Nothing you do is ever going to matter

[Steven True]

OP, your confusing two things: one's impact of the future and recognition by later generations.
Just because you will most likely be unknown after your death doesn't mean you had no impact on the future.

 

[Jewrean]

Why does it matter that the world knows who YOU are?

There are billions of people on this planet and if I asked you to name as many celebrities as you could, maybe you could name 100 right now off the top of your head? Maybe a couple hundred? If you are going to compare yourself to the rest of the worlds icons then of course life may seem pointless.

I'm a school teacher, and I like to think that I make a difference (no matter how small) to a small amount of peoples lives. I'm sure many of you have careers / jobs that make a difference in some way. Individually we are weak but together (as a a society) we are strong!

Even if you only make a difference to one other persons life (like your husband / wife for example), doesn't that make your life worth living? Enjoy what life has to offer and don't dwell on the life that could have been. And if you have a great game/book idea (myself included), it doesn't matter if it doesn't make a lot of money or become popular. The point is that you told your story and it was a story worth telling in your eyes.



Off topic: I wonder how long it will take for me to be suspended or put onto probation again for expressing my opinion? Is this opinion above against the rules? Can I lick your shoes now master? RUFF! RUFF!

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I refuse to believe this. Thinking like this is why people give up, and people who give up never can make it, but if you're the person who can push through the moment of wondering 'if', then you might just be the person that makes it. There is no law that says you must be well known, or get your idea out when you're still young.

Bruce Springsteen was 25/26 before his 'last ditch attempt' album, which when you consider that most people give up at 21 shows you how ridiculous the concept is. JK Rowling was in her thirties, James Patterson didn't even start writing til in his forties, Franz Ferdinand, late twenties early thirties.

Everytime someone thinks that they won't get noticed, because it just hasn't happened by the time they're sixteen, it just fres up space for someone who was willing to pay their dues and suffer the hard times to makes it in their thirties, and one day I swear to God that will be me.

 

[Devious Boomer]

At least it mattered to me, if nobody else. In my eyes, that's what counts as I'm living for myself.

 

[TWRule]

So what?

At what level does success begin?

I feel like a broken record bringing up Absurdism so often. So I'll pretend I didn't.

You should bring it up. No one in my generation seems to have any conception of it unless they are a philosophy major like myself (even though I know a lot of people had to read some related literature in high school and brushed it off).

 

[MaxRaine]

I'll just let Raymond and Maria sum it up =D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCBvg071F3s&feature=player_detailpage#t=146s

 

[FrostyChick]

No-one likes to admit it, a lot of people secretly thinks their sweet idea will one day be turned into an awesome game or that book you've been working on for years will suddenly take off, but the world will never know you've existed.

Does this depress people, or make them feel like they should just focus on enjoying the world and not trying to change it? Do you think I'm totally wrong and YOU are the exception that will echo through the generations.

Personally, i don't like this idea; which is strange because I have no belief in the afterlife so my impact on the future will be completely unknown to me anyway.

Actually it makes me rather happy, knowing that no one will know some of the wierd stuff I have done/am going. Who really cares about the future of the human race after their death? Certainly not me.

 

[Latinidiot]

shoot for the stars, there's no shame in failing that.

 

[Sonicron]

You should write greeting cards.

I plan on being a teacher, so odds are pretty damn good that what I do in life will have quite some impact and help shape a lot of young lives.
With that in mind, I say bollocks to your snarky nihilism.

 

[BonsaiK]

"Matter" to who is the important question.

The things I do matter to myself. That's really all I care about. I really don't care too much about how other people perceive things. If they like what I do, that's nice. If not - oh well.

 

[Jonesy911]

No-one likes to admit it, a lot of people secretly thinks their sweet idea will one day be turned into an awesome game or that book you've been working on for years will suddenly take off, but the world will never know you've existed.

Does this depress people, or make them feel like they should just focus on enjoying the world and not trying to change it? Do you think I'm totally wrong and YOU are the exception that will echo through the generations.

Personally, i don't like this idea; which is strange because I have no belief in the afterlife so my impact on the future will be completely unknown to me anyway.

It depresses me that anyone would think like that. Everyday we meet new people, create and develop relationships and become more intwined in social networks. Everything we do or say affects someone to some degree. Sure most of us wont be remembered by the world but we will stay with those who knew us and continue to have an affect on the world long after we're gone.

Also this:

 

[rutger5000]

I'm thinking about become a budhist, and if I've got their ideas right. Then I'm just part of the universe, I'm incredibly small, but I don't have a problem with that. And with that I also don't have a problem with not having an impact. In the end nothing anybody ever does or did is going to matter in a few thousands of years. There are only a few people whoes actions have had effect for longer then two or three thousand years. I doubt that anyone will ever have an impact on the world longer then ten-thousand years.

 

[Jernau]

But I will. It is that attitude that makes people not be able to do things that change the world. I want to win an Olympic gold medal and by gods I am going to do it. I have the potential to do it, most people have the potential to be great at one sport, you just need to utilise it.

 

[beniki]

Well, no one might ever know or care about what I did or am doing. However, I went back to a city 6000 miles away from my home town, with a population of 8,000,000 people, and randomly bumped into a dozen people who knew me. And that was just today.

So... yeah, my name might not echo throughout the ages, but it's still being called out across streets today. And I'm an introverted nerd who spends most of his time answering forum posts.

That's darn nifty.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Human kind invented Religion to counter-act the succumbing force of realizing that single sentence.

OT: I think Life is about finding what you want to do, and doing it. There is Absolutely Nothing to gain from thinking the way you are proposing (although we've all done it). Sure, I may never be able to make that game i want to make, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to TRY to get there, as hard as i can.Because if i DO somehow get there.... I'll be able to make a game. And i don't give two shits about whether it's a game that'll be "remembered" or if it "matters". No, I wanna make a game because there's something i wanna say, and i believe that that concept can be best represented in the form of a video game. So i want to make it. That's all i care about. That's all i need to care about.

 

[runedeadthA]

No-one likes to admit it, a lot of people secretly thinks their sweet idea will one day be turned into an awesome game or that book you've been working on for years will suddenly take off, but the world will never know you've existed.

Does this depress people, or make them feel like they should just focus on enjoying the world and not trying to change it? Do you think I'm totally wrong and YOU are the exception that will echo through the generations.

Personally, i don't like this idea; which is strange because I have no belief in the afterlife so my impact on the future will be completely unknown to me anyway.

What you do now, Echos in eternity!

OT: And does it matter? Not really, this world is one big freeform, if your gonna think "whats the point, its not permanent" Why do anything? Your gaming achievement isnt permanent, this forum isn't permanent, Why did you post?

As a great philosopher once said
"Why Anything?"
To which a great philosopher replied
"Because Everything. ????? Eternal Domain Error. +++++ Redo From Start +++++."

O.K so it was some UU students and Hex, But the point is still valid.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Nope. It may not affect thousands of people, but what I do does affect a few people. I could say something that gives someone an idea, and then they act on it... so on and so forth.

Human history is an incredibly precarious pile of connected and unconnected events, all of which, to an infinitesimally small degree, mattered.

Also, I'm just going to post my motto here.

You aren't dead. Billions of people are. This puts you in the minority, and thus, a rebel. Everyone loves a rebel. Especially a rebel against death.