Ask Lemmy

About 20 years ago, I was walking through a city centre with a friend, on the way to catch a train. A couple of Mormons tried to stop us, asking, "Have you ever thought about the purpose of life?"

Barely breaking stride, I shouted out, "Hot sweaty man sex!"

I don't consider that to be the purpose of life^1^, but remembering the look on their faces helps keep me grounded whenever I'm inclined to consider questions that cannot be answered.

That said, my resolution to the conflict between free will and determinism is to assume assume that 'truth' operates on a principle of equivalence. That's to say, if two models generate the equivalent outcomes, they are equivalently 'true'. The universe we observe could have deterministic rules that give rise to the same observable outcomes as one in which we have absolute free will, in which case the two models are equivalent. It would make no sense to endow one with a greater truth than the other.

That's a slightly difference definition of 'truth' than is commonly accepted, but it works for me.

^1^: It's just a nice bonus.

First, great choice in reading (Im a fan of Camus as well).

As for the meaning of life thing...

Thats the neat part. You don't.

Thats why in absurdist fiction like Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. Its not supposed to make sense and the universe is under no obligation to do so for you (the books even postulate that the universe does not want anyone to know so if someone figures it out it winks out of existance and replaced itself with something weirder, some scientists think this has happened before).

That goes back to Camus point about the remedies for the bleakness of early-mid 20th century philosophy. He proposed three options, Nhilism, a leap of faith (looking at you Kierkegaard), or absurdism, the last being what the doctor perscribes, but also requires the most effort because you have to find your question to the ultimate answer your self... Or not, who cares. Lets go spend some time by a lake that thinks its a gin & tonic.

There is none. You get used to it.

I have so many goals man. I wanna travel the world, meat new people, stay in one of those hostels or that website where you can work to stay. I wanna scuba dive, rock climb, surf, run marathons, hikes and all sorts of stuff before I get too old to do anything fun.

Two phrases I like for this:

There isn’t the meaning of life, there is your meaning of life. This realistic approach recognizes our constantly shifting values and how radically different it can be per person.

And of course Herbert’s

The mystery of life isn't a problem to be solved, but a reality to experience

I'm going to throw a trigger warning on this next part just in case:

i only do what i want to do, no more or less

There are three ways to look at the meaning of life.

The realistic: the is no meaning of life, no grand idea behind it.

The biological: the meaning of life is to procreate.

The philosophical: The meaning of life is to make the world better than when you arrived.

Since the first two are boring to talk about, I'll skip right to the third, making the world better than it was when you arrived.

In my case, I am an IT guy, I solve other people's problems and enable them to do their job, making their day slightly better.

I am also a hobby photographer, who share photos for free on the internet, people seem to like them so I have made their day slightly better as well.

Perhaps I can make your day slightly better by linking my Pixelfed: https://metapixl.com/Stoy

By multiplying 21 by 2

You climb the tallest mountain you can find, and you ask the old man sitting there.

I did this kind of self-exploration at one point. I used to find all my meaning through work, which I later realized was leaving me feeling unfulfilled. So I lowered my professional ambitions in favor of focusing on the relationships I had with close friends and family.

Then I changed genders. And then those relationships got completely fucked up. And now I feel like I have nothing left to live for.

So I guess if you're looking for meaning, my advice would be to pick something that doesn't depend on other people.

Isn't the idea of a meaning of life irrelevant if you believe that the universe is deterministic?

What do you keep living for?

I want to see what happens in the future.

Is there a specific person, goal, or idea that you work for?

My primary goal is to retire and not have to work anymore.

Is there no meaning to life in your opinion?

There is no external meaning. People can provide their own meaning.

Zoom in. I don't care much for the troubles in the world. I vote, but that's that. I care for my family and friends and for my personal development. In that order. Lately it's been mostly the latter. That is all right for a while, but eventually I'll have to put things back in the right order.

Life is for two things. 1. Experience 2. Love.

I think I won at life.

Meaning is something imposed on reality by consciousness, not something necessarily inherent to existence itself. I am here because here is where I am. What that means to me is that I should have a good time while the opportunity persists because all evidence seems to insist that the chance will not last forever.

So, eat. Be merry. Protect that which moves me and those who can not protect themselves. Help others to do the same. That's the meaning of life to me.