David Vestal

Enjoy it while you're precocious enough to intrigue people. When you're an adult, you're just an asshole for admitting things like that.

Sincerely,
Extremely Vain Adult.

aegis

I see myself as a conscious entity the universe gave rise to and I feel a strong sense of connection to it and a sense of purpose. The fact that I'll be dead soon doesn't affect that. I think the very existence of parts of the universe that are self aware is meaning in itself.

Mace

To cure, boredom, yes.

Which is probably what it amounts to for a lot of people

Meaning for myself, though, would be gone. Regardless of what the past held.

Short term, sure, but I was thinking more into the long-run. Even robots resembling a human in at least the general concept raises its leg for the meaning of stepping forward. It's just processing the information and reacting. I'm not fulfilling myself in a sense by writing this other than the fact that it's here and I'm responding to it.

So, this type of meaning is pretty much worthless to discuss. You're attempting to discuss the more philosophical kind of meaning, aren't you?

I don't understand at all how you find this comforting. Humans also kill each other in persistence in dedication. Who can't help but admire the dedication of an abusive father and husband in the way he'd punch his wife for her disobedience, right? You equate such adjectives with noble human feats, but it seems to me that not even half the time these same adjectives can be applied to more despicable actions.

It's chaotic, unpredictable, short-termed, and overall terminal. Not much I find cool about it.

You have a different opinion, plain and simple

Eh, I'm not too worried about that

Unbeatable

What you wrote in your previous post had meaning in a linguistic sense. "Meaning in life" on the other hand, is commonly used to refer to an emotional, existential meaning (usually a positive one). And I can't even find a linguistic meaning in the phrase "meaning in life that asserts a disagreement" It's like saying "dance that speaks Mandarin". I know you're too intelligent to be equivocating without being aware of it, so could you just stop the word games and say something straightforward?

So according to your definition of "meaning", a person who finds meaning doesn't have to feel it or be consciously aware of it, and finding meaning does absolutely nothing to bring about positive feelings or alleviate the symptoms of depression... not even existential depression. This confirms my suspicion that it is your definitions which lie at the heart of your inability to reconcile my behavior with my assertions. Whatever it is that you mean by "meaning", I suppose I might have it (just like I suppose the god of deism might also exist). But I'm not sure that what you mean by "meaning" has anything to do with this thread other than its spelling.

quester

I answered "other", because to me words and sentences can have meaning, but how can life? But I agree with all the other posters who says that life has meaning to them even if not to Hokowo, and even if it doesn't last forever.

Agemegos

Meaning is a property of messages. My life is not a message.

JaronK

"If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do" - Joss Whedon.

JaronK

Caveat_Imperator

Or maybe he read someone who said that all atheists are nihilists, and if you goad them enough they will kill themselves; and if that happens then god will look kindly upon him for not suffering an atheist to live.

johno

The question indicates a fundamental category-error. Utterances have meaning, writings have meaning: cats do not have meaning, and neither do people because they aren't utterances. The question as formulated is meaningless.

johno

Steve Schlicht

Yes, yes it is.

Our human experience always seeks to know/percieve things it hasn't known/perceived before...once attained = boredom...and on to the next thing.

You articulate that well, Mace, and I envy you your ability to recognize that at such a young age. I was distracted by strongly asserted dogma and myth when I was young and it made the transition out of the matrix very difficult in later years.

And you won't even know it.

We only have the now, there is no long-run, in my view.

A robot would not give that statement or even ponder such a thing, Mace, that's the difference.

You...are pondering.

Maybe so, but "to discuss" is seeking to put a puzzle together and even if the puzzle is never complete...we still get part of it and that is where we find "worth".

Oh, tell me about it! You should see some of the ways and reasons they do it too. Totally bizarre, horrendous and most often for the most foolish of motivations/impulses.

So what, though...other humans protect, defend and prevent those humans from ever doing such things again. Some even do so at great risk to their own lives and well-being for those they have never even met.

The overall status of humanity, in my opinion, is based on our ability to do good in the face of the overwhelming odds against us.

I think you missed that part of my prior post.

Who can help but despise the dedication of an abusive father and husband in the way he'd punch his wife for her disobedience?

The adjectives shift based upon the relative perceptions of the observer.

We are the music makers, Mace.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that particular nuance.

I would find total order and predictability utterly despairing...is that something you actually would prefer?

Eternal bliss in an existence of knowing that nothing will ever change or provide something new to consider would be completely uncool, in my view.

Yes I do, and even though I spend most of my time within the world of human failure and detritus...there is always hope.

Steve