If Life is Meaningless Anyway, then What's Wrong with Religion?

[Angrboda]

Do you hear many young healthy folks saying they're done with life, they've lived enough and it's time for them to go now? Why is it that you don't, do you think? Take whatever reason you might come up with to explain that and ask yourself if you think it's unlikely or even impossible that we won't overcome it in the future.

Your logic here is impeccable. Mebbe young folk ain't lived long enough to git 'tired'. I'm just sayin'...

[Huggy Bear]

Omg, Huggy.  Please don't start on about the BEES!  

Yep. Huggies has been shifting the goalposts around yet again in his constant endeavor to be "right" on pointless points.

At least he's consistent.

Is that your guys go to accusation when you can't refute anything I've said? Someone already accused me of shifting goalposts a few pages back and got shutdown.

So why don't YOU show me where I've shifted goalposts...

[Excited Penguin]

Do you hear many young healthy folks saying they're done with life, they've lived enough and it's time for them to go now? Why is it that you don't, do you think? Take whatever reason you might come up with to explain that and ask yourself if you think it's unlikely or even impossible that we won't overcome it in the future.

Your logic here is impeccable.  Mebbe young folk ain't lived long enough to git 'tired'.  I'm just sayin'...

That doesn't make any sense. Why would time be a component here? Do you have any reason to think mere time will make you feel tired of living?

Let me easily dissuade you from believing that by pointing out that we used to live far shorter lives, as humans, in the past. Even though there was a time when people didn't generally live to be forty, as far as I know(correct me if I'm wrong here, anyone), they don't now reach that age and get tired of living, unless they suffer from particular debilitating or painful conditions. Time's got nothing to do with it. Rather, an old person lives a far less enjoyable life than a young person does. That's all there is to it. If you think otherwise, I'll let you come up with a different reason for why this happens.

[Excited Penguin]

No, that's under unhappy. You are unhappy about your prospects in that scenario.

I don't know how content you think the average 100 year old is compared to a twenty year old like me, but I can assure you not very. In the future this might change for a hundred year old person, thus removing at least one of the reasons why someone might want to end it all. We might get to the point where a person is several centuries old and yet functionally just as healthy, energetic and handsome as a thirty year-old is right now.

You're putting a lot under the 'unhappy' umbrella there.  

I'm on a nice picnic with the family.  We have a nice long day together.  But it looks like rain.  We don't want to get caught out in the rain, so we head home.  We are all in a good mood, because it was a great day.  

You can say we are 'unhappy' at the prospect of being out in the rain, therefore we went home because we were unhappy.  But that's such a broad stroke, I think it losing a lot of meaning.  Especially, as we're all happy as we're heading home.

That's a laughable analogy, it doesn't concern itself with the topic at hand at all, so I have no idea what you hope to achieve with it. Let me know.

[henryp]

You're putting a lot under the 'unhappy' umbrella there.  

I'm on a nice picnic with the family.  We have a nice long day together.  But it looks like rain.  We don't want to get caught out in the rain, so we head home.  We are all in a good mood, because it was a great day.  

You can say we are 'unhappy' at the prospect of being out in the rain, therefore we went home because we were unhappy.  But that's such a broad stroke, I think it losing a lot of meaning.  Especially, as we're all happy as we're heading home.

That's a laughable analogy, it doesn't concern itself with the topic at hand at all, so I have no idea what you hope to achieve with it. Let me know.

Analogies are dumb, because there is no incentive for the other person to partake if they are just an argumentative person rather than being interested in discussion.  At the same time, that's how my mind organizes ideas.  Probably leftover from basic logic where you just stick in A's and B's into the equation to try and break it.  Not conducive to communicating with folks like you, but it's what I've got.

What I hoped to achieve, is to flush the idea out for myself mostly.  Maybe it adds to someone else's thinking.  

And for me it worked, because rather than a picnic analogy, or a video game analogy I passed on, or a long thing on misapplying meaning, and social conditioning and a bunch of other stuff, I truncated it all down to:

Endings can be satisfying.  

That's the idea I think you're missing with your unhappy/mentally ill position.

[Thumpalumpacus]

No, she was happy, as I have already wrote, and now emphasize so that it doesn't escape your notice again. She was just tired.

You really should stick to speaking for yourself and not others. You're notably inept at the latter.

No happy person is tired. Tiredness is a sign of misery, not well being.

Wow, you've never experienced tired but happy? The joy that comes of completing a labor which, while difficult, is worthwhile?

You're missing out.

Do you have any reason to think mere time will make you feel tired of living?

Yes. I've witnessed it.

[Excited Penguin]

That's a laughable analogy, it doesn't concern itself with the topic at hand at all, so I have no idea what you hope to achieve with it. Let me know.

Analogies are dumb, because there is no incentive for the other person to partake if they are just an argumentative person rather than being interested in discussion.  At the same time, that's how my mind organizes ideas.  Probably leftover from basic logic where you just stick in A's and B's into the equation to try and break it.  Not conducive to communicating with folks like you, but it's what I've got.

What I hoped to achieve, is to flush the idea out for myself mostly.  Maybe it adds to someone else's thinking.  

And for me it worked, because rather than a picnic analogy, or a video game analogy I passed on, or a long thing on misapplying meaning, and social conditioning and a bunch of other stuff, I truncated it all down to:

Endings can be satisfying.  

That's the idea I think you're missing with your unhappy/mentally ill position.

Endings can only be satisfying when they are restricted to experienced instances, not to individuals. Therein lies the problem with your analogy. You are trying to equate the ending of a picnic with that of a life.

All analogies are imperfect by necessity, but this one doesn't serve any purpose at all when it ignores such an important characteristic of the thing the analogy is being applied to. That important characteristic is the extent of its finality. 

A good analogy is one that focuses on the relevant aspects of the object being compared in order to make a point. Your point is either lost on the reader or irrelevant to the argument at hand. Please, either clarify it or come up with a better analogy.

[Excited Penguin]

No happy person is tired. Tiredness is a sign of misery, not well being.

Wow, you've never experienced tired but happy? The joy that comes of completing a labor which, while difficult, is worthwhile?

You're missing out.

Do you have any reason to think mere time will make you feel tired of living?

Yes. I've witnessed it.

Wow, you've never experienced tired but happy? The joy that comes of completing a labor which, while difficult, is worthwhile?

You're missing out.

Life isn't a labor, and you won't be collecting any of its fruits after it ends. I am definitely not missing out in that regard, nor is anyone else.

Yes. I've witnessed it.

I find it very hard to believe that you've witnessed something so preposterous as a direct link between time and an individual's welcoming of death. I expect some evidence on this count, and not the anecdotal kind, either.

[Arkilogue]

Analogies are dumb, because there is no incentive for the other person to partake if they are just an argumentative person rather than being interested in discussion.  At the same time, that's how my mind organizes ideas.  Probably leftover from basic logic where you just stick in A's and B's into the equation to try and break it.  Not conducive to communicating with folks like you, but it's what I've got.

What I hoped to achieve, is to flush the idea out for myself mostly.  Maybe it adds to someone else's thinking.  

And for me it worked, because rather than a picnic analogy, or a video game analogy I passed on, or a long thing on misapplying meaning, and social conditioning and a bunch of other stuff, I truncated it all down to:

Endings can be satisfying.  

That's the idea I think you're missing with your unhappy/mentally ill position.

Endings can only be satisfying when they are restricted to experienced instances, not to individuals. Therein lies the problem with your analogy. You are trying to equate the ending of a picnic with that of a life.

All analogies are imperfect by necessity, but this one doesn't serve any purpose at all when it ignores such an important characteristic of the thing the analogy is being applied to. That important characteristic is the extent of its finality. 

A good analogy is one that focuses on the relevant aspects of the object being compared in order to make a point. Your point is either lost on the reader or irrelevant to the argument at hand. Please, either clarify it or come up with a better analogy.

If life is a picnic then death is "suddenly, a hungry alligator appears!"

[Thumpalumpacus]

Wow, you've never experienced tired but happy? The joy that comes of completing a labor which, while difficult, is worthwhile?

You're missing out.

Life isn't a labor, and you won't be collecting any of its fruits after it ends. I am definitely not missing out in that regard, nor is anyone else.

How old are you, again?

Yes. I've witnessed it.

I find it very hard to believe that you've witnessed something so preposterous as a direct link between time and an individual's welcoming of death. I expect some evidence on this count, and not the anecdotal kind, either.

I really don't care what you expect.

What you think you know is your problem, not mine. Thankfully, your education is not my responsibility.