Meaning of Life

[11001001]

Meaning of Life: "People aren't wearing enough hats."
-Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

Seriously--
I have long-held the belief that everyone is here for a set period of time. We are here to learn. If, in learning, we help to better society or others than that's even better. The point is, when we have learned all we can learn, we pass on. I guess I have a "Grand Scheme of Things" mentality.

[Kindred69]

The3ntropy I like this post a lot perhaps using the theory I put forward to answer one of your question then in another way of thinking about life. You put forward the idea of finding the perfect mate, however this was not what I was trying to convey, the perfection of a mate is a higher function of human thought not down the genetic level at the end of the day my post is about genes being self fish that they wish to be passed on no matter if you have found the perfect mate or not, just a mate someone to procreate with. Taking this to a higher perspective and refining it into the human species itself trying to think about MsMittens post. If you consider the whole gene pool i.e. not just human but all the genes found in the entirety of the world in all species consider this a river, at one time all genes be it though form fish to those in human where together in the river at the source over time these genes paired off mixed with themselves, the successful genes formed new tributaries this process continuing to create the diversity now upon the earth. From this analogy some of these rivers now are so far apart that they can not mix successfully any more ((i.e. humans cant mate and produce offspring with apes for example)) but still come form the same source, as in the tributaries and the large river come for the same source if you go back far enough. Each river has specific characteristics, the stick insect river has the characteristic of its camouflage, humans have there higher reasoning there ability to invent adopt there environment to suit themselves. Each of these specific to the tributary but because they all come from the same source so certain characteristic are similar, i.e. you see invention and use of tools within apes. Now humans can invent firstly fire and processed into modern day , we as humans have got to a point in which we are the dominant force over the earthly environment though are ability to think at higher levels. This is where we need to move out of the genetic analogy but still keep it in mind. The thread is turning into the reason why humans do as they do, why and individual selects the tasks and decisions they do. Perhaps its our success within the world that will be our downfall that in time humans will in fact destroy all of the other life and end many of the rivers formed, or they may not, but this still does not answer why we do as we do. Perhaps the answer is as simple as to pass on our genes but with higher rational thinking we can move beyond the selfish gene, and the flow of genetics though all populations, to this I have no answer however I would like to pose a thought.

Using the analogy of a pinball machine. The ball travels in seemly random directions each time the ball ricochets off a wall’ a cushion and the flippers it head of in a different direction if you take these as decisions then it would appear that their consequences are random, however the flippers are slightly different a person can decided when to press the button where on the flipper they wish the ball to stick and in so what direction that decision will take until it hits a bumper or something to alter its course, this is human higher function, you can tilt the table to try and effect the course of the ball. This very abstract but I’m going to get even more abstract in a way. Take a person driving a car in he first situation the person is driving though choice above the speed limit this his choice why he chose to is that he wants to get home as soon as possible or something of such, anyway moving on, this guy turns a corner where a young childe is in the middle of the road due to his speed he runs the child over, the child incurring fatally injures this child. Now the divers decision to speed resulted in the child death, if he had driven at the speed limit the child would be still alive it was that decisions of driving too fast that caused the death, just because he wanted to get home faster. Now to put a twist, if that child would grow up to be a medical scientist and in so find a cure to AIDS 20 years before anyone else then effectively the decision of the driver to exceed the speed limit, has caused many thousands of people to die a horrible deaths form AIDS. Or vice versa if the childe was going to be the next Aldof Hitler then the decision to speed and in so the reproductions of the death of the child has prevented a world war and much pain and tragedy. This is going outside of this thread and perhaps I have gone too far so I will bring it back to this thread by suggesting this. Perhaps the meaning of life has nothing to do with the decisions we make, because the effects can be so random and unpredictable that for someone to define there decisions into a tight definition of "life is about ??????" would not be feasible or practical. Perhaps The higher rational of the humans has nothing to do with the meaning of life itself, or that the meaning of life can not be a set definition that it is a fluidic devise that adapts itself throughout the ages and that each person has there own personal meaning in which they work to or there lives are defined by. Moving back to the genes, perhaps all that I said means nothing, perhaps is a simple as passing on genes, keeping the flow of genes on earth contently moving changing mixing so new variation are created. But what is the purpose of that?

Anyway hope I didn’t go too far form the point

Kindred69

[The3ntropy]

Wow,
Damn good read Ms and kindred, I like your ideas, both of them with the gene pool and basically a theory of chaos it sounds like from kindred. I cannot think of anything to argue about them. Very good reads.

[SarinMage]

the meaning of life is to create your own meaning from whats placed in front of you during your life, define it yourself in your own way,

[Dr Toker]

I think we are much more important than we could ever imagine.
But for those who must deny that here is your basic Goals in life.

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1.) Show kindness, help others with things they cannot help themselves with.
2.) Fall in Love with a member of the opposite sex.
3.) Be fruitfull and multiply
4.) Learn, and share what you have learned.
5.) Make someone else happy.

[Juridian]

Here is my view on the meaning of life - http://www.antionline.com/showthread...684#post484684

[preep]

kindred thats was deep, what do you each think about fate? as that may be the deciding role in our lives? even the simplest of beings have a will to survive and..sow their seeds or keep the DNA going, how can we not relate to that?
if you plan for tommorow, when tommorow comes your too busy plannig the next day, as "intelectual beings" we must have substince to keep us going food, thought and feeling. a lack of any of these can cause the person to deteriorate (hunger/mental illness) it can be the same for any animal, true though that they may not have the capacity, but animals feel, think, eat, sleep and reproduce, but what is the meaning of their lives? merly playings for the animals higher in the food chain, or as a tool, in a thread just as the one im typing in just now having little added on to it each time, evolving, and waiting for the end(but this is an endless discussion of course) its just like us, all of us, we set out as a(sorry for the pun) "blank sheet of paper" ready for printing, and from the time we are born we develop (not in order) hearing, sight, speech, we grow(etc)...each bit of hte chain adds a bit onto the original, sometimes improving it, sometimes not, but we have the capacity to learn from our mistakes, in order to survive, ive figured out that some animals have not meaning as they do what they have done for thousands of years for example:
crocodile an animal who has been around since the Dino`s, he stays in the water and waits for an animal to come and drink, then when it does, bang, thast dinner, and when you watch it on tv, you can think....if i went back in time i prob see that same animal using the same mehods to capture the animalwanting a drink

its not why we live our lives the way we do, it shouldnt be a question it should be "so im here, what do i want to do? what can i do?(cuz u get atheltes trying to beat each other all the time, and you dont really care who won the bronze in 1860 or what time it was, the guy got, you dont know him, but i bet he`s enjoyed the things he`s achieved and the life he lived.

em......does that make sence?? you`ll prob have to read it over a few times to get what i mean.
not just Why, but How that matters, think of life as a challege quiz, you will get some wrong and a few right but by the end of the test it all gets added up, and you want to see "how may you got right!" its the end result that matters, but we wont see how we`ll we done till the end, not half way through the test, but when its all on the table, theres no going back.
and i hope when you reach your end (and you will) you will be able to add up what u done and accounted for.
i wont be there for you to tell, but its not my life, i`ll find mine out when i die
what a cheery person iam today, lol

jeez 2794 chars long!
see!!! at the start i didnt know how much i would write, but i do now, lol

hope u make sence of it, just made me realise

Preep

[BERBURT]

Originally posted here by xmaddness
Ya that very tru.. Sometimes I wonder if I would be happier living on an island with no technology, no job, no need of money, living off the land. Alot of times I convince myself that life is here just for my taking. I came in so I could experience what life has to offer. I want to walk along the great wall of china. Explore the great pyramids. Scuba dive along the great barrier reef. I believe the world is our playground. And life is recess. Go have some fun and do something you'll remember in your mind. Remember.. Material goods come and go... but memories will be with you forever. Well don't take that so literally... you can get altheimer's(sp?) But you get what I mean.

this is a great outrlook on life and i wish i felt that way
but i find myself questioning every aspect of my own existance and wonder why i was born
i just want to know what does it all mean? what is the point of even living
is it so u can talk about the good old days? so u can tell the upcomming generations how much they have strayed from the way things should be.
sometimes i have thoughts that are disturbing , even to me, believe me it doesnt make one
feel well when u think the kind of thoughts that i do and im sure im not alone.
if i could have one wish it would be to experience death, and find out whats going on.
once i obtain that knowledge of what happens when i die, have the option to chose
life or death. the way i feel is if there is nothing than i chose death.
whats the point in experiencing lifes ups and downs only to meet the enevitable
Resistance is Futile

[BERBURT]

Originally posted here by Kindred69
An interesting idea that is sort of associated in this tread that perhaps might add a slightly different view on thing is one I read in a book my Richard Dawkins called "the river of Eden"

This my own little twists on it to fit within this post and my own option. Perhaps in discussing the meaning of life you should not just think about human life but all life and in so what links all life together what is the commonality of all life. Taken this discussion to a level that is about life; from birds, bees human ants plants fungi, viruses and bateria (ok the last two you might argue about if they are alive and if what they do constitute as life). What is the one thing that they all have? Genes. Perhaps the higher ration functions of society and ones place simply is nothing more than a mechanism for genes to interact, to get the interaction of genetic material, perhaps the meaning of all life is not anything to do with the greater good but ensuring that your genetic mix is passed onto the next generation? Perhaps all this training to prove you worth to a mate and in so pass your genes on like a river running though all species and population. Perhaps that is simply it that at the end of the day we are defined by are genes and it is our genes that wish to survive to make it though the river to mix with other genes, other pairings that drives us to do as w do, in so the meaning of life simply is to pass our genes on. This argument can be used for all forms of life and in so might hold some truth to it or perhaps not. Perhaps looking for the meaning of life within one species is flawed, perhaps you need to look at all life in order to understand what the meaning is, if there is any. Personally I think the opinion of the selfish gene that the meaning of life is all to do with continuation of genes has it merits

Kindred69

nice post but in my world its not the most intelligent humans reproducing at an alarming rate
in my world where weakness is greeted with compassion and stregnth is greeted with agression.
in my world natural order is disorder. the intellectualls are having few children while the rif raf
are going at it like rabbits. my world is on a downward spiral

[rcgreen]

in my world its not the most intelligent humans reproducing at an alarming rate
in my world where weakness is greeted with compassion and stregnth is greeted with agression.
in my world natural order is disorder. the intellectualls are having few children while the rif raf
are going at it like rabbits. my world is on a downward spiral

Maybe the "rif raf" have discovered the meaning of life, while the
"intellectuals" have their heads up their asses.