On philosophical terms, have you ever considered that the purpose of being human is to exist never being fulfilled?

On philosophical terms, have you ever considered that the purpose of being human is to exist never being fulfilled?

Your existence is a never ending quest for the unobtainable. To always exist reaching for the unreachable. To always have some unknown to discover understanding for which will never produce complete answers but more questions?

Do you ever consider that life as we know it is merely a distraction to keep us from dying, and that dying is probably were we're supposed to do?

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I also smoke weed.

>being dead is better than being alive
yes, i have this thought all the time

No, I'm serious. I think about this all the time. No one is ever truly satisfied indefinitely with whatever accomplishment achieved.

There is always something else to reach for.
As if it is a game, and the game is to waste time until we die.

They say the aim of philosophy is to make peace with the inevitability of death.

The joy of learning, for example, is in the act of learning, not in having all the knowledge that exists (as if that's possible). Journey, not destination, etc.

Every experience of joy, or any emotion has been experience by most people throughout history.

The fact that say "Bob enjoys learning to ride a bike" is no more gratifying than any other experience since all of it vanishes when we die.

The fact that we spend our lives not knowing what really happens to each of our experiences once we die, to not question what happens, I remain dumbfounded.

We can accomplish such great magnificence, yet unable to imagine how pointless all of this is if it all dies with each one of us.

genuine philosophy died with Kant [and his disciples], philosophy of current times is full of literary hacks that do nothing but write shit which is cool to spit out while smoking fags for the sake of intelligent and sophisticated appearance

there's [essentially] NOTHING special about being human.
the only thing that makes human differ from other animals --or any other from of life, really-- is greatly developed intelligence, but it DOES NOT free them from being subordinated to nature.

as in any form of life, the purpose of life is life itself, perpetuation of species, procreation, you name it.
humans, generation after generation, seem do be quite good at performing this task.

Yeah, this is the cognitive dissonance for me when it comes to science. It really is at odds with philosophy for this reason. I want to convince myself that my contributions will lead to the immortality of the human species down the line, but obviously this is an extremely unlikely scenario. Still, without hope, the only logical course of action is suicide. I prefer to believe that though the chances of survival are very small, there is still a chance. And so perhaps it's not all pointless. We can't pretend to know that sitting here today. Better to try than give up and guarantee failure.

I had just rewatched Gattaca last night. I'm thinking about Vincent as I write this. What a great movie. Great score too.

Well, bare for a moment that I am NOT certain about anything to exist, or not exist beyond my senses.

I do know that a beam of light can be split off into countless copies of itself just by aiming it through a series of lenses of mirrors.

I believe it is possible that the Universe, or existence as we know it "could" be limited by what we're allowed to be aware of. There could be other forms of existence we simply lack the sense to know of.

Perhaps all mass of the Universe is one mass, but only time itself allows it to appear separate as though the appearance of a timeline of beginning middle, and end, but that is only an illusion by the lens of time.

Perhaps there is something beyond this life we simply cannot witness as humans.

>there's [essentially] NOTHING special about being human.

This is the most important thing people forget/ignore. A dog never seems to question it's purpose in life. It's only because we can question our purpose that we believe we have a purpose.

I think you answered why less awareness = greater happiness.

You exist to have kids and that's literally it.

Life became a thing because it was able to reproduce. As it did so, traits that aided in reproduction spiraled out of control. And now here we are.

>Do you ever consider that life as we know it is merely a distraction to keep us from dying, and that dying is probably were we're supposed to do?

>A dog never seems to question it's purpose in life. It's only because we can question our purpose that we believe we have a purpose.

>I think you answered why less awareness = greater happiness.

Maybe, but I still consider the OP asking a purpose to life question, when the purpose of a fly's life or dog's life doesn't exist. Life just is.

Does a baby who dies only a few days after birth reach their purpose rather than you who survived to understand the concept of purpose?

Not everyone exists to have kids. Some are unable for whatever reasons.

That is too narrowed a purpose. If your statement were true the planet might as well only be populated with rabbits, and plant life for the rabbits to consume, and reproduce.

I think this idea devalues intelligence. I believe intelligence has value. I believe being aware of potential existential threats (like global warming for example) has value. And that's because intelligence is the thing that allows us to live not only longer but better lives. Even if it's not forever.

A tree lives a much longer live than humans, along with turtles, and some other animals have a biological immortality.

Intelligence plays no part in living a long life.

Better is probably the more important part of that, but longer compared to how long humans used to live. Scientists seem to have reversed aging in mice. It's just a matter of time now before they can do the same for humans.

Intelligence doesn't imply a better life either.

All homeless people and starving children are unintelligent because they don't live a better life than most house cats?

Dolphins are considered one of the most intelligent species on this planet, are they living a better life than whales?

What I mean when I say that are the contributions of highly intelligent people, who have made important breakthroughs throughout history. Those all certainly positively impacted everyone's lives, even people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. This is what I mean.

Of course intelligence allows us to live more comfortably passing on our understanding, but it plays no role in how stars form, or anything planetary, or in the Universe. Even if all life were wiped out tomorrow intelligence would make no difference since we'd all cease awareness anyway.

To die, and for everything that has ever existed to all turn to dust seems insignificant to the Universe.

Then only these people have a purpose to life and they still succumbed to death like every other being without purpose.

i want to kill myself too
btw should i finish my degree (mech eng) if i hate it and it strengthens my depression ? im finishing semester 5 of 7

first step to buddhism

I don't want to kill myself. I tend to enjoy being self aware. I am bummed to think that once I die my brain becomes nothing more than a cold slab of meat & fat.

I ask myself constantly if life as we know it is merely an illusion, and if whether there were some other form of awareness to my little network of neurons, what would it serve?

I do wonder about it all of the time. Interesting concept, but if it were true why?
One God, pretending to be each of us as individuals?
A God that splits itself into pieces to fool itself into needing purpose. A God that implies - I'm all knowing, so the only way to survive is to fool myself into believing I'm needy separate individuals?

Like it or not, we all fundamentally crave fulfillment. It's one of the basic needs. The same as the need to eat, the need to be around others, etc. If that allowed those people to feel as if their lives had not been a waste, then I'm happy for them, and only wish for such a great feeling for myself. No one has a choice except either to find this in their lives in one way or another, or to suffer.

Yes. There are some, like Camus or Schlick, who argue that the meaning of life is in motion or activity. We are only happy when we are doing something that we consider to be purposeful. That's why when we finish some task or goal, we feel empty. It is also why, when we are fully immersed in some activity, time seems to "fly". This is also why the characteristics that define a living organism all have one common aspect: they generally require more movement as opposed to less movement. Rocks don't perform homeostasis or reproduce, those require complex movements.

If you want to extend the meaning of "life" to "existence", we can talk about matter vs nothing. Matter is described, by some physicists, as being energy. Energy necessitates movement.

Is it not possible that we simply lacking a kind of awareness that could exist in which we live on in different forms?

All of life is a load of our senses being overwhelmed. As if to keep us here, believing that it is our purpose here. Our sense allow us to observe what is, but I wonder if there is some other form we simply lack the senses to be aware.

If you consider happiness to be an entirely internal component, then it stands to reason that most living organisms have the same level of happiness. Rich people aren't necessarily more happy than poor people. See: Donald Trump. Not satisfied with being a billionaire, absolutely NEEDS to be president to be happy.

>Is it not possible that we simply lacking a kind of awareness

It's not only possible, but extremely likely. Perceived reality vs. things-in-themselves.

Gravity determines what happens to a rock, so a rock is dependent on gravity - the Universe.
We live to survive, sustain living, then each of us dies apparently becoming as inanimate as rocks.

If we go the deterministic route, then we are basically no different from rocks or anything else in the universe. Everything in the universe is made up of the same types of things, whether you call them elements or atoms or substance or matter. Humans aren't special. We aren't comprised of something that is unique. OR MAYBE NOT? Is there something special about humans? Probably not. What about life forms in general? Again, probably not. What about matter in general? Hmm...

materialistic*

Happiness doesn't equal better. Better would include safe, warm, fed and mentally stable.

A house cat has a better/easier life than a wild dog although both may be happy with their lives.

Generally a wealthy person is living a better life than someone in poverty, even if they are unhappy more often.

Unlike rocks, we have a perspective.

Yes, from some fictional omniscient perspective, everything we do is just as pre-determined as actions of the rock, even if the internal interactions are lot more complex, but from our own, limited, perspective, even if we believe in determinism, we're still stuck with free will. Determinism doesn't relieve you of that burden.

To OP's point, however, as creatures of perspective, and reason, and driven by all the base biological desires that allowed us to become this complex through the myriads of forms over countless generations, we seek purpose, we create purpose, a tendency which is now integrated into the ever-evolving survival mechanism that brought us to this point.

If any of the innumerable factors that brought us to this point, be it one stray particle at the dawn of time, or one dividing cell billions of years ago, had failed to do so, we wouldn't be here to search for purpose. Thus, retroactively, every life, and every atom - every action and reaction - has been granted purpose, by us.

And similarly, your life, is part of a never ending chain of events in some future purpose, to be granted purpose by some distant future, perhaps, one day, god-like beings who will dominate the universe, and give it purpose.

Or maybe we'll fail to leave this rock, and die with the rest of this tiny fragile biosphere. On this time scale, it's not something you need to worry about beyond your ability to affect that long term survival, should you have any, beyond simply breeding.

Thats what all life does. It doesn't choose what's best. If something breeds, regardless of how inefficiently, it continues. Otherwise it doesn't.

Life was a random happening that spiraled out of control because nothing stopped it. We're free to add any other ideas onto a purpose but intrinsically, living things go on because nothing stopped it.

The meaning of my life right now is to stop being a brainlet and study as hard as possible.

>If any of the innumerable factors that brought us to this point, be it one stray particle at the dawn of time, or one dividing cell billions of years ago, had failed to do so, we wouldn't be here to search for purpose.

I'd propose that finding purpose may not matter. I believe there is a possibility that all matter that has existed, and will exist in whatever state, is all one mass, and that it is only time itself that allows it all to be seen as separate parts. Time is the lens through which the Universe appears to be separate individual parts that later reattach.
It might only be a matter of how you're able to view existence.

>reaching for the unreachable.
row row fight the power

>I also smoke pot.
If you're unhappy with trying to achieve stuff in live you could always give up and live in a giant pot.

>The joy of learning
youtube.com/watch?v=Xaj407ofjNE
I think the point of living is to learn. Even the evolution of DNA can be seen as a learning process as it's basically bits of data adapting or learning to live in it's environment.

I think there's a correlation with entropy and intelligence. As time goes on and there's more entropy in the universe there's also more intelligence. I believe the universe may reach a point where it's one super intelligent being. If such a universe sized super intelligence ever existed then it could probably have some control of time. Which means if it EVER existed or ever will exist it can exist in time where it physically doesn't exist, such as right now. It hasn't even been born yet but it exists right now in a way more ways than one. Every action you take will effect it in the future and every experience you have will retroactively become a part of it or be shared with it as it scans all of time and space for all knowledge.

Interesting view. A part of me is willing to accept some of that as plausible.

As living beings to develop a brain that is self aware, it does seem to be the path as if a preordained set of instructions.

I think that's probably an evolutionary mechanism. If you're always dissatisfied with your current position, you're always striving to improve yourself to no end, becoming the best possible person you can be even though reaching true perfection is impossible.

>A dog never seems to question it's purpose in life. It's only because we can question our purpose that we believe we have a purpose.
obsolete thought.
if a dog had intelligence developed as greatly as humans have, it would have

Not necessarily. Not that it isn't a silly comparison, as there's no way to tell if a dog is questioning its purpose - but it's entirely possible that humans wouldn't question their purpose either, if not for complex social pressures and complex social roles.

Though, given how often beta dogs challenge the alpha dog, before defeatism kicks in, maybe, in that sense, they do question their purpose, or at least dream of a better life.

You should give this a read.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

but you do agree that animals too have
>complex social pressures and complex social roles
of course, human society is more complex, but this is perhaps due to [once again] greatly developed intelligence.
It also brings all sorts of advancements that lead to more carefree life, thus giving free time to philosophise.
I'm not saying that animals don't have intelligence at all, but claiming that they don't have it developed enough to operate on abstract terms as we would. Animals' philosophy --if it exists-- must be necessarily bound to present reality, and in this way, I think, they do strive for a better life. But so does any form of life, really.

How would a single cell life form struggle for a better life?

How would it recognize better from worse?

What about a mentally disabled human?

Someone from the same species as you does not have a purpose because of their lack of intelligence to question purpose?

You only have purpose because of your intelligence?

Would a more advanced alien race recognize your purpose because of your limited intelligence in comparison?

Avoid cold, avoid heat, stay in the water, stick around when photosynthesis works (where applicable), gravitate towards food sources, avoid damage.

Depends on the cell, but those mobile bacteria are actually pretty sophisticated. Wouldn't say that they are "aware" per say, but they have enough sensory apparatus that they can do all that to varying degrees.

Thanks. That is pretty much what I've come to believe.
Doesn't mean we should give up, but there will always be limitations and new ground to break, or something to strive for.

Humans are limited by our senses, and limited in our understanding of time/gravity.

I know what you all think about Michio Cuckold (I can't help but to think that it's because you're all just jealous of him though. The guy was building his own particle accelerators in his family's garage in high school.) But according to him, given enough time, on 1000-year time scales, we can't rule out the possibility that we might find a way to travel between universes, and so live forever. I'm convinced that without positive thinking of this sort it's very difficult to accomplish anything on the order of what he has done in his life. I think that without hope, all you can have in life is depression and alcoholism. Why would anyone want this for themselves?

Yes positive thinking is useful, but so is being honest, and accepting when hopes are let down due to extreme positive thinking not producing results.

Is that really striving or just natural instinct and reaction?

Someone striving for a better life applies themselves to get a better education, working harder or in a more fulfilling way, or puts value on their family life. None of these are instinct and need to be deliberately worked towards.

Nigga there aren't any choices. You do what you do because that's how the universe has been planned. A supercomputer that knows all of the information about how reality works will be able to predict the future.

>Nigga there aren't any choices
You chose to make that statement. You weren't forced to.

So who will build that super computer for you? When will it be build? Waiting for someone else smart enough to build it for you?
It still requires advanced knowledge to build such a device, and if build why would you assume that it would serve humans?

>AWW WHATS THE POINT
yeah, there is no intrinsic meaning in life. we're here mainly to perpetuate our genes. that's the real purpose of being human, to keep the species going.

but, for what? who knows. it's programmed into us, but by whom, or what, for which purpose? don't know.

>but by whom, or what, for which purpose? don't know.

I have speculated guesses.
I believe it is plausible that time offers this view in which the Universe is separated into individual parts, and once the time bubble is gone the Universe appears to regather itself like individual strands of a rope that appear spread out when twisted a certain way, but still remain as one.

Merely a guess that I am not certain of.

We're a collection of cells. We're a way for cells to do just that.

Survival is an irrational desire, to be sure, but without any desires we're just computing machines, not at all different from computers, which just sit there and do nothing unless they are told by an outside force with desires (us) to do something. In fact, that is exactly what happens to people with severe emotional impairments, where after damage to particular areas of the brain they don't feel any desires. They are completely incapable of decision-making. They weigh decisions all day long based on logical considerations, and are unable to come to any decisive conclusion about which course of action to take, because they don't feel strongly one way or another about either one. "Reason is a slave to the passions."

Having established that desires like survival are irrational, what should we logically do? If we can accept that something as simple as a strand of RNA can "will" itself to self-replicate, we can extrapolate from that that our own desire to survive is nothing more than an outgrowth of that simple process. It's an evolutionary spandrel, a dead end. If we feel that given that there is no real "reason" as such for life to continue, and that trying to get on in the world and survive is predominantly suffering in the end, maybe what we must do is end all life as we know it. But the likelihood that such an effort would end and prevent all life from springing up again for all eternity and in the likely infinity of all possible universes is pretty much nil. Therefore, it too would be pointless. It would appear to be marginally more logical to choose to remain among the living and expend effort to try to make life as good and as long as it can be. That's my philosophy anyway.

So we don't have any better reasoning than a single cell cos we're made from the same stuff?

And why would you need more than that? It just sounds like you want to think of yourself as more special than you are. Yes, we have greater intelligence, i.e. greater means of securing survival, but the survival instinct itself is something that all life shares, right down to single-cell microorganisms.

time, like all of the other dimensions, is woven into the tapestry of the universe itself, so to say it would just disappear is like saying all depth will just be gone one day

Not suggesting it disappears at all. Time, or gravity would only be seen as it is now only from our vantage point. Different volumes across different dimensions of space

I'm trying to find a way to imagine in my mind a way to visualize time as a structure in how it relates to the Universe and all matter in it.
I want to see it in my mind.

There is lots I do not understand about the Universe, but I have trouble understanding the degrees of time depending on gravity.

We're within the Earth gravity time, the Earth within the Sun's gravity time, and our solar system within our Milky Way's gravity time, but what are the differences?

If our solar system floated away from our Milky Way, how would that affect time? Would time speed up?

Currently I visualize it all as bubbles inside of bubbles.

Then we are no different from a rock either, we are both made of atoms.

I understand that survival is a cellular instinct but as a species we have developed communication, arts, music and discovered science and maths.

We are at least a few steps above survival as a single cell would need to deal with daily.

>It just sounds like you want to think of yourself as more special than you are.

I'm the same newfag who posted this

so I know we aint all that, but we are better than a rock...

My purpose is to attain immortality. From there my purpose will be to attain all knowledge. The latter will never be fulfilled, therefore I will have purpose for eternity.

>Is that really striving or just natural instinct and reaction?
>Wouldn't say that they are "aware" per say,

It's hard to know exactly where to draw the line though. In the grand scheme of things, the only difference is in the complexity of the reaction.

Nigga's point is that choice is an illusion, as your choice is already predestined by the chain of physical events going back to the beginning of time.

But as you aren't some all knowing god capable of knowing everything that ever had or will happen, you still have a choice, from your own perspective.

Greek:
Male symbol: o-> (above's worship)

Female symbol: +-o (within's worship)

Conflict sprung from overtaking one for another. The Moon is merely an observer.

Knowledge of Nature states that every-thing is connected, even what appearingly is not, from within's perspective. To link both ends would mean to unify time and anything that atrelates to it.

>all these existentialists