Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Ab_Normal · 09-12-2002, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kosh:
The ultimate answer is "42".

But then, the only important questions are:

"Who are you?"

"What do you want?"

You left off "Why are you here?"

Mageth · 09-12-2002, 02:19 PM

My important questions are "Got any beer?" and "Do you want to have sex?" Everything else is just fluff.

Kosh · 09-12-2002, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ab_Normal:


You left off "Why are you here?"

You weren't supposed to reveal that until the fourth season!

fando · 09-12-2002, 04:43 PM

My answer to all taht is, "What?"

Oxidizing Material · 09-12-2002, 05:20 PM

My initial questions are "What the fuck?" followed closely by "What the fuck?"

Walter_Mitty · 09-12-2002, 05:43 PM

<<<WHAT CAN WE KNOW?>>>

That which we learn.

<<<WHAT CAN WE HOPE?>>>

We can hope that I win the lottery.

<<<WHAT OUGHT WE DO?>>>

Read books, help your fellow human, promote peace and tolerance, promote intellectual freedom, drink beer, go fishing, be good to your family.

Did I mention drink beer?

lisarea · 09-12-2002, 08:14 PM

What can we know?

If this is to be believed:

<a href="http://www.tmeg.com/ai/brain.htm" target="_blank">web page</a>

Long term storage 1137 Tbytes of long-term memory, and 57Tbytes of short term.

Moral: Store information in plaintext format. If you store PDFs, you'll gain formatting at the expense of information. And if you use Powerpoint, you'll say "Woo!" a lot, but you'll really only know, say, six or seven things. And that'll probably be celebrity trivia.

What can we hope?

We can hope to enjoy our lives as much as possible. That means keeping our families alive and happy as much as we can, eating good food, having good sex, listening to good music, learning, and whatever else makes us happy.

The prime directive, after survival in ever widening circles (self preservation, preservation of family, friends, associates, geographic/ideological circles, the human race, other mammals, other animals, etc.), is enjoyment, however you get that. This includes hedonistic enjoyments like food, sex, music, etc., as well as intellectual enjoyment, like creating stuff, developing theories, accumulating and processing knowledge, and whatever else your passions are. The fruits of your intellectual passions often go back to survival, making life easier, happier, and more doable for those ever-widening circles.

Death does happen, eventually, and the whole idea of it meaning nothing is kind of situational. If you can accept, for example, non-sapient memory or intelligence (that is, the kind of intelligence that is embodied in any complex system), you can believe you will exist in memory forever. Sound waves never go away. Everything you've ever said is floating around in space somewhere. Every movement you make changes the molecular structure of something. You walk around all day, making big dents in the universe, consuming stuff and expelling other stuff. And on a macro level, your ideological contributions change things. Was Hitler's existence pointless? Thomas Paine's? Mussolini's? Socrates'? The fact that they're not floating around creating new ideas in some sort of ghost form does nothing to change the fact that what they did is still there. Everyone has that, to some extent. Everyone does something to change something, and that influence remains and continues in a perpetual chain reaction.

There is certainly a cog-like element to this, but that's not all bad. Personally, I think maybe 80% of people value human life too little, and maybe 15% or so value it too much.

What ought we do?

Learn to make the best chicken soup in the world. Accumulate a great CD collection and listen to it. Write some software or develop new irrigation or accounting methods. Discover a rule of tonal linguistics and submit it to journals. Sue a telemarketer. Invent a better plumbing snake. Learn to burp the alphabet or contort yourself to fit in a desk drawer. Discipline someone else's kids. Take down Make Money Fast signs from telephone poles. Get a dog and teach it to bring you beer.

OK. I'll stop typing now.

Viti · 09-12-2002, 08:28 PM

Wow, thinking about that stuff SUCKS! Can I have a beer?

Steven Carr · 09-13-2002, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kosh:
The ultimate answer is "42".

But then, the only important questions are:

"Who are you?"

"What do you want?"

The three important questions in life are :-

1) If Supergirl fought Wonderwoman, who would win?

2) Would they fight in a tub of oil?

3) Can I get tickets?

Walter_Mitty · 09-13-2002, 05:15 AM

4) Do they sell beer at the event.

[ September 13, 2002: Message edited by: Bibliophile ]

09-13-2002, 05:15 AM	#20
Walter_Mitty Regular Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: . Posts: 467	4) Do they sell beer at the event. [ September 13, 2002: Message edited by: Bibliophile ]</p>

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09-12-2002, 02:19 PM	#12
Mageth Contributor Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Deep in the heart of mother-lovin' Texas Posts: 29,689	My important questions are "Got any beer?" and "Do you want to have sex?" Everything else is just fluff.

09-12-2002, 04:43 PM	#14
fando Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Los Angeles Area Posts: 1,372	My answer to all taht is, "What?"

09-12-2002, 05:20 PM	#15
Oxidizing Material Banned Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Somewhere where I don't know where I am Posts: 2,069	My initial questions are "What the fuck?" followed closely by "What the fuck?"

09-12-2002, 05:43 PM	#16
Walter_Mitty Regular Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: . Posts: 467	<<<WHAT CAN WE KNOW?>>> That which we learn. <<<WHAT CAN WE HOPE?>>> We can hope that I win the lottery. <<<WHAT OUGHT WE DO?>>> Read books, help your fellow human, promote peace and tolerance, promote intellectual freedom, drink beer, go fishing, be good to your family. Did I mention drink beer?

09-12-2002, 08:14 PM	#17
lisarea Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Broomfield, Colorado, USA Posts: 5,550	What can we know? If this is to be believed: <a href="http://www.tmeg.com/ai/brain.htm" target="_blank">web page</a> Long term storage 1137 Tbytes of long-term memory, and 57Tbytes of short term. Moral: Store information in plaintext format. If you store PDFs, you'll gain formatting at the expense of information. And if you use Powerpoint, you'll say "Woo!" a lot, but you'll really only know, say, six or seven things. And that'll probably be celebrity trivia. What can we hope? We can hope to enjoy our lives as much as possible. That means keeping our families alive and happy as much as we can, eating good food, having good sex, listening to good music, learning, and whatever else makes us happy. The prime directive, after survival in ever widening circles (self preservation, preservation of family, friends, associates, geographic/ideological circles, the human race, other mammals, other animals, etc.), is enjoyment, however you get that. This includes hedonistic enjoyments like food, sex, music, etc., as well as intellectual enjoyment, like creating stuff, developing theories, accumulating and processing knowledge, and whatever else your passions are. The fruits of your intellectual passions often go back to survival, making life easier, happier, and more doable for those ever-widening circles. Death does happen, eventually, and the whole idea of it meaning nothing is kind of situational. If you can accept, for example, non-sapient memory or intelligence (that is, the kind of intelligence that is embodied in any complex system), you can believe you will exist in memory forever. Sound waves never go away. Everything you've ever said is floating around in space somewhere. Every movement you make changes the molecular structure of something. You walk around all day, making big dents in the universe, consuming stuff and expelling other stuff. And on a macro level, your ideological contributions change things. Was Hitler's existence pointless? Thomas Paine's? Mussolini's? Socrates'? The fact that they're not floating around creating new ideas in some sort of ghost form does nothing to change the fact that what they did is still there. Everyone has that, to some extent. Everyone does something to change something, and that influence remains and continues in a perpetual chain reaction. There is certainly a cog-like element to this, but that's not all bad. Personally, I think maybe 80% of people value human life too little, and maybe 15% or so value it too much. What ought we do? Learn to make the best chicken soup in the world. Accumulate a great CD collection and listen to it. Write some software or develop new irrigation or accounting methods. Discover a rule of tonal linguistics and submit it to journals. Sue a telemarketer. Invent a better plumbing snake. Learn to burp the alphabet or contort yourself to fit in a desk drawer. Discipline someone else's kids. Take down Make Money Fast signs from telephone poles. Get a dog and teach it to bring you beer. OK. I'll stop typing now.

09-12-2002, 08:28 PM	#18
Viti Contributor Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Down South Posts: 12,879	Wow, thinking about that stuff SUCKS! Can I have a beer?

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