Life is nothing

[Minimalist]

[Astreja]

If we are just created by chance and nothing else, then what's the point of living if in the end, we are just gonna die and be forgotten? If we are nothing but a bunch of cells and sperms that had evolved over time, then why must we care and love one another? And no, saying that we need others to survive is not an valid answer. I don't care about surviving. If life's is just about surviving, then that means we should only care about ourselves and nothing else. So that means that hospitals and medicine and things like that should not exist. Nothing in ever matters so we might as well die and not exist since nothing we ever do as humans will accomplish a single thing. So why bother? God does not exist. Heaven does not exist. Spirits don't exist. The only thing that exists is just us in a dark, empty void with a bunch of gases that we call the universe. That's it. So we should need to live a long, happy life since we will just die and soon be forgotten and wither away. Life comes from nothing, death means we become nothing, therefore life itself means absolutely nothing. I hate atheism.

Seriously?

If you think life is meaningless now, imagine how it will feel when you've been sitting in some paradise place for 17 quintillion years, bored with the afterlife of your dreams, and realize that you've only experienced an infinitesimal fraction of eternal boredom.

If you can't find happiness and fulfillment in this beautiful, fragile place right here and right now, you will be woefully ill-equipped to find it anywhere else.

[polymath257]

If we are just created by chance and nothing else, then what's the point of living if in the end, we are just gonna die and be forgotten? If we are nothing but a bunch of cells and sperms that had evolved over time, then why must we care and love one another? And no, saying that we need others to survive is not an valid answer. I don't care about surviving. If life's is just about surviving, then that means we should only care about ourselves and nothing else. So that means that hospitals and medicine and things like that should not exist. Nothing in ever matters so we might as well die and not exist since nothing we ever do as humans will accomplish a single thing. So why bother? God does not exist. Heaven does not exist. Spirits don't exist. The only thing that exists is just us in a dark, empty void with a bunch of gases that we call the universe. That's it. So we should need to live a long, happy life since we will just die and soon be forgotten and wither away. Life comes from nothing, death means we become nothing, therefore life itself means absolutely nothing. I hate atheism.

So you see no value in life unless we never die? I feel sorry for you, then.

Me, I get great joy out of life. I love to learn. I love to teach. I love to share experiences with my wife and others. THOSE are core of the 'meaning of life' to me. It isn't 'just' about survival. It is about living life to the fullest, experiencing and learning and sharing.

An analogy I often use: the light from a candle has value and spreads warmth even though the candle will eventually go out. It doesn't have to be eternal to have meaning. It doesn't matter that it is forgotten. It still has value because it spreads warmth and light.

One of the things I see as simply realism is the acknowledgement that the vast majority of the universe is hostile to life. We are small and insignificant and it seems like the ultimate in hubris to think we 'matter' at all to the universe at large. Whatever value we have is what we make of ourselves.

But I can go further. What value does life have if it is eternal? Won't it cease to be of value after, say, a few million years? Or a billion? Or a trillion? And don't forget, a trillion years is only a speck in eternity. If anything, eternal life seems of less value than a well-lived finite life.But maybe that is just me.

[Astreja]

It's not just you, polymath257 -- I've felt that way for nearly 50 years now.

Around age 10-11, just as I was heading into puberty, I went through a weird mental state that in retrospect was probably a major depressive episode. I used to come home from school in the twilight gloom of winter and spend time just lying on my bed, thinking about stuff.

One day I had a vision: I started thinking about time/space, and suddenly saw myself outside the universe, looking at both the physical entities such as planets and galaxies, and at a timeline that went an infinite distance in both directions. I imagined civilizations being born, flourishing, degenerating and dying, and realized that it applied to all of them. I took a step back and saw it happening to entire planets.

One more mental step put me into the perspective of gods and of eternity, and I realized with a start that eternal life could never possibly have meaning solely by virtue of its infinite nature because it was impossible to get to "the point of it all."

My worldview never did recover from that particular tilt, but as I got older I realized that the present moment is the only place we actually live, and the only place that one can experience meaning and purpose. That took me in the opposite direction from nihilism, to a place where simply being in the world and engaging with it is meaning enough for me.

[KevinM1]

Am I the only one who reads statements (implicit or explicit) like “If we aren’t given meaning from an external source, then there’s no point to anything” as “I’m angry there’s nothing greater out there to give me a pat on the head and tell me I’m a good boy/girl, because my family and/or friends aren’t good enough for me?”

I mean, maybe the problem is your sucky attitude rather than how reality works.

[Nay_Sayer]

If we are just created by chance and nothing else, then what's the point of living if in the end, we are just gonna die and be forgotten? If we are nothing but a bunch of cells and sperms that had evolved over time, then why must we care and love one another? And no, saying that we need others to survive is not an valid answer. I don't care about surviving. If life's is just about surviving, then that means we should only care about ourselves and nothing else. So that means that hospitals and medicine and things like that should not exist. Nothing in ever matters so we might as well die and not exist since nothing we ever do as humans will accomplish a single thing. So why bother? God does not exist. Heaven does not exist. Spirits don't exist. The only thing that exists is just us in a dark, empty void with a bunch of gases that we call the universe. That's it. So we should need to live a long, happy life since we will just die and soon be forgotten and wither away. Life comes from nothing, death means we become nothing, therefore life itself means absolutely nothing. I hate atheism.

I agree.  Good thing there is a creator and its name is FSM, our sole purpose to bring glory unto its noodles and receive it back tenfold.
RAmen

PS: Have a tasty doughnut

[Fireball]

Am I the only one who reads statements (implicit or explicit) like “If we aren’t given meaning from an external source, then there’s no point to anything” as “I’m angry there’s nothing greater out there to give me a pat on the head and tell me I’m a good boy/girl, because my family and/or friends aren’t good enough for me?”

I mean, maybe the problem is your sucky attitude rather than how reality works.

Agreed. I'd like to add that I've been born, despite all the odds against me. Once I got over the part of religion where I had to behave in certain ways in order to get to "heaven", life became much more enjoyable. And, no it didn't change all that much...just tossing off the religious punishment/reward expectations was enough. I'm fine with not existing after I die, the same as I'm fine with not existing before that. Isaac Asimov said it, and Boru has it for a sig. I'm not going to quote it; people see it all the time.

[Little Rik]

If we are just created by chance and nothing else, then what's the point of living if in the end, we are just gonna die and be forgotten? If we are nothing but a bunch of cells and sperms that had evolved over time, then why must we care and love one another? And no, saying that we need others to survive is not an valid answer. I don't care about surviving. If life's is just about surviving, then that means we should only care about ourselves and nothing else. So that means that hospitals and medicine and things like that should not exist. Nothing in ever matters so we might as well die and not exist since nothing we ever do as humans will accomplish a single thing. So why bother? God does not exist. Heaven does not exist. Spirits don't exist. The only thing that exists is just us in a dark, empty void with a bunch of gases that we call the universe. That's it. So we should need to live a long, happy life since we will just die and soon be forgotten and wither away. Life comes from nothing, death means we become nothing, therefore life itself means absolutely nothing. I hate atheism.

Gee, you got a lot of clear evidence son.  

You know that people die for good and there is nothing after that.  

Would you be so kind to share that evidence with me.  

I promise that I will keep a secret.  
Just between you and me.  

Ok?

[Astreja]

Normally at this point I would tell Little pRIcK to eff off, but...

[Cyberman]

What's the point if we are just a bunch of cells and nothing else?

What's the point of eating a steak if it's just a 'bunch' of cells and chemicals and I'm just going to shit it all out later?

Oh, that's right... the experience.

(Please, for the sake of all that's unholy, find a list of collective nouns other than 'bunch' and learn them. I'm not only addressing you, either.)