I've been thinking lately just how random and really how ultimately pointless our existence really is. I just don't quite get how out of every conceivable possible existence we could have, for some reason our current one was the one that came to be. I mean, why the hell do we look the way we look, act the way we act, think the way we think, etc., etc. For example, why is it in our nature to make warfare on one another and to let our stupid pride get in the way of our better reasoning, and why is our drive in life pretty much solely driven by just emotion, and on an even more basic level, why are we composed in the form we are composed in with eyeballs and ears and kinda oddly shaped bodies that function pretty inefficiently and constantly need fuel (food/water) and can be destroyed relatively easily. Anyways, point is, I just think existence could have, and in some ways should have been far more "divine," for lack of a better word, instead of it featuring a bunch of unpredictable, strange sacks of flesh and bone called humans that live on a strange floating ball of rock in space called Earth.
Poll: Reality is weird.
- Thread starter RickRoll
- Start date
Oh god! As if I don't hear that phrase enough!
Yes, life is full of the unknown. The unknown is inherently weird. Now please stop quoting MovieBob.
Yes, life is full of the unknown. The unknown is inherently weird. Now please stop quoting MovieBob.
It's not an issue of the unknown; it's more of an issue of the known actually. I KNOW how our existence is, but what I don't really know is just why. It's not like I'm baffled by something unknown like the question of whether or not we're alone in the universe; I'm baffled by the strange reasoning behind whatever creative force that brought us into existence.intheweeds said:
Well were all animals trying to change from our instinct that were toned for survival and now we have civilization which doesn't work that well with these instincts.
Our bodies are so flimsy because evolution is not perfect and the evolution process does not create super beings.
Much of evolution is timing and coincidence and is why we are all in this form and you and I are debating this question rather then instantly knowing it
Our bodies are so flimsy because evolution is not perfect and the evolution process does not create super beings.
Much of evolution is timing and coincidence and is why we are all in this form and you and I are debating this question rather then instantly knowing it
Haha, you and every other philosopher that ever was!RickRoll said:
Assuming there was any creative force at all, you're getting into religion here...
Edit: This thread was done yesterday already: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.309456-The-point-of-life
What's funny about life, actually, are the "norms". The only reason we find certain things weird and certain things normal is because that's what we've come to expect. I like to think that there's an alternate universe where dragons live and constantly attack things, but it's normal and so people just prepare for it and don't really think anything of it.
On the same token, in that world, it's considered perverted to have sex. Breeding occurs remotely in two separate capsules by the mind.
On the same token, in that world, it's considered perverted to have sex. Breeding occurs remotely in two separate capsules by the mind.
Dude, you're grounded too much in the rules of our existence with your reasoning. Your more explaining HOW things are the way they are, not WHY. It's not like war needed to exist, nor did evolution or any of that other survival of the fittest crap (which is exactly what it is, despite it being true, because I think it's a barbaric and ultimately shitty way for life to exist). We could have just as easily been a race of super intelligent, peaceful beings that are at utter peace with one another and live an existence of pure bliss and perfection. In fact, I think that would have been far more simplistic and "normal" than this seemingly unnecessarily chaotic existence that we do have. The amount of detail that goes into the chaos of our existence is really quite excessive; I think it would've been way easier just to make us more in tune with one another, rather than constantly being in conflict.Generic Gamer said:
Lol, the thing that really baffles me about what we consider the "norms" is that in actuality the only reason we view them as normal is because our brain is conditioned to view them as normal. When our brain perceives a "norm" it's response is to give us a dose of Serotonin and whatever other comfort chemicals are associated with viewing normalcy so that we come to associate a positive emotion with a certain aspect of reality. But when you really think about it, a lot of the stuff we view as normal really shouldn't be viewed as normal. For example, why is it considered "normal" for a person to spend their whole lives trying to constantly get tons and tons of money so that they can buy tons of materialistic stuff, when our existence is so unpredictable, short, and can and eventually will end at some point sooner or later, and all that money you spent your life trying to horde won't mean shit anymore when your dead and gone.The Virgo said:
No, you are still explaining how. As long as you're explaining via the rules of our current existence, you're explaining how. I'm asking why in the sense of why would there even be the need in the first place for resources; why don't we just have all that we need already and not have to go out and fight each other over stuff. It almost feels like its a game or something, as if there was some strange God out there who made us simply to be entertained or something by making our existence so chaotic and constantly full of unpredictable conflict.Generic Gamer said:
Any system as large and complicated as the universe is going to have all sorts of strange things going on.
No matter how you set things up, it's going to confuse poor creatures like us.
Having said that, though, some of the weird stuff is going to happen in any remotely similar universe, no matter what you set the rules as.
No matter how you set things up, it's going to confuse poor creatures like us.
Having said that, though, some of the weird stuff is going to happen in any remotely similar universe, no matter what you set the rules as.
What, throughout all of time every creature has had exactly the same amount of resouces, (which didn't include each other) and they remained eternally sufficient so as to prevent any from taking those alloted to someone else? And having set this system up, nothing would destablised it in any way?RickRoll said:
...
What I sometimes wonder about, though, is why the universe isn't perfectly symmetrical. So you've got X amount of mass-energy, what distributes it? Though, even if things were like that, radioactive decay would throw it off.
But we aren't. Existence is what it is. You will probably never find the answers to most of your questions, and if you do, they're unlikely to be the answers you wanted.RickRoll said:
Just stop being so negative. No, the world isn't a giant ball of love, intelligence and tolerance, but quite frankly it's a miracle that there is even a small amount of love, intelligence and tolerance at all. Do you have any idea how many hurdles life has had to overcome to get from a random ball of chemicals at the bottom of the ocean to where we are right now? Do you have any idea how slim the probability was of surviving any of those challenges, let alone all of them? If one thing is for certain, we are not "inefficient" and we are not "easily destroyed".
You can't deny reality no matter how strange it seems to you. If you want to leave this world a bit better than you found it in the short time you have then get right on and do that. At least then you would actually be helping people and making a difference. But the one thing that helps no-one, least of all yourself, is just wishing for things to be perfect, especially if your going to brood over every single flaw you encounter whilst completely ignoring the brighter side of life.
In short, deal with it.
Another kid on the internet whining about life not making sense. Wonderful... Gotta give you credit for taking the extra step by basically saying, "Why can't everyone be nice and super-smart and have everything they need for free without having to work for it."
Everyone seems to conflate "light existential musing" here with "emo wall-o'-text-whining", which the OP certainly wasn't doing.