Nothing Matters... OR Does It? - The Philosophy Thread

[routhman]

Our existence is comparable to a sandbox video game.

You pursue goals of your own choosing within the confines of the game's code. There are subplots (some of them epic as all hell), with only a vague over-arching plot.

That analogy could have dramatically different interpretations, based on the skill of the gamer.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

But are we not just trying to define our meaning through romantic pursuits, hobbies, careers, and families to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of escaping emptiness.

Yep. The end credits roll sooner or later.

Get over it.

 

[Lily Adler]

Never! The whispers will come from deepest crevices of your mind. Whispering enchanting betwixt your humming ears. Sweet nothings of questions. Questions upon questions until driven to the brink. Oh to envy such sweet madness.

 

[routhman]

But are we not just trying to define our meaning through romantic pursuits, hobbies, careers, and families to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of escaping emptiness.

I guess my philosophy is to resist our temptation to ascribe some exact, numerical value to our existence.

It's about excitement and love and fear and adventure. It's about friendships and romances and apprenticeships. Although we'll feel empty without these things, it doesn't mean that's solely why we pursue them.

Perhaps we don't just flee from emptiness. Maybe we flock toward happiness.

 

[Lily Adler]

You optimist. Trying to bring up my down and what not.

 

[routhman]

You optimist. Trying to bring up my down and what not.

Hahaha it's something I think about all the time, and optimism makes me happier. Join us.

 

[Lily Adler]

Plus THIS is the meaning of life:

Spoiler

 

[routhman]

Touché.

To think I've been on the Hype for so long, and still don't know how to post GIFs.

 

[Lily Adler]

You go to tumblr or Google the GIF you would like to use, copy the link, and paste it between this:

. And boom GIF.

 

[CoolHandLuke]

I always thought of Nihilism as the easy way out.

I don't want to dissuade you from believing or feeling what you want, but for me - it was just an easy approach.

Not to say it is wrong or bad. Just easy. For me, I try not to do anything easy. I try to make things easy, but not to do anything easy. If that makes sense.

I just look at the complexity of life and even the simplest of things and always feel like I am not carrying my weight if I do something easy.

This morning I made coffee and that was pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. However, and it's apropos that I even had these thoughts, but I thought of the complexity of that. In the short term, millions of synapses had to fire to wake me up and get my groggy ass out of bed to wander into my kitchen. My body was doing millions of things I was unaware of. My senses were alerting me to everything around me. Just what was going on that I had no idea was going on was staggering.

Then, I expanded it. I put the coffee in the filter and filled up the pot with water and poured it in and pressed a button. None of that matters in the grand scheme of things either, but it does. Someone out these makes a living and feeds his family and employs people so they can feed their families by running a coffee filter factory. They have to keep all of that running so I can spend a few bucks every few months and have coffee. They have to get the paper and keep the factory running and package them to distribute them. There is a guy doing doing the same thing with the coffee beans. Then there is another guy doing the same thing with coffee makers. All of those moving parts of a guy somewhere making a deal for plastics and metals and glass and wires and computer chips all to manufacture a product I use 5 times a week.

I showered and kept thinking of the history of it all. How coffee makers and the drink itself evolved over time. A thousand years ago some guy figured out if he boiled coffee beans in his water, it was pretty good. Then his brother came over and thought, "Yeah...we should grind these up so I don't choke on this crap." Then a grandson figured out to strain the grinds so his teeth didn't get gritty. French presses, boiling pots, peculators and likely a bunch of forgotten methods all lead to me, this morning taking something for granted.

Then, I figured all of those folks doing that over the span of history had the same thoughts. They woke up one day and wondered why they were doing any of it. The sun is going to rise, kids are going to be jerks, governments will fleece the people, they would grow old and die and no one would remember them or care.

Yeah. That's kind of true. But they had the same synapses and cells and muscles I have. Even if I don't know them by name, they influenced my life. People I don't know and will never meet impacted it this morning.

That was just one thing. I don't even have time to consider the water getting into my house so that I could make the coffee and take a shower. Or the evolution of soap. Or the luffa guy. Or the electricity. The toothbrush fellow. The deodorant man.

I surely didn't have time to consider that a million years ago nothing suddenly became something and once that happened a trillion things a minute had to happen so that I could site here and contemplate it.

I'm not saying be part of the system and spend money on coffee and be a good cog in the bad machine. That's not what I'm saying. I was just using that as an example.

I'm just saying that if I live my full 80 years in this life and I get to take time to consider the complexity of the cosmos as I stand in awe at the complexity of the simplest events, then I'm doing okay. All those people who came before us helped, in some way, me be here right now. Maybe I can contribute a small bit so in another thousand years someone can figure it all out.

I guess I just feel I owe it to us as human beings to not just meander. Not that you are meandering. But for me, I would feel like I was meandering if I just said, "Well...in 50 million years the sun is going to expand and nothing will have ever mattered. Ef it." Because so what if it does? That won't change anything that occurred. It will still have been there in its time. I don't remember what I did Friday night, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen and the ripples of my actions are expanding right now in ways I can't even imagine.

I don't know. Maybe you're right. I'm just trying to do the best I can. The same way I assume you are. I just think we owe it to one another to try to make everyone's life a little bit easier. We can't rely on government or the church or random philanthropy, so we should rely on one another. People - human beings. That's what it is all about for me. I guess, for me at least, something is better than nothing.

 

[Apollo]

Everything Matters.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!

 

[Apollo]

Not only does everything matter. Everything is Awesome!

[YT]StTqXEQ2l-Y[/YT]

 

[Tempest]

I demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!

Just demand cookies. It makes things easier.

 

[Dr.]

The Principle of Charity

Faced with a weak, poorly expressed or ambiguous argument, this precept says you should grant it every benefit of the doubt.

As per Wikipedia: “[T]he principle of charity… requires interpreting a speaker's statements in the most rational way possible… considering its best, strongest possible interpretation…”

So why do this? Well, if the goal is to merely score a checkmate against a bad argument, you wouldn’t. OTOH, if the goal is discussion and persuasion, it can often be effective to engage with an assumed and better version of said argument. In this way, one’s own position is sharpened — inasmuch as it stands up to the best (rather than the worst) interpretation of the proposition on offer.

The Principle of Charity is also/sometimes known as “steelmanning” — the opposite of “strawmanning.” With strawmanning, you attack an argument by either misrepresenting it or assuming its feeblest construal. With steelmanning, you actually rehabilitate your opponent’s position and argue against this improved version.

 

[Dr.]

Here’s an interesting presentation by Steve Shives that considers the “trolley problem” as it relates to various Star Trek storylines. Downside: the video runs 26 minutes. But if your interests encompass both Trek and philosophy, it’s (IMO) worth a look.

“The needs of the many…” was, of course, famously featured in Star Trek II; and then again in Star Trek III (where it seemingly contradicts itself…?). Additionally, Shives mentions the classic TOS episode “City on the Edge of Forever” where Kirk must let Edith Keeler die in order to restore the timeline and save millions.

Initially, I was looking around for a discussion on ethical dilemmas (like the trolley problem) vis-à-vis Superman. But, arguably, the idealism of Superman doesn’t easily lend itself to thorny ethical dilemmas. Whereas, Star Trek — at least in theory — is more amenable to philosophical exploration, debate and ambiguity.