Poll: A question.

[TWRule]

As a philosophy student, these sorts of questions are what I call "Tuesday" - but I do have tentative answers for some of them.

I'm not going to touch "how did I get here?" - partially because it would be pure speculation, and partially because it's not particularly important to my existence now.

As far as the purpose for my existence; I don't believe I was born with one, but I can choose my own. I prefer the term "telos" because it does not presume that I was designed and fashioned like a tool to serve some specific purpose, as though my essence was a blueprint in the mind of God. Rather than that - I believe I *somehow* merely surged up into this world once the conditions were right, like all humans; leaving me in a position to define myself and my goals.

Edit: I should add that I think humanity can have a collective telos, even if we don't know what it is yet.

As far as "purpose of the universe" - I don't think that question is answerable as you've phrased it. There can be no final end that everything runs into. No matter how lofty a purpose you can think of, you can always continue asking "so what is the point of THAT?" and so on. Also, having a "purpose" implies a creator, which I'm not willing to assume yet. Living things in the universe may all have a telos, but it's difficult to say for non-living things.

Then again that all depends on your definition of the "universe." In philosophy, we like to call it simply "the world" - and the world generally consists of everything that can be perceived/related to/interacted with. So if the world is the sum of our relations to eachother, things, concepts, etc. then it's "purpose" is in it's definition. It is our construction. Lyx brushed on this earlier when talking about scientific theories. These theories change over time - we just generate such conceptions to impose order on the world, and in that sense "create" it.

But of course I could write novels about such things - if you have any more specific questions then I'd be happy to respond. But ultimately - yes, I have thought about it and often do.

 

[Booze Zombie]

As far as "purpose of the universe" - I don't think that question is answerable as you've phrased it. There can be no final end that everything runs into. No matter how lofty a purpose you can think of, you can always continue asking "so what is the point of THAT?" and so on. Also, having a "purpose" implies a creator, which I'm not willing to assume yet. Living things in the universe may all have a telos, but it's difficult to say for non-living things.

I meant more along the lines of "what's the purpose of all this energy"?
I mean, the universe twisting and turning, all of this stuff spinning around like a fly in a hurricane... I don't mean to imply that something created it, but instead I mean "what is it doing and what's it meant to be doing", I suppose.

I confuse myself, at times.

 

[Jedoro]

I'm here; how I got here doesn't matter. What's more important and deserving of consideration is where to go from here, and how.

 

[Lyx]

I meant more along the lines of "what's the purpose of all this energy"?
I mean, the universe twisting and turning, all of this stuff spinning around like a fly in a hurricane... I don't mean to imply that something created it, but instead I mean "what is it doing and what's it meant to be doing", I suppose.

I confuse myself, at times.

This is not an view accepted by the scientific community (though e=mc2 strongly implies it)

Your (interesting) question may actually be the same as asking "why does something exist at all?". Here's a thought experiment you don't know yet: Current physical models make all the "matter" stick together via "forces" - forces that are treated seperate from "energy", even though metaphysically both terms are synonymous. Now, lets assume there were a theory that does not need those forces and can instead explain everything with a single unified kind of energy. In that case, energy would be what allows structured matter-systems in the first place.

Another thought experiment: Why does your thinking tend to require "circular paths of reasoning"? Why those "loops" everywhere?

Do not let that hurricane image leave your mind *g*

 

[Gahars]

Yeah.

I mean, I think the bigger question is, "Who hasn't at some point in their life?"

 

[TWRule]

As far as "purpose of the universe" - I don't think that question is answerable as you've phrased it. There can be no final end that everything runs into. No matter how lofty a purpose you can think of, you can always continue asking "so what is the point of THAT?" and so on. Also, having a "purpose" implies a creator, which I'm not willing to assume yet. Living things in the universe may all have a telos, but it's difficult to say for non-living things.

I meant more along the lines of "what's the purpose of all this energy"?
I mean, the universe twisting and turning, all of this stuff spinning around like a fly in a hurricane... I don't mean to imply that something created it, but instead I mean "what is it doing and what's it meant to be doing", I suppose.

I confuse myself, at times.

That's what I'm saying - if there is no creator (or anything like it) which designed everything with a specific function/purpose, then any such meaning that is assigned to the workings of the universe is imposed by humanity. So whatever the popular scientific opinion is will generally be how the universe is, because that's our best understanding of it - though that changes all the time.

If you are merely looking for a causal analysis, you'd have to look back to the "origins" of the known universe and see how some event back then set in motion the events of today. It doesn't seem that would even help us though, because you seem to be looking for "where is this headed" more than anything. In which case, your guess is as good as mine.

Perhaps the energy will simply disperse across the universal plane, or this universe will eventually collide with another, producing some spectacular destructive event where the fabric of reality is torn. Or maybe all these types of known energy exist to differentiate and eventually create new forms of energy, much like life. *shrug*

Edit: Okay, that's not really a fair answer to your question. The more philosophical answer is thus -

The universe is moving toward one of two final "end"s: Unity, or transcendence.

Unity would consist of consistent relations between all things (at least from out perspective). That means science reaching the point where we have the unified theory of everything - we can freely manipulate the natural laws, everything makes sense to us, there's no gaps. Of course, as I said before - that would be an order that we, ourselves, created - but we'd all have to agree upon it given sufficient investigation, since it would mean every phenomenon was adequately explained. At this point we would fully accept our reality as it is, and maybe even find ways to become immortal (or purposely accept death for known reasons depending on how things shake out).

Transcendence would mean escaping the situation we are in now - and really probably the unraveling of the situation itself. By situation, I mean reality as we know it. Perhaps, in some way or another, we could literally undo the fabric of reality - ending this universe forever. Or perhaps we would simply gain a sort of spiritual transcendence, where our existence at the most profound level is entirely embraced and we can rise above "reality" in that way.

The universe has to move toward one of these two ends (At least out of those ends that have currently been imagined), because even if we go extinct - another intelligent race will inevitably rise up and "create" the universe again, choosing one of these paths. The universe cannot remain in a chaotic state so long as there is sentience to give it order, and the universe seems to be able to allow the existence of such sentience given proper conditions which will inevitably occur again over eternity.

 

[Togs]

Whilst only tangentially related to the OP, at times when Im studying my degree notes I get humbled by some of the stuff I have to learn.
I mean for example, everything you are, your memories, emotions, thoughts, feelings, neuroses, dreams, hopes and fears are little more then chemical and electrical signals darting about your body and brain, every time you feel angry its because the part of your brain responsible for that has been triggered by depolarisation of the neurones contained therein.

People always say that science takes away the magic from life and reality, in my opinion it only makes it more spectacular.

/rant

 

[Hiikuro]

I often think about things like that, then decide to take it a little further. Before I know it I've reached a point where the very thought of reality is absurd.

It is truly a wonderful feeling.

 

[FamoFunk]

Yes. Biggest head fuck... ever.

 

[Agent Cross]

I don't generally stop and consider how we got here, but I frequently like to marvel at how far we've come.

This... *Looks for flying car* Anybody see my flying car? I was told there would be flying cars!

 

[BENZOOKA]

I do that rather often. It's quite astonishing and makes your brains go looking for yogurt.

 

[legendarytomuk]

I do all the time, and it depresses me. I do think we are somewhat more than accidents though, not a lot more mind you.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Truly questioning the reason or possibility of your own existence is dangerous. I've gotten into a depressing and damaging pattern of realizing that I am completely irrelevant, that I don't even comprehend how it is that I can think or interact with anything. It's very difficult to explain, but when you don't know or care how or why or if you exist, it is very hard to function.

 

[MassiveGeek]

Well, no.

I've thought something similiar several times though, going something like this; "Wow, it's so fucking cool that everything has turned out like this."

 

[Blemontea]

Yesterday I ask the simple question why do we use words? I know why but I feel like it matchs the sitiuation at hand of asking random questions about random things.

 

[adakias]

Always. Like, literally.
This question has completely consumed my existence.
It's kind of a downer. ):

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I used to urge my brain to come up with an answer worthy of that question... It consumed me for weeks at a time, if not months...

But then I realized that it was not the true question I should be pondering...

"Why should I care?"