How and why do you continue living if you realize nothing matters, Veeky Forums? What is your answer to nihilism?

>science leads to nihilism
I've been thinking about this.

Science can dissect the human brain and map out exactly what it is that sets us apart from animals, and it is probably the pre-frontal cortex. Self-control and planning ability make you human. So if you decrease either or both, does it make you less human?

What if you rely on tools to externalize memory and increase your cognitive processing power? You were doing this anyway. Does it make you "more" human? What if you design all of society around these principles? Will you be helping humans be "more" human, the more they are removed from beasts, even if it means creating a suffocating dystopia as seen in Zamyatin's We?

Does any philosopher talk about this? Hobbes, maybe, while telling us to obey authority? If nothing else, these ideas might be good for creating some knock-off BNW novel.

Science shouldn't lead to nihilism. It should lead to belief in mathematical consistency. That's all. Unless you want to look at things at the quantum level where even that (potentially) falls apart. In which case it could lead you to make of it pretty much anything your imagination wants.

>So if you decrease either or both, does it make you less human?
Of course. Being "human" is not a discrete state, but rather a spectrum. We don't need to concern ourselves with it yet, but with either genetic engineering or advances in AI it may be possible to produce existences of questionable status.
>What if you rely on tools to externalize memory and increase your cognitive processing power? You were doing this anyway. Does it make you "more" human?
That's a question of definitions. I would argue that, as long as human is well-defined, doing this will make one less human as well.
>What if you design all of society around these principles?
I seriously doubt that there will be anything resembling human society if we go far enough from "human"
>Does any philosopher talk about this?
Lem, probably. I can't remember any particular work, maybe Golem XIV, and a little bit here and there in Cyberiad.

Nihilism, as in "no highest meaning", is basically what science tells us. That life as we know it, as well as our minds, are the emergent products of certain complex physical phenomena based on very simple rules. You don't even need to get to quantum level for this.

Man, I can't design a dystopia around quantum physics.

Unless maybe it involves a cult that worships uncertainty, while forcing everyone to assist in the construction of giant particle accelerators.

>Lem

Excellent suggestion, thanks!

You're right. I was using nihilism like "Nothing can be known for sure." My mistake. In any case though, science does not disprove any religious or metaphysical pretense. It just elaborates what such a theory would have to include and account for.

that's not what nihilism means

Cult of chaos. interesting.

>I can't design a dystopia around quantum physics.
It may be possible to design a dystopia around multiverse, starting from Everett interpretation of QM and supplying it with certain physically-consistent possibilities of travel between universes (I once encountered a David Deutsch's article about closed timelike curves acting as gates between universes, it needs further thought to be used in a novel though). Multiverse should be "realistic", of course, not the usually used timelint bullshit, and with all the philosophical consequences of "everything happening at once". Most importantly, breakdown of any motivation.

Too bad I can't write for good.

What does it mean then?

>nihilism
>no highest meaning

You are literally retarded.

Realize that things do matter. It's called maturity.

Any fully developed mind that has experienced the gamut of human experience can tell you without doubt that suffering really fucking matters. And that developing the self, intimate bonds with others, helping people flourish is all deeply meaningful.

Once you stop being an edge Lord and pursue the truth more diligently, and with courage(this is what prevents most people from escaping teenage relativism and nihilism ), you'll see there is plenty of meaning in life.

And even if there wasn't, just living to say fuck that is fun.

Also, even when life is shit, we are programed to keep living.

That's the curse of life.

So pick your poison newbie OP.

THIS IS THE KEY, "NOTHING" IS THE TRUTH THAT IS NOT REPRESENTED IN OUR LANGUAGE AND SENSE OF REALITY, FIND THE NOTHING AND YOU'LL FIND THE TRUTH. NOTHING MATTERS

I'm not him, and I'm not really a nihilist, but I'm in that situation and if you assume that nihilism is the default mentality of this condition, I think it depends on how far you take your nihilism.

If there's absolutely no meaning to anything, then even your inevitably shitty living conditions and your emotional responses to them mean nothing, and from that it follows that they're also worthless as motivations for doing or not doing things. After that everything that does or doesn't happen just becomes an entirely random flip of the coin. Of course this is assuming you can overcome your human self-preservation and pain-aversion instincts, which is obviously a huge assumption to make.

if i'm here, i might as well do something with it

This.

The idea that a lack of mattering would logically result in suicide is unwarranted.

>Realize that things do matter. It's called maturity.
They don't and it's not. The human brain has evolved to create patterns where none exist.

>nothing matters

love matters

Id rather be getting my dick licked, user. You should try it.

no, it's evolved to recognize patterns. This includes actual patterns and facts about reality as well as inventing patterns where none exist. This isn't even unique to humans, look up superstitious pigeons.

Because I want to accumulate riches and make the people I don't like miserable.

let the jews handle it. start over. 2nd times the charm

>>If there's absolutely no meaning to anything, then even your inevitably shitty living conditions and your emotional responses to them mean nothing
But if you're in better living conditions, you can engage in some of the "answers" to nihilism such as hedonism, creativity, etc.

See Also it's way more than patterns. Suffering is not a pattern, it's a feeling. And when you see others feel it too, you recognize our commonality and that drives meaningful action. Among other things.

This is almost as retarded as the "if god doesn't exist, then everything goes" people.

that's the spirit

The idea that nihilism should be depressing is funny. "Nothing matters!" In what sense? "Ultimately!" So the fuck what? Are you religious? Do you need a promise of eternal life to get dressed in the morning? You affect everything around you constantly, and experience it all the time. Why the hell would you need any greater justification for existing, considering the alternative is literal nothingness? You live as long as you're enjoying it or finding it interesting, and then die. The word "meaning" has no place in the equation.

you mra

>How and why continue living?
Why not?

I'm not a little pussy who ends it all because i'm having a bad time.

Answers?! What?!

There is no answer. Over a long period of time we have became Irish Elk. It is ridiculous. Suicidal depression is just a normal reaction to this horrowshow. Everyone is miserable, really. Think about it. Some people just have better illusions. All great men have echoed this idea, unlike the YOLO fags in this thread. All major philosophies are negative (apart from Ayn Randism and overmanism) and have the starting point of "life is terrrible, let's fix it/hope for a better afterlife." The best philosophies and religions have been about ending this terrible life/rebirth cycle once and for all.

>Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows, and looking at each other with grief and despair await their turn. This is an image of the human condition.

I see no hope unless you can do religion, which I have nothing against.

The answer is to embrace a nihilistic religion, like Christianity. I loved reading pic related. It expresses a lot more hatred of this wretched life than Cioran and his buddies.

By seeking knowledge and experience to affirm the ordinary life, just like every other human does.

Get over it pal

>what is my answer

sometimes it is fun

Yes, there is no meaning in anything you do, thus might as well just try to get satisfaction from banal stuff, such as having sex with a lot of women. Your life will always be meaningless, but at least you would have had the fucked mad pussy. Also, i strongly believe that sex is the cure to all, i'm serious, try it out.

Become an Absurdist.

Lemonade is disgusting.

...

for the lulz obviously

...

yes my goy, spend your time and energy earning money then spend your time, energy and money to be noticed by a few girls so that they let you try to make them cum, like they let dozens of boys beforehand and they will let dozens afterwards.

jews spics and gooks

Why does it matter that nothing matters? Life does not need an inherent meaning. You can make one for it yourself.

So just go live in a cave and pretend this is how it's supposed to be? Sounds more like insanity to me.

You are alive and will eventually die anyway. Just experience the ride for the sheer vanality of the experience and then die out. You are multiplying by zero but since the result its always the same, just go along, reward the volatility of life with the action of living it.

Dogen Zenji

Life as an artistic excercise.
Living to embody those values and aesthetic choices that you find most appealing.
Stare into the abyss and make friends with it.
Accept that every system of thought that seeks to explain things ultimately exist to assauge the ego of its adherents.
Beliefs and convictions are also clothes.
Wear ones that fit.
Solipsism is for children, consider the opposite.
Making peace with mundanity and a causeless life is the true mysticism.

Sounds like something you have to have money for.

> What is your answer to nihilism?

In the midst of that night, in my darkness,
I saw the awesome sight of Christ
opening the heavens for me.
And he bent down to me and showed himself to me
with the Father and the Holy Spirit
in the thrice holy light --
a single light in three, and a threefold light in one,
for they are altogether light,
and the three are but one light,.
And he illumined my soul
more radiantly than the sun,
and he lit up my mind,
which had until then been in darkness.
Never before had my mind seen such things.
I was blind, you should know it, and I saw nothing.
That was why this strange wonder
was so astonishing to me,
when Christ, as it were, opened the eye of my mind,
when he gave me sight, as it were,
and it was him that I saw.
He is Light within Light, who appears
to those who contemplate him,
and contemplatives see him in light --
see him, that is, in the light of the Spirit...
And now, as if from far off,
I still see that unseeable beauty,
that unapproachable light, that unbearable glory.
My mind is completely astounded.
I tremble with fear.
Is this a small taste from the abyss,
which like a drop of water
serves to make all water known
in all its qualities and aspects?...
I found him, the One whom I had seen from afar,
the one whom Stephen saw
when the heavens opened,
and later whose vision blinded Paul.
Truly, he was as a fire in the center of my heart.
I was outside myself, broken down, lost to myself,
and unable to bear the unendurable brightness of that glory.
And so, I turned
and fled into the night of the senses.

I can't go on, I'll go on.

Nihilism doesnt matter

Literally just fucking around. Nothing matters man.

I'm not a hedonist because thinks are only fun if you do them in moderation (for me a least), but really I'm just here to enjoy things, hard work is enjoyable too and if makes the pleasures seem better if you contrast them with things that are difficult but rewarding.

And yes, things can still be very rewarding, not because they have intrinsic value, but specifically because of the effort you put into them.

This reminds me of that one Superman cover. A woman asks superman if he loves her, and supes responds with "it's a meaningless question, but, I suppose not".

>Literally just fucking around.
See

True, what I said becomes relevant only after survival needs are meet (salved with money).
But it doesn't take alot of money.
For example, I work as a medic in my country's territorial army equivalent, and when I am home I move boxes in a warehouse part time. I volunteer for tours as often as they'll let me and save all I can while deployed. I have been careful to avoid leases, loans, mortages and marriage. I drive rental cars while in my home country.
This mode of living works for me. If it is in line with your values too I reccomend it.

...

Everything is fine. As long as you aren't driven to use your consciousness as a weapon to inflict pain or trauma on other consciousnesses.

Sounds great, wish I could do something like that. Too bad I'm in the third world and have absolutely no prospects in life.

Much respect, I acknowledge not everyone plays life on the same difficulty level.
It is good though you are on the internet, if nothing else you have access to a large audience and limitless infromation.
I'm not the best advisor but there are resources availible, some even on this site.
The world has a place for you user.

Yeah, it does, and that place is to be here and do my best to be economically exploited so that the better countries may prosper so much that they just hand out free money to people. What a wonderful place it is.

Well then get a job and try to make money, now you have a something to work towards. If you can't get a job then work on being able to get one. If you're no able to work on being able to get a job then work on being able to be able to work on getting a job and so ad infinitum.

As soon as you have something to work on then you did it. People who are starving to death want food, not meaning.

But when you already realize it's all meaningless (and I have to inform you that this realization doesn't go away with your finances), AND you're in a shit position, how do you make yourself accept that you have to work hard to even get the slightest chance of getting to the lowliest possible position in "the real world" and why?

Do you live in Africa or SE Asia?

goddamn, the lengths you pathetic virgins will go to to defend being worthless and achieving nothing.

interested in thread. more content like this please.

send me your goodreads name
f a m

human civilization is ultimately an elaborate, symbolic defense mechanism against the knowledge of our mortality, which in turn acts as the emotional and intellectual response to our basic survival mechanism. Becker argues that a basic duality in human life exists between the physical world of objects and a symbolic world of human meaning. Thus, since humanity has a dualistic nature consisting of a physical self and a symbolic self, we are able to transcend the dilemma of mortality through heroism, by focusing our attention mainly on our symbolic selves. This symbolic self-focus takes the form of an individual's "immortality project" (or causa sui), which is essentially a symbolic belief-system that ensures oneself is believed superior to physical reality. By successfully living under the terms of the immortality project, people feel they can become heroic and, henceforth, part of something eternal; something that will never die as compared to their physical body. This, in turn, gives people the feeling that their lives have meaning, a purpose, and are significant in the grand scheme of things.

arbitrariness of human-invented immortality projects makes them naturally prone to conflict. When one immortality project conflicts with another, it is essentially an accusation of 'wrongness of life', and so sets the context for both aggressive and defensive behavior. Both parties will want to "prove" their belief-system is superior, a better way of life.

Are you happy with the conclusion that nothing matters? Then why not try to make yourself happy. Isn't that your biological impulse anyways?

>planning ability
Apes can do it too.

And that's why you defy it by being a virgin NEET piece of shit who will never leave the basement.

I wish merely to exist within a beautiful environment which I am ever constructing for myself.

A qtπ girl is welcome to join me in my utopian fantasy world.

Because killing yourself is as pointless as anything else, so just go out and enjoy life; you don't have to be super rich to enjoy things.

Life's meaninglessness should be an invitation to do exactly what you want and if you are in a bad position then you can work to get to a position where you can do things you really want to do.

Why do people play games with their friends when even non-nihilist see that it's pointless? Working towards something is fun, don't take life so seriously, and of course, killing yourself is always an option if things get really unbearable.

It not matter. Happy or not happy.

You guys are literally a bunch of faggots
not the good kind

Your hostility supports his argument.
I hope that was your intention.
Otherwise you have embarassed and exposed yourself as a bitter, unfulfilled person.

>you don't have to be super rich to enjoy things.
Yet you still have to have enough money not to be suicidally worried 24/7.

On the contrary. It's impossible I have not achieved more than all of you put together. When I was a teen I went through this philobullfaggotry and decided I had a choice to make: become a NEET, lay down and let the inherent absence of meaning in Life fuck me raw or make something of myself.
Fast forward to 26, finished my Masters' degree, got a respectable amount of money for financial security, great relationship with my parents, a couple of tight mates and a fiance I swear was tailor made for me and who shares my values. The best part is knowing I made it all happen and achieved what I wanted. Defined the meaning I wanted my life to have and got to it.

It does though, because your entire reality is based on your perception of it. Everything is completely different when you are happy.
The entire universe as it is too you changes with your mood. You can dismiss it all you want as "chemicals in brain" or whatever but it doesn't change the way it appears to you. Go do some drugs or talk to a therapist. When you are happy nihilism will not matter to you at all; not in a self deception kind of way either.

Imagine the way you can't possibly imagine how anyone could be OK with existing or doing anything flipped: I can't imagine how anyone could possibly be bothered by things being meaningless or it all being the same.
That's what it's like when you have a different attitude. You'll never understand until you see the other side and since all things are the same, why not try for some help to experience it?

And I find satisfaction stacking boxes and adminstering medical care in austere conditions.
We have both found a path that is accomodating.
Ultimately these ideas of value boil down to conceits that are put on and taken off as easily as clothes.
You and I will both be food for worms, that is an end state common to all.
At which time no conceits held in life will be relevant.

And you can't work to try and get more money? What is your situation like?

Yet, my legacy will live on, in my children, the people I save by being a doctor, the value to society I bring with my clinic, etc.
Your way of thinking is that of a fat kid who runs for a few seconds in PE and thinks it's worthless and he's just the same as the guy who takes it seriously and ends getting a college scholarship due to it.

You can't be a doctor with only a master's degree.

Not american, dude. Yes I can. 6 years of college with Integrated Masters'. However, specialties are a whole other can of worms.

Go to the end of the world (your world, not the outside one) in search for meaning, freedom and goodness.

There's no other way.

What is your medical license number?
I'll look you up.

You must know nobody would ever do that, right?

Objectively nothing has meaning, however we possess emotion, and there is no reason not to indulge in that emotion, it is no less 'real' than anything else.