Epic Thought-Experience on Meaning of Life

[Maeni]

This happened earlier today, I'm thinking it might not be that philosophical, but I still think it's worth mentioning. I was mindlessly listening to music, namely Aya Hirano - God Knows, while just randomly thinking. No important thoughts really... I was thinking, that maybe there really is no meaning at all. The universe happened at random, evolution only happened because the laws of nature made it happen that way. Free Will is also an illusion, our brains do all the work, and our emotions and feelings only exist because evolution made it so. Humans seek the answer to the question "What is the meaning of Life?" And dosn't it then seem sad, that the answer might be that it isn't there? __________________________________ Then I was hit by this epic feeling and thought, and the fact that the song I was listening to reached climax made it even more epic. We don't care! We're still enjoying ourselves! Music! Nature! Friends! Fun! Movies! Games! Science! We all find something we like, and find our own meaning in it. We humans are curious enough to want to know the meaning of life, but that dosn't stop us from creating our own meanings of it. We're the creature that doesn't give a shit wether Free Will exists or not, if there's a meaning or not. Because we can still enjoy our lives even if there's no sense in it! I don't know why I posted it, but it made me feel good, and it was an epic thought-rush, combined with the music and it was just epic! Happy new meaningless year!!

[slayer]

On a cosmic scale, nothing matters. I think ClouD said that...or someone did. But yeah, when you think about it, nothing really matters. What goal are we going for, only to die some years later?

[Abra]

What song were you listening to, by the way?

[Maeni]

God Knows by Aya Hirano x3 Not because it has any importance, because the lyrics are in Japanese, it just synced so well with my thoughts xP

[tkdyo]

I actually think you might be right on everything up to free will being an illusion. How do you make that jump?

[Maeni]

It's not necessarily what I believe, but if we take a look at, say a cat. They think about food, water, sleep, sex and general survival. All of these are only there because their brain evolved into having these. You could say that their brains are just really really complex programs and scripts that run all the time. The same could be said about humans, but where our programs and scripts are just much more complex. No matter what situation you get into, the programs analyze it and react what the programs find to be the best. So actually, we're not making a decision wether to go left or right; we're just programmed to make the decision we make. I could decide to go swimming now, even though it would be extremely cold, to demonstrate my free will - But then it would just be me being programmed to do that in the situation where I had to demonstrate free will.

[tkdyo]

ah, but then you have the counter example of helping a bum even if you feel they deserve what they got. Such as one of those nasty CEOs in jail . you could also claim that you are programmed to just feel sympathy because it is another human, but if you have utter distaste for them, why override the programming to let them get what they deserve? Some listen to their concious and some dont after all.

[Maeni]

But there must be a reason for it still, it could be that you feel that you have to, or anything really. And that feeling would then be the program acting on the situation. One part of it might say "that guy is nasty, stay away from him" in the form of making you look down on / hate / have utter distaste for him. And another part of the program would react and for some reason tell you that it would be good in some way to help. I don't think it's provable, and neither is it really relevant. It dosn't really matter if it actually is free will or not, because to us, it still feels like it :3 I think it's possible in theory to have a machine so powerful that if you plug it into your brain, it can analyze every piece of information, and by that be able to predict what you're going to do in any given situation. (as the brain currently is, since if you unplug it and experience something new, your connections will change in your brain, and thus the machine will have to re-analyze)

[DeathCell]

This happened earlier today, I'm thinking it might not be that philosophical, but I still think it's worth mentioning. I was mindlessly listening to music, namely Aya Hirano - God Knows, while just randomly thinking. No important thoughts really... I was thinking, that maybe there really is no meaning at all. The universe happened at random, evolution only happened because the laws of nature made it happen that way. Free Will is also an illusion, our brains do all the work, and our emotions and feelings only exist because evolution made it so. Humans seek the answer to the question "What is the meaning of Life?" And dosn't it then seem sad, that the answer might be that it isn't there? __________________________________ Then I was hit by this epic feeling and thought, and the fact that the song I was listening to reached climax made it even more epic. We don't care! We're still enjoying ourselves! Music! Nature! Friends! Fun! Movies! Games! Science! We all find something we like, and find our own meaning in it. We humans are curious enough to want to know the meaning of life, but that dosn't stop us from creating our own meanings of it. We're the creature that doesn't give a shit wether Free Will exists or not, if there's a meaning or not. Because we can still enjoy our lives even if there's no sense in it! I don't know why I posted it, but it made me feel good, and it was an epic thought-rush, combined with the music and it was just epic! Happy new meaningless year!! Or maybe the meaning to life is to live?

[Maeni]

Or maybe the meaning to life is to live? That dosn't make much sense, IMO ô_o If I say life is meaningless And the meaning of life is life Then the meaning of life is meaningless (to me)

[Schmaven]

Life has whatever meaning people give it, and the meaning of life will vary from person to person because of this freedom to give meaning to whatever we want to give meaning to. If you don't think there is a meaning to life, it is because you haven't came up with one yet. I think the purpose of our lives is to discover our purpose in life (ourselves, to our own standards) and act in that direction.

[TimeStopper]

ah, but then you have the counter example of helping a bum even if you feel they deserve what they got. Such as one of those nasty CEOs in jail . you could also claim that you are programmed to just feel sympathy because it is another human, but if you have utter distaste for them, why override the programming to let them get what they deserve? Some listen to their concious and some dont after all. There is no overriding the program, you are the program. It could be argued that every action you make is based on a calculation done in your brain. Life has whatever meaning people give it, and the meaning of life will vary from person to person because of this freedom to give meaning to whatever we want to give meaning to. If you don't think there is a meaning to life, it is because you haven't came up with one yet. I think the purpose of our lives is to discover our purpose in life (ourselves, to our own standards) and act in that direction. purposeOfLife=findPurposeOfLife? Infinite recursion! But anyhow, Maeni's said that he want to enjoy life. So it could be argued that is his purpose. Even if there is a purpose, do we have to follow it?

[LucidFlanders]

This happened earlier today, I'm thinking it might not be that philosophical, but I still think it's worth mentioning. I was mindlessly listening to music, namely Aya Hirano - God Knows, while just randomly thinking. No important thoughts really... I was thinking, that maybe there really is no meaning at all. The universe happened at random, evolution only happened because the laws of nature made it happen that way. Free Will is also an illusion, our brains do all the work, and our emotions and feelings only exist because evolution made it so. Humans seek the answer to the question "What is the meaning of Life?" And dosn't it then seem sad, that the answer might be that it isn't there? __________________________________ Then I was hit by this epic feeling and thought, and the fact that the song I was listening to reached climax made it even more epic. We don't care! We're still enjoying ourselves! Music! Nature! Friends! Fun! Movies! Games! Science! We all find something we like, and find our own meaning in it. We humans are curious enough to want to know the meaning of life, but that dosn't stop us from creating our own meanings of it. We're the creature that doesn't give a shit wether Free Will exists or not, if there's a meaning or not. Because we can still enjoy our lives even if there's no sense in it! I don't know why I posted it, but it made me feel good, and it was an epic thought-rush, combined with the music and it was just epic! Happy new meaningless year!! Sounds kinda like what i expierienced sometimes. http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=64363 Nothing matters in the end, Nothing.

[CryoDragoon]

Happy Enlightenment!

[RedfishBluefish]

Perhaps a more... interesting observation is that the concept of the Meaning Of Life(tm) is meaningless itself. There's no way an externally given "meaning" could exist, because it wouldn't have any meaning itself. To use an example someone else on the forums used - if "god" dropped a stone tablet out the sky saying the meaning of life is, say, to get the highest score in pacman, would we take notice of it? No, we'd just say "WTF?! That's retarded" and continue on with our lives. It wouldn't make any difference.

[Bonsay]

ah, but then you have the counter example of helping a bum even if you feel they deserve what they got. Such as one of those nasty CEOs in jail . you could also claim that you are programmed to just feel sympathy because it is another human, but if you have utter distaste for them, why override the programming to let them get what they deserve? Some listen to their concious and some dont after all. You don't get it. Our brain is as it is and it reacts the way it does. If a regular person does CPR on Hitler, but he actually despises him, it doesn't mean that he cheated the universe by using his free will. It just means that the brain activity made him do what he did. I don't understand how people put their trust in science every day, they believe that they'll fall and die if they jump off of a building, they don't jump in front of cars or regularly try using telekinesis, but when it comes to the brain... all rules brake down. Magic happens and particles act according to what this "ego", which nobody knows anything about, does.

[Xei]

I was thinking, that maybe there really is no meaning at all. The universe happened at random, evolution only happened because the laws of nature made it happen that way. Free Will is also an illusion, our brains do all the work, and our emotions and feelings only exist because evolution made it so. Humans seek the answer to the question "What is the meaning of Life?" And dosn't it then seem sad, that the answer might be that it isn't there? Yeah it's called nihilism. Then I was hit by this epic feeling and thought, and the fact that the song I was listening to reached climax made it even more epic. We don't care! We're still enjoying ourselves! Music! Nature! Friends! Fun! Movies! Games! Science! We all find something we like, and find our own meaning in it. We humans are curious enough to want to know the meaning of life, but that dosn't stop us from creating our own meanings of it. We're the creature that doesn't give a shit wether Free Will exists or not, if there's a meaning or not. Because we can still enjoy our lives even if there's no sense in it! I don't know why I posted it, but it made me feel good, and it was an epic thought-rush, combined with the music and it was just epic! Happy new meaningless year!! Yeah it's called existentialism. The problem is that 'what is the meaning of life' is a meaningless question itself. What exactly does it mean? 'Is there some purpose or function to my life'? 'How should I best live my life'? 'Is there a God'? These are all different interpretations of the question that people have.

[Maeni]

Well yeah, now all that is comming up, the problems about it and all. But even if it's meaningless, and if the question is meaningless, then it's still awesome because either way, we're finding ways to enjoy ourselves!

[ThreeLetterSyndrom]

I don't give a damn about the meaning of life, as long as I have fun in it, I dun't care What's the point of thinking about it, really? Those who know nothing are the happiest, right?

[TimeStopper]

I don't give a damn about the meaning of life, as long as I have fun in it, I dun't care What's the point of thinking about it, really? Those who know nothing are the happiest, right? Does that mean the Danish are the most foolish?

[Maeni]

Denmark is kinda behind at some topics, in my opinion. Hell yeah.

[DeathCell]

Nakashima Mika! Is good fyi!

[Original Poster]

That's kind of Buddhism 101 Ultimately nothing matters, so just enjoy life and don't take it so seriously.

[ThreeLetterSyndrom]

Does that mean the Danish are the most foolish? Sure thing.

[oniman7]

I don't know how this made you happier, this kind of made me utterly depressed.