live to just live, then we exactly do we continue living and have survived hard times?

This is something that has kept me pondering wether it would mean any difference if I were alive or dead....
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Comments

  • WindelkronWindelkron Join Date: 2002-04-11 Member: 419Members
    (this is going to turn out very obvious)
    I think our purpose is to exist. Once we have fulfilled our purpose, we cease to exist. Simple as that. How good your life is is dependent on how creative you are - as in, how much you can improvise with your life before it's over.

    As for the real reason why we exist, it's because we were born. I'm not spiritual or anything, so that's as good as I can tell you. It's simply... we're here, we have to find something for ourselves to do now.
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    I don't think anything needs purpose, it's a flawed idea made up to try and protect people's fragile egos =o

    As long as something has influence it's worth it's existance. Every second you spend alive you change something, every choice you make creates consequences... if you need a 'point' beyond merely existing and seeing what happens then maybe you need the comfort of a religion. Quite often people feel the need for a reason or whatnot and follow a belief that puts them in service of a deity ~shrugs~

    Think of it this way... a rock lying on a road doesn't serve any 'purpose' per se unless you believe in fate or the work of a higher form, yet by simply being it changes the lives and existances of everything around it; the creatures who see it, the cars that hit it perhaps even cracking the windscreen of the vehicle behind it and causing a crash... but most of all it's just there. How it got there isn't really important, why it's there? That only matters if you have the view everything must serve a purpose. It just is.. and that's all that truely matters in the here and now of life's flow =3

    I live my life for experiences, and as a result it's not too hard to find good in the bad or to just enjoy life for what it is...

    ...but you aren't me ^~
  • MantridMantrid Lockpick Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24109Members
    edited April 2004
    Life exists because of a type of molecule that has the unique property of self-reprodcution.

    The purpose of every living thing is "perpetuation of the species"; i.e., to reproduce.

    Well, at least thats how I see it.
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Windelkron+Apr 5 2004, 11:40 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Windelkron @ Apr 5 2004, 11:40 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> (this is going to turn out very obvious)
    I think our purpose is to exist. Once we have fulfilled our purpose, we cease to exist. Simple as that. How good your life is is dependent on how creative you are - as in, how much you can improvise with your life before it's over.

    As for the real reason why we exist, it's because we were born. I'm not spiritual or anything, so that's as good as I can tell you. It's simply... we're here, we have to find something for ourselves to do now. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The purpose of life is to exist? Thats it? Once we have forefilled our purpose, we cease to exist. So lets say I kill you - you now cease to exist. Obviously you have filled your purpose. How can you criticise my course of action? Its not like I robbed you of anything - you dead = your entire purpose forefilled. How can you condemn suicide - once I kill myself, I cease to exist, and again my purpose is ended, I have carried out my task.

    How good your life is becomes supremely irrelevant - when you die, you cease to exist. Anything you did means nothing to you. You dont spectate, you dont move on to the next life. You dont exist. Eventually those who you affected during your life will die, and their lives too will become supremely and totally irrelevant.

    So why not kill the lady next door? Why not eviscerate her? She will die, you will die, and at the end of the day it means zero, null, nothing. To say the purpose of life is to exist is to say that life has no meaning. If that was the best I could come up with I would be seriously worried. I think the same applies to Gemin's theory as well.

    As Boggle once posted about humanistic beliefs such as those above:

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Humanism:

    "In 1961, the US Supreme Court defined it was a religion, endorsing the fact that, although it denies the existence of God, it is a carefully structured belief system. The core of that system is the bizarre conviction that man exists by accident and will end in annihilation, but in that brief blip separating the two he is of immense value and dignity and bears important rational and ethical responsibility. The humanist believes that he comes from nothing and is going nowhere, yet insists that the journey itself is of monumental significance. Small wonder that R. C. Sproul calls modern secular humanism 'one of the stupidist beliefs ever concocted' (R. C. Sproul, Table Talk, Oct 1993, Ligonier)" (John Blanchard, Does God believe in Athiests, a conclusion at the end of a 25 page chapter on why humanism is wrong.) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  • WindelkronWindelkron Join Date: 2002-04-11 Member: 419Members
    You described it perfectly.
    The thing that's preventing me from killing the lady next door is that that would interfere greatly with the second part of my existence: making the most out of it. Killing somebody for the hell of it would land me in jail probably for life, which means I have just about fulfilled my purpose (nothing's going to come of my life once I'm in jail) but haven't felt the effects of that completion.
    If that makes any sense, I'm trying to explain how the culmination of your purpose (your death) and your death must come at the exact same moment for your experience on Earth to have come to any worth. It may seem ridiculous to say that, if you're landed in jail, you've die before you died, but think about it... you really have.

    And that quote at the end is a bit offensive to me <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->. Why is it a small wonder that that guy calls humanism the most foolish belief, or whatever? It places monumental significance on one's brief time alive. How is that stupid? I assume this same person believes that quantum theory (atoms, electrons, etc) is stupid too, because it assigns great importance to atoms, which are small?
  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    Basically... We exist to continue our species' existance. Any point to life is made up as a human concept to try and deny that.

    The reason you don't kill the lady next door is because you have a concept of morality, which you learned from humans. In the end, it doesn't matter if you killed her or not, because the human species continues to exist.

    What I'm saying is... There's no point to life other than survival of the species. You don't have any destiny to fulfill, you just exist. You make the most of it so that you don't get bored in the process. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • TrevelyanTrevelyan Join Date: 2003-03-23 Member: 14834Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->What is our purpose of living?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Well this is where most religions come in with their stories and such, but athiests and... Humanism (are they the same thing? sure seems like it) are left alone with no explaination.

    Right now in today's society you could perhaps think your existance is ment to better humanity's future. Our role is to create and invent so that the world of tomarrow is a better place... where perhaps our time on this earth isn't so short/painful anymore. If humanity is wiped out before something like that happens well at least we tried... cant blame us for that. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    Some find this place so unbearable they chose to leave on their own terms (IE: Suicide). In the end... your purpose here is all up to you.
  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    I think I'll take the christian prespective on this one. We exist cause God got bored and wanted to make something cool. Therfore, God exists... *gasp* God exists to fullfill his own existance.

    I never said I was a christian because it solves problems <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Windelkron+Apr 5 2004, 04:09 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Windelkron @ Apr 5 2004, 04:09 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> You described it perfectly.
    The thing that's preventing me from killing the lady next door is that that would interfere greatly with the second part of my existence: making the most out of it. Killing somebody for the hell of it would land me in jail probably for life, which means I have just about fulfilled my purpose (nothing's going to come of my life once I'm in jail) but haven't felt the effects of that completion. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    So why not kill her, then kill yourself. You don't have to go tyo jail, infact, you could take out a couple of cops while you are at it. I dunno, suicide bomb into a busy shopping mall. Everybody there has fulfilled thier "existance criteria" and so have you. (sorry, i know its a touchy subject, but I have a point to make)

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->If that makes any sense, I'm trying to explain how the culmination of your purpose (your death) and your death must come at the exact same moment for your experience on Earth to have come to any worth.  It may seem ridiculous to say that, if you're landed in jail, you've die before you died, but think about it... you really have.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    But surely, your death and your death come at the same time? Maybe your purpose was to spend the rest of your life in jail, in that case, you have not 'died' before you die.

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->And that quote at the end is a bit offensive to me <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo-->.  Why is it a small wonder that that guy calls humanism the most foolish belief, or whatever?  It places monumental significance on one's brief time alive.  How is that stupid?  I assume this same person believes that quantum theory (atoms, electrons, etc) is stupid too, because it assigns great importance to atoms, which are small?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I don't mean to sound offensive, but another way of looking at humanism is to think of an ordinary car that doesn't work. It never will do, it never has done. All it has done for its short existance from the factory to the crusher is not work. Nobody will drive it around, nobody will get intimate with thier partner in the back seat, Once it is crushed, its cube of metal will be melted down and used to create beer cans. Basically, humanism is saying that that car's existance was monumentally significant, even though it never did anything. Just 'being' was enough. The fact that it never drove anywhere does not matter. It was, therefore it was significant.

    Does that seem logical to you?
  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I don't mean to sound offensive, but another way of looking at humanism is to think of an ordinary car that doesn't work. It never will do, it never has done. All it has done for its short existance from the factory to the crusher is not work. Nobody will drive it around, nobody will get intimate with thier partner in the back seat, Once it is crushed, its cube of metal will be melted down and used to create beer cans. Basically, humanism is saying that that car's existance was monumentally significant, even though it never did anything. Just 'being' was enough. The fact that it never drove anywhere does not matter. It was, therefore it was significant.

    Does that seem logical to you?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    then don't be a car that does nothing. Define your own existance by what you can acomplish. Don't exist simply to exist, exist to exist at the highest level you can achive. What that means is different to evey different person, it is a human paradox similar what makes a movie good, or why we like <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=67488' target='_blank'>any given video game</a>. In essence we exist to define our existance, which is a sweet reason to exist.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    edited April 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Swiftspear+Apr 5 2004, 09:18 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Swiftspear @ Apr 5 2004, 09:18 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> then don't be a car that does nothing.  Define your own existance by what you can acomplish.  Don't exist simply to exist, exist to exist at the highest level you can achive.  What that means is different to evey different person, it is a human paradox similar what makes a movie good, or why we like <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=67488' target='_blank'>any given video game</a>.  In essence we exist to define our existance, which is a sweet reason to exist. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    But what if you can accomplish nothing? Does that mean that your existance was worthwhile? There are cars out there that do not work, are they worth keeping?

    [edit] Does that mean, that by not wishing to achieve my highest potential, I should be earmarked for slaughter? I am not going to get to the highest level I can achieve because I don't want to. I am happy as I am. Does this mean I should be killed because I will never fulfill my existance? I am never going tobecome what I can be, because I do not want too. That goes against your criteria for existance, so I should be killed. I am a waste of space, breathing somebody else's air, somebody who will want to get to thier potential.So, because I am content with the way I am, I should be killed. That doesn't seem fair to me.
  • Soylent_greenSoylent_green Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11220Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I don't mean to sound offensive, but another way of looking at humanism is to think of an ordinary car that doesn't work. It never will do, it never has done. All it has done for its short existance from the factory to the crusher is not work. Nobody will drive it around, nobody will get intimate with thier partner in the back seat, Once it is crushed, its cube of metal will be melted down and used to create beer cans. Basically, humanism is saying that that car's existance was monumentally significant, even though it never did anything. Just 'being' was enough. The fact that it never drove anywhere does not matter. It was, therefore it was significant.

    Does that seem logical to you? <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Will you please stop applying analogies to a subject so remote from the one at hand, it serves no purpose other than to ridicule and that goes both ways.

    (e.g. An analogy of religion that is just as redicoulous is to imagine a car that was built to do some work and had a finite life expectancy and then have it work for all eternity even after it's apparent total mechanical failure, it doesn't make any sense.)
  • Soylent_greenSoylent_green Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11220Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited April 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Does that mean, that by not wishing to achieve my highest potential, I should be earmarked for slaughter? I am not going to get to the highest level I can achieve because I don't want to. I am happy as I am. Does this mean I should be killed because I will never fulfill my existance? I am never going tobecome what I can be, because I do not want too. That goes against your criteria for existance, so I should be killed. I am a waste of space, breathing somebody else's air, somebody who will want to get to thier potential.So, because I am content with the way I am, I should be killed. That doesn't seem fair to me.
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I think he's trying to say do whatever you like, if you think sitting in a sofa scratching you belly and drinking beer is a worthwhile existance, go for it.

    (edit: please watch red dwarf season 5 episode 2 "the inquisitor" if it's easy for you to get a hold of, it's just so relevant to that question, allthough not very informative. Plenty humourous though. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
  • AlignAlign Remain Calm Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 5216Forum Moderators, Constellation
    After reading too much sci-fi I decided that the meaning of (sentient) life is to gather knowledge- preferably through <u>experiencing</u>. So just make sure your life is interesting(by your standards) and you should have fulfilled your meaning, if that's important to you.
  • SnidelySnidely Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13098Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-RaVe+Apr 4 2004, 06:35 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (RaVe @ Apr 4 2004, 06:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Why is it we exist? Why do we have to live and survive through times? If we just live to just live, then we exactly do we continue living and have survived hard times?

    This is something that has kept me pondering wether it would mean any difference if I were alive or dead.... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    The reason I continue living is not because I have a purpose, or even any real accomplishments, but because I have no idea what being dead is like. No-one does for sure.

    As such, I might as well make the most of life.
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    just a curiousity but why is it that every time there's a question of the point of existance, people with religious background automatically bring up the "omg no point kill people!!!" card? Let's face it, naturally we're not really all that inclined to genuinely kill. Everyone has a violent streak but even without interference it's rare that any fight will continue to the point of one of the participants dying =/

    Poking this point further, the idea of people living without belief in a point isn't theory it's a fact. Many people across the world, and especially in the rather heavily athiest UK, don't really live their life for a 'point' other than to just live and enjoy life... amazingly there's a lack of constant mass murders, unjustified riots and general lethal violence. Of course, there's always the police and the consequences but many people just don't go postal because we're really social animals at heart so we care about our status or reputation in society and more particularly; friends and family. Most people don't like killers for some reason =3

    Unless you bring out some genuine statistics proving that non-religious people are more likely to resort to murder then please drop it, because it's really getting old -.-
    And before anyone brings up the 'point, omg the point!!!' if you need something to have a point to justify it, do you really think you can even get into the mindset of the people who don't so you know what you're arguing against? I've not seen any evidence of it, just passionate outbursts of 'but we MUST have a point...' =P
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Geminosity+Apr 5 2004, 06:55 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Geminosity @ Apr 5 2004, 06:55 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> why is it that every time there's a question of the point of existance, people with religious background automatically bring up the "omg no point kill people!!!" card? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Because religious people believe that all things happen for a reason. Without a reason, without a purpose, things are useless. They just sit around collecting dust. It is in the very nature of man to look for something deeper in life than just reproduction (well, I think it is). The Inquisitor is a good program, where some guy has taken it upon himself to erase the people who didnot fulfill thier destiny, and replace them with someone who would make the most of their life. The quesiton is, what, ro who, gives him the right to do that?

    A person's life is thiers to live how they want, find thier own meaning to it. If they end up wasting it, tough. If they end up living to the full, more power to their elbow.
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    without reason things are useless and gather dust? how does that justify the over-used 'killing' argument? Whether people think someone else is 'useless' they still wouldn't suddenly kill them just because they could.

    with or without a reason things still are and will do what they do, it's rare that they'd just sit and do nothing, nigh impossible infact as every single molecule of matter has influence on reality that spirals off into a massively complex chain of events =o

    The difference is that you believe the chain of events is some great plot of a higher power while I merely believe it's the effect of consequences; unplanned and as much something to stay around and enjoy as anything ^^
  • Nemesis_ZeroNemesis_Zero Old European Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 75Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    You're currently going through the moves of <a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=63576' target='_blank'>this</a> topic. I think at the point it is at, we are at least far enough to agree that religious and secular morals are equally capable at creating personal morals, so either prove that point wrong over there, or leave it alone in here.
  • SnidelySnidely Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13098Members
    edited April 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Marine01+Apr 4 2004, 08:40 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Marine01 @ Apr 4 2004, 08:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> So why not kill the lady next door? Why not eviscerate her? She will die, you will die, and at the end of the day it means zero, null, nothing. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Maybe because it matters <i>now</i>? Sure, it might not matter to the person doing the crime, but it matters to the lady next door. She'll now never have the chance to live out the rest of her life.

    <!--QuoteBegin-Z.X. Bogglesteinsky+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Z.X. Bogglesteinsky)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->But what if you can accomplish nothing? Does that mean that your existance was worthwhile? There are cars out there that do not work, are they worth keeping?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    A car is a possession, a person is not.

    And if people don't live up to their potential, that's their problem. However, you won't be standing trial for it; I don't see why you think anyone should be. Just bear in mind that you could have made more of your life.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Snidely+Apr 5 2004, 08:04 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Snidely @ Apr 5 2004, 08:04 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> She'll now never have the chance to live out the rest of her life. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yes she will.

    She will have lived her whole life, died at the end. What if she didn't have the rest of her life?

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    A car is a possession, a person is not.

    And if people don't live up to their potential, that's their problem. However, you won't be standing trial for it; I don't see why you think anyone should be. Just bear in mind that you could have made more of your life. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Did you even read the whole of my post?

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->A person's life is thiers to live how they want, find thier own meaning to it. If they end up wasting it, tough. If they end up living to the full, more power to their elbow. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    That's my conclusion. I think I am done here. Goodnight ladies and gentlemen.
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    Nem - I'm not sure I completely agree with you.

    So far, no one has presented a serious challenge to my proposition that to say the meaning of life is existance is to say that life has no meaning at all. Those who attempt to create/support secular morals (such as in that thread) very very rarely accept that position - that life is completely meaningless. I think these are two separate topics.

    Soylent green - I found it interesting that you criticised Boggles method of attempting to get his point across, yet couldnt actually criticise his point. Analogies serve a point - communication. To attack analogies exhaustively is like criticising a mans spelling to discredit his arguement.

    I think Trevalyn was being completely honest when he said this

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Well this is where most religions come in with their stories and such, but athiests and... Humanism (are they the same thing? sure seems like it) are left alone with no explaination.

    Right now in today's society you could perhaps think your existance is ment to better humanity's future. Our role is to create and invent so that the world of tomarrow is a better place... where perhaps our time on this earth isn't so short/painful anymore. If humanity is wiped out before something like that happens well at least we tried... cant blame us for that.

    Some find this place so unbearable they chose to leave on their own terms (IE: Suicide). In the end... your purpose here is all up to you.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Humanists (generally) are caught in a logically untenable position. They know existance has significance, but their theory denies it. They fall in love, they suffer, they have children who mean the world to them, and their entire being tells them that this is significant, that this has meaning.

    Geminosity - the killing arguement may be overused, but points are more important than you think. Points serve as a method of determining if your beliefs can be logically and consistently applied. You cannot simply close your eyes to them because you've never personally met a living example, which is something I see done regularily.

    Many modern wo/men, who consider themselves logical creatures (I believe in science, how many times have we heard that one) and pride themselves on it, hold to beliefs which have more holes than a collander, but simply refuse to examine them in detail. As such, they waltz through life believing everything else is "wrong" based upon their own belief (or even worse, believing it doesnt matter if beliefs are wrong/right), which itself is flawed. Does living your life based upon a lie/incorrect theory sound like a great idea to anyone else? I am not a big fan of the eyes shut, hands over ears approach to theories of existance.
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    edited April 2004
    sorry marine but that last paragraph could easily be applied to anyone, religious, non-religious... whatever you want as it's purely subjective. It's the sort of thing you can apply to anyone who doesn't agree with your own views as you make it sound as if yours is irrevocably correct and proven 100% true. It's hard for many people to realise it by arguing and saying things are right or wrong they inevitably end up being somewhat hypocritical; everyone is part of the 'eyes shut, hand over ears' method in their own way, including yourself =P

    It's hard to take a neutral stance in anything but as long as you can question things whether you think they're nonsense or they're the very things you found your life on then you're at least on the right path to at least grasping some sort of understanding of the time you spend alive.

    I didn't arrive at my current 'beliefs' lightly either... I went through many years of looking at the various religions, even new-age stuff before coming to my personal conclusion after much thought and a lot of looking around.
    For me personally, especially after doing some study into psychology, I started to doubt about the whole 'point' ideal. The idea of something having a purpose is, in my mind, part of the human mental mechanics. The same thing that likes to shove things in categories for fast recognition and all other such fun stuff. In many ways aren't things assigned a use by us where in reality they already have an infinite set of uses given the right conditions?

    Ponderings aside I don't think the kill thing is as relevant as you might like it to be, but the arguements as to why are posted already with currently no counter-points so I don't feel the need to repeat them =3

    I don't argue that life has a point, I merely argue that it's here so you might as well use it... after all as gamers I'm sure we can all appreciate the simple of enjoyment of something with no genuine point beyond the experiences or fun it brings right? ^^
    If you need a point then feel free to 'enlighten' rave with your personal opinions and counter-points to my own beliefs, but I'm afraid you won't change my mind any as to my view of this sliver of time in the infinite being just another game but with no designer =D
  • UltimaGeckoUltimaGecko hates endnotes Join Date: 2003-05-14 Member: 16320Members
    edited April 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Geminosity+Apr 4 2004, 05:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Geminosity @ Apr 4 2004, 05:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I don't think anything needs purpose, it's a flawed idea made up to try and protect people's fragile egos =o

    As long as something has influence it's worth it's existance.  Every second you spend alive you change something, every choice you make creates consequences... if you need a 'point' beyond merely existing and seeing what happens then maybe you need the comfort of a religion.  Quite often people feel the need for a reason or whatnot and follow a belief that puts them in service of a deity ~shrugs~

    Think of it this way... a rock lying on a road doesn't serve any 'purpose' per se unless you believe in fate or the work of a higher form, yet by simply being it changes the lives and existances of everything around it; the creatures who see it, the cars that hit it perhaps even cracking the windscreen of the vehicle behind it and causing a crash... but most of all it's just there.  How it got there isn't really important, why it's there? That only matters if you have the view everything must serve a purpose.  It just is.. and that's all that truely matters in the here and now of life's flow =3

    I live my life for experiences, and as a result it's not too hard to find good in the bad or to just enjoy life for what it is...

    ...but you aren't me ^~<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I'll have to agree with this. Every atom in the universe exerts a gravitational and electromagnetic force on every other unit of mass and electricity (repsectively). so existing is doing something, everytime you do (or don't ) do something you're chaning the entire universe (even if it is in the most minute of ways).

    Personally, I consider myself different from almost everyone mentally, if I see a flaw in my ideas, I'll try to validate it, but if it doesn't work it's gone. Which is why I've questioned my "Don't bother thanking someone unless they did something you couldn't do at that moment (or relatively soon) yourself" and my "Saying 'I am sorry' to someone who just lost a family member" morals. I edit them to work with my present situation until I find a place where they don't need to be altered anymore.

    (as thus, if someone stands there, and takes a significant moment of their time to hold a door open for me, then I'll thank them)

    I know that sounds rediculously minisucle, but truthfully, it's one of the many things I think about whenever I walk in my dorm (or other places), and those aren't my only two either.


    On to the actual idea of existance:
    I wish I could say that I exist to be happy and learn. In reality, I believe we exist because some nitrogen, carbon and oxygen combined on a primordial Earth (which actually coincides with my image of a 'clockwork' God, but that's for a different thread <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->). From that original evolution to what we are now, our driving goal was reproduction (orignal creatures do it when they have enough resources automatically, so I think it just carried over to multicellular organisms).

    I'll take a slightly Hedonist (actually, Utilitarian, but whatever) view here and say: I think the point of existance is to make people you enjoy being with enjoy life. In essence, to love the people that love you, or the people you don't mind loving. (that way if you like being around someone, that basically means you're fulfilling your existance being with them).

    In essence, we exist to help eachother exist, or maybe I have to much faith in the ultimate fortune of humanity. If nothing else, you can say, we exist to make the universe more interesting, because if we weren't here, everything would move in a set motion dictated by physics and chemistry (if you don't actually have a view).

    I'm sure I left some hypocritical statments in there somewhere <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> .

    [edit] and this way, you don't need to go around killing people, because there's no necessary justification to prevent other people from enjoying being with eachother.

    This also fits the point that: someone may not love themselves, but they can always find someone they don't mind being with (and someone probably enjoys being with them to some extent), so suicide isn't really justified.
  • john_sheujohn_sheu Join Date: 2004-02-26 Member: 26917Members
    The purpose of my existence is to play NS. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
    (I'm supremely surprised that nobody has said that yet)

    But seriously, my belief on life is that there is no point. You were damned lucky to be born and to live, but that does not imply that you were birthed and given life in order to *do* anything. You just exist as a consequence of the laws of the universe.
    That then brings up the question of morality. I do not believe in th existence of an absolute "right" or "wrong"---in fact, I don't believe that morality is inherently "right". I see it just as a standard kept by society to keep itself from auto-destructing. A natural consequence of the emergent behavior of people, but once with no absolute siginificant meaning.
  • LegionnairedLegionnaired Join Date: 2002-04-30 Member: 552Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Geminosity+Apr 5 2004, 01:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Geminosity @ Apr 5 2004, 01:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> The difference is that you believe the chain of events is some great plot of a higher power while I merely believe it's the effect of consequences; unplanned and as much something to stay around and enjoy as anything ^^ <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    If it was unplanned, without purpose, just kind of happened, then what good is it to sit around and watch the dominos fall? Will it give personal fulfillment to your life to observe the effects of a sequence that began before you were born, and will continue after you die?

    If we are just observers, then there is literally no point to being here, to being alive, to having the free will to do whatever we like, whenever we like. Without something to <i>do</i>, there is no reason for us to be here at all. If we just 'enjoy life,' then the net effect of our living here is meaningless, we have taken away from the world and put nothing back in. We must act, or we become without a purpose. To argue that we do not need one is to argue that any two lives have exactly the same net value. A street thug is ultimately the same as Ghandhi.

    Even while exerting force on the world, simple physics teaches us that the universe is constantly moving towards equilibrium, to a point where the energy content of every point in space is equal. Our efforts, in the end, become void. Even if we devote our lives to benevolent service, or malevolent evil, we are ultimately useless, and in the end, we don't matter. We may hold the value of our own lives highly, but that does not affect anything, we will pass away and the value we placed on ourselves will dissapear.

    The limit at infinity for all of humanity is zero. There is nothing we can do, nothing we can think of doing, that will change the outcome at the end of all things.

    To believe that humanity does not have a purpose that is COMPLETELY SOVERIGN to humanity is simply stating the above. If mankind can do nothing else but enjoy itself, then it is pointless and insignificant. There would be no reason for me to move from my chair, other than to get more fruit pies and mountain dew, logically. Nothing I could ever do would ammount to anything in the long run, and all effort is wasted effort. We would live lives of complete desolation, no goals, no wins, no losses, simply nothingness. THAT is the logical outcome of humanism/hedonism/utilitarianism.
  • john_sheujohn_sheu Join Date: 2004-02-26 Member: 26917Members
    edited April 2004
    Exactly. The human being would have no point....

    ....and that is exactly what I believe. Entropy is gonna win out in the end anyways (concisely stating what took Legionnaired two paragraphs <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> ), so why try? I mean really, there's no point in trying. While I'm here I might as well have fun.

    In case you're wondering, <b>no</b> I'm not actually being sarcastic.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-john_sheu+Apr 9 2004, 05:53 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (john_sheu @ Apr 9 2004, 05:53 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Exactly. The human being would have no point....

    ....and that is exactly what I believe. Entropy is gonna win out in the end anyways (concisely stating what took Legionnaired two paragraphs <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> ), so why try? I mean really, there's no point in trying. While I'm here I might as well have fun.

    In case you're wondering, <b>no</b> I'm not actually being sarcastic. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    But what if there is a higher purpose. Entropy does not win, there is something else.

    Is it still ok to just sit and watch the world go by, or are you going to have to do something about it?
  • john_sheujohn_sheu Join Date: 2004-02-26 Member: 26917Members
    What higher purpose? And why won't entropy win out?
  • LegionnairedLegionnaired Join Date: 2002-04-30 Member: 552Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-john_sheu+Apr 8 2004, 11:53 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (john_sheu @ Apr 8 2004, 11:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Exactly. The human being would have no point....

    ....and that is exactly what I believe. Entropy is gonna win out in the end anyways (concisely stating what took Legionnaired two paragraphs <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> ), so why try? I mean really, there's no point in trying. While I'm here I might as well have fun.

    In case you're wondering, <b>no</b> I'm not actually being sarcastic. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    You missed my point. Even if you work on having fun, you commit yourself to living out a meaningless life.

    If you're fine with that, then I see no more point to discussion. I can't argue with someone who has no will to live.
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