Why anything?

[Cheesus333]

"Why do you get up in the morning?" "To go to work." "Why?" "To earn money." "Why?" "To buy things." "Why? So I can survive a comfortable existence. Why?" "'Cause... Go away! I don't even know you!"

The question posed here is why do we do anything. What's the point? What do we hope to achieve? What part of our mind controls the Don't Die Cause That's Bad bit that drives us through everything we do? I guess what i mean is not 'What's the meaning of life?" but rather "Why do we continue to live?"

Answers on a postcard or -more simply- down there in that little white box.

 

[kewlrabbit]

Why not?

 

[Cheesus333]

... Touché.

Answers to that will be accepted in addition.

 

[Shivari]

Copy and pasted from the global warming thread.

In millions of years we may be extinct, but does that make our lives completely useless? We're here, we should make the best of it. If we can make the world a better place than why the hell not? If none of us really matter why aren't we all killing ourselves? Because we don't want to die. Why don't we just sit in a room and stare at the wall for the rest of our lives? Because that's a waste of your life.

I hate that "Oh nothing we do really matters at all" philosophy. Maybe it's true, but living just like everyone else except being a prick about it doesn't seem like a good way to use this life.

 

[Amnestic]

To enjoy myself. Why? Because it makes me happy. Why? Because I'm enjoying myself. Why?

Well, you see where I'm going with this. Yes, the pointlessness of all life in the long run ("nihilism, woo!" I say, my voice spitting sarcasm like snake's venom) is not a stranger to me, so I may as well simply enjoy myself and work in a way to make myself feel better while I'm alive.

 

[Maet]

I'm pretty sure my posts in the "global warming/oil" thread is the reason for this thread.
Booyah!

 

[Cheesus333]

Until I find sufficient reason not to.

 

[Saevus]

To enjoy myself. Why? Because it makes me happy. Why? Because I'm enjoying myself. Why?

Well, you see where I'm going with this. Yes, the pointlessness of all life in the long run ("nihilism, woo!" I say, my voice spitting sarcasm like snake's venom) is not a stranger to me, so I may as well simply enjoy myself and work in a way to make myself feel better while I'm alive.

Copy and pasted from the global warming thread.

In millions of years we may be extinct, but does that make our lives completely useless? We're here, we should make the best of it. If we can make the world a better place than why the hell not? If none of us really matter why aren't we all killing ourselves? Because we don't want to die. Why don't we just sit in a room and stare at the wall for the rest of our lives? Because that's a waste of your life.

I hate that "Oh nothing we do really matters at all" philosophy. Maybe it's true, but living just like everyone else except being a prick about it doesn't seem like a good way to use this life.

Nihilism: failing to compensate for human nature since the 18th century.

To answer it personally, the fact that everything is transitory in some way isn't reason to baw and refuse to do anything because it'll be gone in a few millenia. That isn't a practical approach. Looking at Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Machiavelli, and Thomas Aquinas - they did something fantastic, each of them, and have affected millions of people over centuries (in some cases, more than a millenium), and you know what? The prospect of being able to do that is quite enough to brush aside the incomprehensible reality of everything dying under the tread of time's march.

 

[Cheesus333]

Clever you Maet. Have a biscuit.

I personally remain alive because I know that death is just as uneventful, but I hear it's kind of long and broing so I choose life. Why I'm alive though is based on a lot of biology and some physics and chiemistry too.

 

[zirnitra]

the whole point in live is to be around and make sure that we keep on being, all we are is bags of flesh designed to keep cells alive, just what happened with evolution, in hind site it seems very futile but what more can you do? because of our genetic programming we don't want to die, we want to live a good life, learn things, it's beyond our control.

here's something that annoys me though, so the whole point in life is to be happy? we work hard during childhood so we can go to uni or whatever and get a job that will make us money thereby making us happy or we think we will enjoy it with out the money, but then everyone else thinks that about the same jobs so there's competition to get in so you have to work extra hard to get there, taking the fun out of that portion of your life. then when you get their there's more competition from other people in the same line of work so you have to work a lot harder so you stop enjoying the work, and because of the competitiveness there's less money in it. and the people who didn't make it our just as depressed because they never got the chance to prove themselves..

Nihilism FTW?

 

[GyroCaptain]

Obligatory Discworld reference:

++Because Everything++

{OUT OF CHEESE ERROR: REDO FROM START}

 

[Johnn Johnston]

We are on a rock, spinning at thousands of miles an hour through nothingness around a ball of burning gas. Water vapour flies through the skies above us. Another giant rock loops around our rock every day. Continually, we release energy using some of the millions of individual parts of our body by burning it. We crush the very items of being; we explore the galaxy. Each individual pinprick of light in the sky is its own burning ball of gas, with its own rocks spinning around it. Some have two of these flaming balls rotating around each other. There are points with infinite gravity, and particles that pass through things without being seen.

Why do I get up in the morning? Because there's so much to see.

 

[AuntyEthel]

If we didn't do anything, then life would be boring. You only get one shot at it, so have some fun.

 

[Jolly Madness]

I live for sarcasm, so basically... I do it for the lulz.

 

[Cheesus333]

We are on a rock, spinning at thousands of miles an hour through nothingness around a ball of burning gas. Water vapour flies through the skies above us. Another giant rock loops around our rock every day. Continually, we release energy using some of the millions of individual parts of our body by burning it. We crush the very items of being; we explore the galaxy. Each individual pinprick of light in the sky is its own burning ball of gas, with its own rocks spinning around it. Some have two of these flaming balls rotating around each other. There are points with infinite gravity, and particles that pass through things without being seen.

Why do I get up in the morning? Because there's so much to see.

Put it in a poem and get yourself a fortune!

 

[varulfic]

Nihilism: Who cares? So life is meaningless. So was that run through Sonic 2 I made earlier, but it sure was fun.

I just ate a cinnamon bun and drank a cup of tea. It won't solve any of the worlds problems, it didn't even help me that much, since I ate earlier and could have survived a good while without it. But the cinnamon bun was very tasty and the cup of tea was simply fantastic. That's enough for me.

 

[TheBadass]

Maslow's Hierachy of Needs [http://sagerave.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/maslow.gif]

Plus, doing nothing seems like it would take one hell of a lot of effort.

We are on a rock, spinning at thousands of miles an hour through nothingness around a ball of burning gas. Water vapour flies through the skies above us. Another giant rock loops around our rock every day. Continually, we release energy using some of the millions of individual parts of our body by burning it. We crush the very items of being; we explore the galaxy. Each individual pinprick of light in the sky is its own burning ball of gas, with its own rocks spinning around it. Some have two of these flaming balls rotating around each other. There are points with infinite gravity, and particles that pass through things without being seen.

Why do I get up in the morning? Because there's so much to see.

Pfft, that too.

 

[Cheesus333]

If I was offered the chance to find the answer to every question that had or would ever have been/be aked, I wouldn't. I'd prefer the scenic route; learning everything I can by research or makiing up reasonable answers based on logic until a better solution can be found. And that's why I get up, not Chris Moyle's voice in my ear at half six. Though that does help.

 

[LordCraigus]

I'm not quite sure what I get up for in the morning. Simply for the things I enjoy I guess, good films, interesting books, fun games... These are the only things that really occupy my time really. The thing is, people say 'make the best of it' but for me, making the best of it means doing as little as possible of what I don't want to and doing what I enjoy when I feel like it.

I can't help that I look at life as just pointless. I can understand how those who can embrace religion are happier. I can understand how those with 'simpler' minds are happier (not to sound like some sort of intellectual elitist). I can understand how those with someone or something to really care about in life are happier. I'd rather be ignorant and happy than be logical and miserable, I really would.

I know probably few if any will read this but it just feels good to write down how I feel, it helps get my thoughts in order if nothing else.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

We are on a rock, spinning at thousands of miles an hour through nothingness around a ball of burning gas. Water vapour flies through the skies above us. Another giant rock loops around our rock every day. Continually, we release energy using some of the millions of individual parts of our body by burning it. We crush the very items of being; we explore the galaxy. Each individual pinprick of light in the sky is its own burning ball of gas, with its own rocks spinning around it. Some have two of these flaming balls rotating around each other. There are points with infinite gravity, and particles that pass through things without being seen.

Why do I get up in the morning? Because there's so much to see.

Put it in a poem and get yourself a fortune!

Next time I post something like that, I really need to actually remember what I was thinking when I typed it. Ah, now I remember.