The Meaning of Life Is Absurd | Hacker News Reader

The Meaning of Life Is Absurd

moretothat.com

20 pointsLYeo10 comments

Some of the cartoons, like the ones showing thought bubbles and multiple perspectives, are quite appropriate. I appreciated this post.

Thanks - appreciate that. It sucks that this post has been flagged though, despite there being no guideline violations or anything of that sort.

Say what one will about the man, but at least Nietzsche didn't demand a happy ending.

The heat death of universe is true based on current state of our understanding. Nothing says that it won't change in next million years - that's a monumentally long time in exponential rate of human progress.

We've been wrong about a lot of things in the past and if people had made up their mind about the meaning of life before Kepler, we would have thought that we are the center of the solar system. Therefore, we are the most important thing in the Universe.

Not knowing something is a boon - it rallies optimism that one day we will find what that unknown thing is. Religion does the opposite - not knowing something is replaced by faith and god.

Meaning of life - my personal opinion - is to lead a good life, help humans understand mother nature, how she really works, and give back to the world before we are turned into dust. That's the purpose and I am content with it.

>The heat death of universe is true based on current state of our understanding. Nothing says that it won't change in next million years - that's a monumentally long time in exponential rate of human progress. >We've been wrong about a lot of things in the past and if people had made up their mind about the meaning of life before Kepler, we would have thought that we are the center of the solar system. Therefore, we are the most important thing in the Universe.

If you were making the argument that the universal rate of expansion isn't necessarily static, I'd perhaps agree with you (there is evidence this functioned differently in the early universe). The 2nd law of thermodynamics on the other hand, which is what will lead to universal heat death, is extremely unlikely to be variable.

Without the 2nd law of thermodynamics, the universe would be so radically different that it would be effectively an entirely new universe at that point.

We are very probably within a simulation (cf Nick Bostrom), so we might eventually find some interesting hacks. Even to 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Yea, I agree with you except for the fact that in just last 100 years we have tremendous changes in the way we understand the universe. In last 400 years, even more so.

Think about the timeline in terms of a million years from now. I cannot fathom to speak for the truth of what we know today, despite of evidence which may be proven otherwise in the future. That's how science works.

Obviously, I have no proof, but I hope you can acknowledge the magnitude of the time difference and our rate of progress.

> Not knowing something is a boon - it rallies optimism that one day we will find what that unknown thing is. Religion does the opposite - not knowing something is replaced by faith and god.

By your own measure, this is a religious belief about other religions with which you are not familiar.

I've heard this argument before but I don't get it. Could you please explain how it is a religious belief in particular or provide a pointer to where I can find out more? Thanks

I'm not sure if the argument you heard before is the same, but I'll try to clarify my angle.

For me, religion would be defined as something like "what any number of people generally do and expect themselves and each other to do, because of what they choose to believe, often with rather limited unambiguous evidence (i.e. in spite of the given evidence's allowance for vastly different interpretations)".

OC seems to indicate that they believe "typical" religions are not particularly concerned with finding things out-- that believers will simply chalk up natural mysteries as "something God does/did". Then those belief systems are seen as obviously inferior frameworks for describing reality-- such would not need to be studied or even recognized except as "somebody else's thing", and OC is satisfied with their current understanding of them. This has too much in common with those empty "explanations" for natural phenomena. At least, it's too easy.

Disregarding some explanations about the foundation of reality without knowing or needing to know the details, is also OC doing (or not doing) something because of what they believe, is also part of OC's private religion, by my loose definition above.

There is at least one traditional religion that also heavily promotes seeking overall correctness of information (in particular, it demands honesty), always gaining wisdom/knowledge/understanding, and always maintaining humility with a healthy grasp on one's limitations and ignorance. Anyone who "knows" that "religions aren't like that" might never find out. I hope they eventually have a crisis of faith.

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."

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