What's the point of your existence?

[dong20]

To be a twat, evidently.

 

[Lordpendragon]

To be a twat, evidently.

That's why I love you :tongue:

Maybe to some, I'm just a dick.

 

[dong20]

That's why I love you :tongue:

Maybe to some, I'm just a dick.

As they say, just keep taking the tablets, or in your case, perhaps not.:smile:

 

[homelessmandril]

I'm a Solipsist - so I guess you're all here cos I was a bit bored.. :wink:

Actually it was me making you say that.....:biggrin1:

 

[Theunbroken]

I am just here to make people look and feel intelligent.. its a rough job, but someone has to do it

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Actually it was me making you say that.....:biggrin1:

You are false data. :tongue:

I don't think there is a purpose to life, we're self conscious and aware of our own mortality by a fluke so my outlook is we're only here once, have as good a time as we can while we're here.

So why don't you all the people of this opinion - not just you princess, I picked your post cos you worded that opinion particularly well - go out a steal, cheat, kill the people who get in your way, and generally just take the stuff you want. It is actually a very easy path to go down and the rewards are great. Why do you bother being nice to people and working a regular job?

 

[sizablenyc]

In " Peanuts" once, Lucy asks Linus " Why are we put here?". Linus answers" To help others".
Lucy pauses then asks" So why are OTHERS here?"

 

[homelessmandril]

In " Peanuts" once, Lucy asks Linus " Why are we put here?". Linus answers" To help others".
Lucy pauses then asks" So why are OTHERS here?"

yet more evidence that Charlie Brown is the greatest philosophical mind of our age

 

[dong20]

So why don't you all the people of this opinion - not just you princess, I picked your post cos you worded that opinion particularly well - go out a steal, cheat, kill the people who get in your way, and generally just take the stuff you want. It is actually a very easy path to go down and the rewards are great. Why do you bother being nice to people and working a regular job?

I suppose because such actions can have consequences less than great, also because something within us, or at least most of us feels such behaviour is unacceptable. I'm also of the opinion that life is transitory, and that we should make the most of it, and that making 'the most of it' is personal to each of us.

As sentient beings with free will, some will take the destructive. selfish and possibly shortened path you mention, some will taken another which may be quite the reverse. Most I suspect will drift along somewhere in between - which seems something of a waste.

 

[D_Humper E Bogart]

I am therefore I think?

 

[Falcon9]

So why don't you all the people of this opinion - not just you princess, I picked your post cos you worded that opinion particularly well - go out a steal, cheat, kill the people who get in your way, and generally just take the stuff you want. It is actually a very easy path to go down and the rewards are great. Why do you bother being nice to people and working a regular job?

If it is done well, stealing, cheating, and killing will each take a lot more effort than being nice, polite, kind, gentle, warm, patient, and showing up for work and putting in hours. If the job requires that much effort, there is still the effort one might consider of running from the law, being jailed, and paying heavy fines that fit the crime. Not such an easy path. The nice thing is we have choices. We are free to find our own value system. This freedom, to me, is a gift.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I suppose because such actions can have consequences less than great, also because something within us, or at least most of us feels such behaviour is unacceptable. I'm also of the opinion that life is transitory, and that we should make the most of it, and that making 'the most of it' is personal to each of us.

As sentient beings with free will, some will take the destructive. selfish and possibly shortened path you mention, some will taken another which may be quite the reverse. Most I suspect will drift along somewhere in between - which seems something of a waste.

"something within us" - What? A soul? That doesn't make sense, (or rather it's a damned vague argument) - if we are just another animal and our sentience is a random biological development why on earth would it develop a morality? What possible use could morality serve considering the numbers we (humans) exist in? (Please don't quote Dawkins or refer me to his work - I've read him and I don't buy it)

And what makes you think that, if we are just a product of our biological processes and chemical reactions, we have free will? Any more than a chimp does, or an ant for that matter.

If it is done well, stealing, cheating, and killing will each take a lot more effort than being nice, polite, kind, gentle, warm, patient, and showing up for work and putting in hours. If the job requires that much effort, there is still the effort one might consider of running from the law, being jailed, and paying heavy fines that fit the crime. Not such an easy path. The nice thing is we have choices. We are free to find our own value system. This freedom, to me, is a gift.

Well - I disagree - maybe in our modern western world this is true* - but this is a very recent state of existance we have developed. In the past being 'amoral', if I may phrase it that way, was a lot easier, certainly less effort that being 'moral'. And anyway - why does it 'feel bad' for most of us to do bad things - is it just cultural conditioning. Why do we cry when we hear someone else's child has died - why don't we rejoice that there is one less competitor in the gene pool?

* not sure even then - there are a lot of ways of making a living ammorally / immorally and for the most part criminals get away with it. (far more crimes than there are convicted criminals)

 

[JustAsking]

"something within us" - What? A soul? That doesn't make sense, (or rather it's a damned vague argument) - if we are just another animal and our sentience is a random biological development why on earth would it develop a morality? What possible use could morality serve considering the numbers we (humans) exist in? (Please don't quote Dawkins or refer me to his work - I've read him and I don't buy it)

And what makes you think that, if we are just a product of our biological processes and chemical reactions, we have free will? Any more than a chimp does, or an ant for that matter.



Well - I disagree - maybe in our modern western world this is true* - but this is a very recent state of existance we have developed. In the past being 'amoral', if I may phrase it that way, was a lot easier, certainly less effort that being 'moral'. And anyway - why does it 'feel bad' for most of us to do bad things - is it just cultural conditioning. Why do we cry when we hear someone else's child has died - why don't we rejoice that there is one less competitor in the gene pool?

* not sure even then - there are a lot of ways of making a living ammorally / immorally and for the most part criminals get away with it. (far more crimes than there are convicted criminals)

There are plenty of species who have evolved other-centered behaviors, such as mothers nurturing their young, and even mothers nurturing orphan young from their kin or from their group.

By observing primates, the surviving hunter-gathering human tribes, and from archeological information, it appears that a considerable amount of group concern is essential for survival. Resource sharing is one that comes to mind that is present in these groups. Its not a big leap to see that morality could easily grow out of this.

Human free will. Humans seem to have the capacity to invent concepts that did not exist in the past and make choices about them that override their biological programming. Very few species besides humans would set themselves on fire for a political ideal, for example. This suggests some degree of free will if you define it as the ability to override biological one's programming.

 

[JustAsking]

Simple. I'm here to glorify God.
I do that be serving others.
In my spare time, I fart around. I read, play guitars, paint pictures, cook tasty meals, hang out with my friends, drink beer, and fuck a lot.

Seem pointless? Then there's no need for you to become me. No need at all.

Pointless? No. This is the perfect life plan, except might I add Ham Radio to the list?

 

[rob_just_rob]

Do you ever wonder why you are alive and interacting with people?

I used to wonder about things like that. Sometime in my late teens, I stopped. And also stopped wondering about what happens when we die, what happened before the universe existed, and so on. Perhaps this has something to do with my finding atheism around the same time. When I stopped caring what the answers to those questions were, I stopped holding the vague belief in the answer that everyone seems to make up for that type of question.

I guess I'm not sure why there has to be a reason for someone or something to be as it is. There are an (effectively) infinite number of living things in the world, and it's implausible that every one of them serves some sort of specific purpose. Other than the general purpose of being either breeding stock or food for something else, I guess.

 

[earllogjam]

I'm with Rob. I don't think about it any longer. It would be nice if there was some romantic, higher power, predestined thing - but alas it has not manifested in my life. Maybe it has and I just am unaware- nah. I think we all each create whatever meaning or purpose we have in life and believe what we will so we can continue living purposely and with vitality.

So I live with a few convictions and promises I keep to myself as sort of a moral compass that has guided me pretty well.

 

[Principessa]

On a lighter note I have come to believe my purpose in life is to prepare men for marraige. I am often the transitional girlfriend. The one that a man dates after the psychobitch from hell. I'm the one that strokes their ego, improves their lovemaking skills, and makes them believe in love again....but not commitment. Not with me anyway.

I have had three men get married within 3-9 months of our relationships ending. These are men who swore they would NEVER marry and referred to commitment as the "C" word. It used to piss me off; but now I have accepted my lot in life. I prepare men for marriage.

 

[IntoxicatingToxin]

On a lighter note I have come to believe my purpose in life is to prepare men for marraige. I am often the transitional girlfriend. The one that a man dates after the psychobitch from hell. I'm the one that strokes their ego, improves their lovemaking skills, and makes them believe in love again....but not commitment. Not with me anyway.

I have had three men get married within 3-9 months of our relationships ending. These are men who swore they would NEVER marry and referred to commitment as the "C" word. It used to piss me off; but now I have accepted my lot in life. I prepare men for marriage.

So... if I find a guy, can I send him your way to get prepped? :tongue:

 

[dong20]

"something within us" - What? A soul? That doesn't make sense, (or rather it's a damned vague argument) - if we are just another animal and our sentience is a random biological development why on earth would it develop a morality? What possible use could morality serve considering the numbers we (humans) exist in? (Please don't quote Dawkins or refer me to his work - I've read him and I don't buy it)

I'm not quoting anyone, bar myself. Nor do I think it's any more vague than trying understand the purpose of human existence.

When someone irritates you for something trivial cuts you up on the road for instance and, for an istant you're filled with rage what stops you from taking it further - the thought of the consequences, fear of injury or because you know it's wrong and a little of all of them?

And what makes you think that, if we are just a product of our biological processes and chemical reactions, we have free will? Any more than a chimp does, or an ant for that matter.

You just demonstrated my point, you chose to reply in the way you did, and not another way, or not at all. You did it, no one made you. Free will may be an illusion, but if so, it's a convincing one.:smile:

Well - I disagree - maybe in our modern western world this is true* - but this is a very recent state of existance we have developed. In the past being 'amoral', if I may phrase it that way, was a lot easier, certainly less effort that being 'moral'.

Well, I disagree too, killing for the sake of it has on the whole, been unacceptable for as long as society has existed, if not then surely the harsh punishments of the past (and some today) would not have been necessary would they? Modern Society has merely developed more efficient means of dealing with them. Amoral behaviour was probably just as unnacceptable.

Just because we read more about such behaviours throughout history isn't a definitive proof that even if it was 'easier' it was somehow 'normal'. Imagine reading todays newspaper headlines 500 or 1000 years from now, how accurately do you imagine today's western societies would be perceived? In any event morality or being moral is rather subjective.

And anyway - why does it 'feel bad' for most of us to do bad things - is it just cultural conditioning. Why do we cry when we hear someone else's child has died - why don't we rejoice that there is one less competitor in the gene pool?

Good question, and such responses are not restricted to humans. Is what you're asking - "Is the ability to 'grieve' a normal, inevitable part of sentience or merely an irritating side effect?"

 

[CPearl]

I believe that I was sent here to find my way back again.

How elegant!