[quote]Joris wrote:
The answer is 42[/quote]
Your absolutely correct
It’s a silly discussion, really. The only thing close to absolute truth is that everyone thinks they’re better than everyone else.
The corollary is that they’re usually wrong.
I’m definitely better, though.
Life is a virus. It will develop and spread where conditions for it are present and the naturally fit will thrive and the weak will perish. There is no purpose just chaos and physics.
Life is not purpose driven but rather driven by an imperative to “go forth and multiply” and make more fit genes. To that end there are a few things that we need to accomplish which will keep us busy enough to not have to worry about our “purpose”.
Providing for our progeny is enough of a challenge that many of us do not have the luxury of this sort of egotistical introspection. This is the sort of thinking that is displayed mostly by the young while life is still carefree.
Though, I think the immortal words of Socrates are particularly apt here:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Until I have further proof I will continue to live as though this is my only life because in the end life is for living. I choose to make the most of and enjoy every second of it as much as possible.
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
A person is NEVER as important or significant as they think they are.
The purpose of life is to make more life. Plain and simple. If you want to know the meaning of life, watch Monty Python.
'splains everything in the movie.[/quote]
Surely, you don’t believe every sperm is sacred?
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
your purpose in life = to reproduce.
if you look at everything biologically thats what it all boils down to. [/quote]
Biologically speaking, this statement is true. The sole purpose of life, or the theory goes, is to pass on your genes to future members of the species. There has to be something encoded in DNA that makes competition a primary survival need, because even with abundant life resources, life still will compete.
Now here is where the differentiation comes between humans and all other living creatures. All other creatures have built in population controls. If they overconsume thier resources, they will starve and be whittled down to only the strongest specimens. Then the overburdened resource will bounce back due to the lack of the consumers, and the cycle will continue, each boom and bust making that population hardier, and better adept at survival.
Humans, have no natural enemies. Our population will collapse only when our planet can no longer provide what we need (that is if we fail to find it somewhere else first).
Also we have the distinct ability that no other living being on earth has had. To destroy out entire planet and all human life. A wolf doesn’t have to worry about morals, it only has to worry about pack structure and getting as much food and as much ass as it can possibly get. Humans, with thier collective ability to wreak mass destruction need morals. Especially when it pertains to governments (were there is surprisingly little to no morals present). The problem with morals and humans is that people in general have overcome the in grained DNA coding like procreating, the good of the pack or tribe, the good of thier offspring to further thier legacy. Many humans still have these instincts, but many simply do not have them.
I’m kinda running in circles now (working and typing intermittenly) hopefully my ideas are coming through clear to at least someone.
V
[quote]Vegita wrote:
I’m kinda running in circles now (working and typing intermittenly) hopefully my ideas are coming through clear to at least someone.
V
[/quote]
Yep, I agree with this post and your previous post on aging. It’s human nature to try and overcome the human condition. Everything we do as a species has been in the effort of overcoming the constraints which are imposed upon us by nature.
[quote]machiajelly wrote:
Everything we do as a species has been in the effort of overcoming the constraints which are imposed upon us by nature.[/quote]
Culture helps provide man with the things his genes cannot; for example, culture determines how a man might raise his children but it is his genes that determine how well his children turn out and to what extent he can raise his children.
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Surely, you don’t believe every sperm is sacred?
[/quote]
You don’t have to be a six-footer.
You don’t have to have a great brain.
You don’t have to have any clothes on.
You’re a Catholic the moment Dad came.
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
A person is NEVER as important or significant as they think they are.
The purpose of life is to make more life. Plain and simple. If you want to know the meaning of life, watch Monty Python.
'splains everything in the movie.[/quote]
Social metaphysics.
The purpose of life is to make yourself happy, as a rational thinking animal.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
A person is NEVER as important or significant as they think they are.
The purpose of life is to make more life. Plain and simple. If you want to know the meaning of life, watch Monty Python.
'splains everything in the movie.
Social metaphysics.
The purpose of life is to make yourself happy, as a rational thinking animal.
[/quote]
DING DING DING
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
The purpose of life is to make yourself happy, as a rational thinking animal.
[/quote]
I don’t think the meaning of the word “purpose” would allow for such a loose philosophical interpretation. Purpose denotes the idea of utility; for example, a hammer is best utilized by driving nails. That is to say, that is its purpose.
To answer the question of human purpose we would have to answer the question of how he is best utilized. This is an impossible task because it all comes down to what man values that determines how he utilizes the various means he has. In this sense, at best we can say man’s purpose is to act in accordance with his values; but even this makes little sense because it is the only way we are capable of acting.
That said, hopefully, a man’s “purpose” will lead him to a certain level of happiness; though, this is not a necessary feature of action.
A man cannot only make himself happy; at best he can make decisions that best suit him as long as he willingly accepts the consequences of his actions. Those consequences might be that he gains less satisfaction from a choice or choices he is forced to make at some future point in time.
[quote]dirtbag wrote:
Joris wrote:
The answer is 42
Your absolutely correct[/quote]
What was the question again?
For all the people who say the purpose of live is to reproduce, does that mean a man or woman who doesnt have kids has a life with no purpose ?
[quote]Christine wrote:
dirtbag wrote:
Joris wrote:
The answer is 42
Your absolutely correct
What was the question again?[/quote]
What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?
Answer: 42.
The Earth was created to determine what is the ultimate question.
[quote]Vegita wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
Also we have the distinct ability that no other living being on earth has had. To destroy out entire planet and all human life.
[/quote]
While we do have the power to destroy our own species, so do almost all other. The difference is in what small part of our species is needed to make that a reality.
It would also be very unlikely for us to eradicate all life without really trying to do so. I’m not sure we would be able to do that even if we tried. There are some very pesistent forms of life.
And while we may have the ability to eradicate all other forms of life too, it was just a matter of time before some species gained the power to do so. Just like between the lottery winner and the millions of poor losers, what’s the difference? Yeah, it’s just luck, someone had to win. We just happened to be the one species to win the first round of the genetic lottery on our planet. Let’s hope it’s also the last.
There is obviously a greater purpose of life than just to reproduce. Reproduction is the mechanism that produces life and is very important but what about the question that is created by this idea:
The purpose of reproduction.
If human life is like exponentially growing bacteria, there has to be a reason. If evolution is real, there has to be a reason behind that too. The even bigger picture:
What is the purpose of the universe.
Whoever thinks that the creation of the universe was just a coincidental statistically probable happening, is IMO naive. There are higher powers than the realm of our consciousness and physical world. God if that is what you would like to call it.
Sorry for the deepness, just trying to make my point.
There doesn’t have to be a REASON for anything. It is what it is. Although sometimes what it is, is what it ain’t.
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
There doesn’t have to be a REASON for anything. It is what it is. Although sometimes what it is, is what it ain’t.[/quote]
And how do you know this? There may be some behind the scenes action that we have no comprehension of.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz philosophy 101 is now in session zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I don’t buy into the whole procreation is the purpose of life thing.
Great men like Einstein, Newton, and others never bothered getting married or having children, and they sure did a lot more for this world than most.
I read this the other day and it made sense to me:
"The meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day, and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. To put the question in general terms would be comparable to the question posed to a chess champion: ‘Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?’ "