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The Meaning of Life

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Re: The Meaning of Life

#21

Post by jqm »

ChristianMarks wrote: post #12

Then again there are Nietzsche's three terrible truths: 1. Existential: death and suffering are inevitable.* 2. Moral: life is amoral. 3. Epistemic: most of what we think we know about the world is illusory. *I include being downvoted on HN, especially under the new voting regime, under the category of suffering. Edit: a reference, with additional clarification and justification for those who dispute the abbreviated…

Nietzsche is not about avoiding suffering though. Nor is he about "accepting" suffering.

His belief is about an act of will. That you "will" what happens to you. By this act we obtain power over life and the events in it. (not sure I fully agree... just stating what I understand).

"Was that life? Well then! Once more!" -from Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Re: The Meaning of Life

#22

Post by bsenftner »

This is like a skin cell asking what is the meaning of life. The meaning of life is larger than our individual selves, and is found in the totality of life: we are either the recursive self creation of God, or the creation of some super intelligence seeking answers to questions it can not. Either way, our purpose is clear: create heaven, create time travel, teleport all living entities at the moment of their death to heaven, and then provide comfort, care, and understanding. Yeah, not my idea: read "The Light of Other Days", Arthur C Clark's last novel.

Re: The Meaning of Life

#23

Post by deckiedan »

hawkharris wrote: post #7

I went to a debate about the existence of God a few months ago. Dan Barker, an atheist who has contributed to the Daily Show, had the winning quote: "There is no meaning of life -- and that's a great thing: it means that there's meaning in life." The quote is poignant regardless of your religious affiliation. Barker was saying that the meaning of life is intensely personal. Each of us invents it through our own exper…

Do I understand you correctly:

- "meaning" or "purpose" in life is whatever we feel "meaningful" or "purposeful".

- those feelings are derived through our upbringing, culture, biochemical quirks, etc.

Therefore if we could find whichever set of chemicals or brainwashing techniques made us feel 'meaningful', then that sense would allow just as valid and 'meaningful' an existence as any other?

Isn't that merely hedonism, just with 'meaning' as the ultimate pleasure?

Re: The Meaning of Life

#24

Post by cousin_it »

javert wrote: post #13

Here is the meaning of life. There is only one inherent value to consciousness, and it is pleasure. What is the evidence for this claim? It is directly perecptible. To see the proof of this, all you have to do is look. Everything else you value should be for the sake of this ultimate value. (Because there is no other ultimate value for them to be for the sake of.) Now, this isn't an endorsement of hedonism, which I t…

Is the pleasure of others meaningful to you, or only to them?

Re: The Meaning of Life

#25

Post by ftwinnovations »

Codhisattva wrote: post #15

"Let instinct trump logic" - bad advice. Instinct is simply pattern matching current conditions against memory. Without experience, instinct is a poor criteria and logic should be employed. Read Kahneman for the supporting research into that.

Thank you! This is the one point I very much disagreed with from this talk. His argument is that our logical brain, which is new, is first to interpret our environment but am pretty sure that premise is flawed. Our irrational, fast, animal side is first given sensory input and a chance to act on it... Fight, flee, flinch, do nothing... At which point the slower, newer, better evolved logical side begins to work through it and make rational decisions. This newer side is what truly separates us from the rest of the animals out there, and is what creates everything.. Society, self-awareness, inventions, everything.

Not to say instinct is bad. It's extremely valuable, and as Blink Theory pointed out so famously, has it's place as well.

But as you said, I agree it's bad advice to let one simply trump the other.

Re: The Meaning of Life

#26

Post by return0 »

deckiedan wrote: post #23
hawkharris wrote: post #7

I went to a debate about the existence of God a few months ago. Dan Barker, an atheist who has contributed to the Daily Show, had the winning quote: "There is no meaning of life -- and that's a great thing: it means that there's meaning in life." The quote is poignant regardless of your religious affiliation. Barker was saying that the meaning of life is intensely personal. Each of us invents it through our own exper…

Do I understand you correctly: - "meaning" or "purpose" in life is whatever we feel "meaningful" or "purposeful". - those feelings are derived through our upbringing, culture, biochemical quirks, etc. Therefore if we could find whichever set of chemicals or brainwashing techniques made us feel 'meaningful', then that sense would allow just as valid and 'meaningful' an existence as any other? Isn't that merely hedonis…

Arent we already doing that? Isnt 'meaning' just a word, a product of the human brain? Plus many people under hallucinogenics report experiences with various intensities of 'meaning'

Re: The Meaning of Life

#27

Post by michaelsbradley »

Life is a gift of God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, who in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in God's own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Saviour. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

Adapted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It reflects my own belief and answer to this question, and I am happy to be numbered among billions over the centuries who would have answered Siver's question in the same way.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2.HTM

Re: The Meaning of Life

#28

Post by d23 »

Codhisattva wrote: post #15

"Let instinct trump logic" - bad advice. Instinct is simply pattern matching current conditions against memory. Without experience, instinct is a poor criteria and logic should be employed. Read Kahneman for the supporting research into that.

Yeah, our past experiences create walls of thought around us and make it hard to see or imagine what things are like outside them. Logic is one tool that can help us, as well as imagination. There are probably others.

Re: The Meaning of Life

#30

Post by jqm »

michaelsbradley wrote: post #27

Life is a gift of God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, who in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in God's own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accompl…

I'm not hating on your answer here, you certainly are free to believe as you wish and at least as right as anyone else, but appeal to popularity, especially when that popularity was often forced at the point of a sword, is not a very good argument.
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