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Just to add a small positive spin to your comment:

We all make an impact every day. But for the vast majority of us it will be small ripples instead of a giant splash.

But the ripples are real and affect the world. They echo far into the future. So try to do good when you can :) It does matter! Even if it is hard to see how sometimes.

very much this.

the point is not for others to notice your impact, if you want that, that's probably considered narcissistic or selfish. the point is to make a positive contribution, no matter how small.

and you define what that contribution is, not anyone else.

“The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

– Mary Ann Evans, aka, George Eliot

I’m a person who always scoffed at the idea of a human life having “purpose.” Yet somehow I wound up finding a purpose in life without trying. It’s drawing. I’m ok at it, not the best by far. I do it completely selfishly, to the benefit of no one save for a few nerds on tumblr. I’m not talented enough that I could use it to make money or influence much of anything, but I love it so much that I don’t care. I know it’s my purpose because it’s the one thing in life that I would be completely miserable without. I’m willing to sacrifice an embarrassing number of things for it.

I never understood why some people talk about wanting a “purpose” in life until I realized that this was mine. I always thought it was pretty cringe when people said that their children gave their life meaning, but now I get it. It’s just that the act of drawing is my kid. The whole “human life has meaning” bit is very stupid until you find yours.

If you believe you will be unremarkable and do nothing interesting, you will be right. 99.9% of people may be unremarkable to you, but I would say that 99.9% of people are remarkable to someone. Purpose does not mean fame and fortune. And for those who live your lives based on statistics: Remember, you are a sample size of 1.

How are you so certain I wasn't place on Earth for a reason? I was caused, right? Sure, by my parents, but there is a regression to this causality.

If we keep ourselves within the physical domain, experimentally there is the documentation of a beginning to physical causes that we can observe, and an ordering to such causality which demonstrates its continuum in movement to this present position where I am overwhelmingly purposeful, because I am able to reason my ends which are to give people greater limits of happiness - which begins with making efforts at providing security to families so they can form their own purposeful lives.

Unless you are to claim that reasoning, such as mathematically, is a mistake? But how can that be true?

The main thing I take issue with in your comment is the criticism of "Making the world a better place". What exactly is wrong with that? Nothing, I say. Maybe you're thinking of those who have co-opted that phrase to do bad, selfish things. There's nothing wrong with making your surroundings, your community, and beyond, a better place.

"Making the world a better place" is a trope that Silicon Valley was making fun of. Every startup thinks they're making the world a better place and the phrase has lost its meaning.

https://youtu.be/B8C5sjjhsso

https://danielfschmidt.medium.com/is-your-startup-trying-to-...

Unless your goal is to eliminate poverty, homelessness, disease, hunger, human trafficking, climate change, or assist with any other humanitarian effort, then claims of "making the world a better place" are eye roll worthy.

I would groan if someone said Atlassian was making the world a better place by creating Jira so managers and engineers can track work more effectively.

Okay, I was thinking at an individual level, not as a supposed founding goal of a company or something. I share your cynicism in that case. Rereading the OP, I'm not sure which type he was referring to.

I totally agree, that "making the world a better place" has become more of a placeholder than anything else. What I was referring to, is more of about finding problems to solve that will help people. It doesn't have to be a world impact, but if I can help 1 person do 1 thing only 1% better, that's good enough. Because, then, this small improvement can do the same and snowball into something massive that later on could have a ripple effect. That's mostly my goal.

I spend my free time making IDE tooling used by thousands to make game mods played by millions. Am I making the world a better place?

If You believe that world where everybody has escaped reality is somehow better, then probably Yes. Other than that You are just helping others to coast along waiting for nothingness to take them back.

> I don't expect to have an impact on the world or even get my own Wikipedia page that doesn't immediately get taken down for not being notable.

Are you saying that its not possible to do one without the other? I find it is FAR easier to impact the world "at scale" than is to get the credit and money for it.

Yeah, You can even have a situation, where your work is invisible if done right and impacts thousands of people every day yet you barely have minimum wage, for example street cleaner.

Actually you can absolutely have a purpose but its completely up to you what it is - there is no greater power or committee who can or will tell you.

Well, actually people will be happy to exploit you into doing things the help THEIR purpose but you aren't be true to yourself if you let that happen.

This is the answer: while there is no universal purpose to life, everyone can (or has the burden to) find their own purpose. From my understanding this was the big finding from existentialism, and afaik wasn't as big of a problem back when society forced you into a religious certainty.

You have a choice cynic or not being a cynic. All it is is a mental switch. Pick not cynic everytime. Even if you think it's a fantasy. It will change your life.

I think people expect it because that's what we've been told for so long that nobody bothers to question it along with other societal tropes like "having children is the greatest experience you can hope for" or, like we tell kids before eventually telling them they need to find jobs, "that you can do anything you put your mind to".

You can "make the world a better place" simply by not lying to yourself or others: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_road_to_hell_is_paved_wi...

Everyone's a hero of their own story. People want to be important and acknowledged. Having no impact on others means an eternal lack of acknowledgement. That drives people to have a purpose, I think.

>God dammit when did I become such a cynic.

I disagree, you should replace the word 'cynic' with 'realist''

That’s the cynic’s own delusion: that they are the realist and the world is full of pie in the sky idealists. It’s like the precocious 12 yr old that never matures.

>That’s the cynic’s own delusion: that they are the realist and the world is full of pie in the sky idealists. It’s like the precocious 12 yr old that never matures.

And that's the optimists delusion: that the cynic isn't a realist.

Which is both of their delusions, because it is likely they are both wrong, but some portion of their belief was correct.

But why would the money or the minimum wage job that one has should change their ideals or "endgame" goals?

Maybe in other words, why would anyone should ask to grow old doing something they don't love?

Your question isn't grounded in reality.

For nearly everybody, money determines if you can achieve your "endgame" goals. If my "endgame" goal is to retire on a cruise ship and travel the world while sipping Mai-Tais by the pool, I'm not going to achieve that working minimum wage.

If my ideal life is just sitting around playing video games, I'm not going to achieve that without doing some work somewhere to pay the bills.

The romantic notion that people should stop working jobs they hate and just do what they love only works in one of three scenarios:

1. You have enough money saved that you don't have to make a wage to pay the bills

2. "What you love" also happens to be very profitable.

3. "What you love" is living in a tent downtown begging people for change so you can eat your next meal.

You are not a cynic at all. Everything you say is correct. However how you feel about it is down to you. It can either liberate you or depress you depending on your personality.

Sometimes (maybe most of the time) being a cynic is wholly justified.

I remember reading a paper that showed that slightly depressed people have a more accurate world view. I'm not sure which way the causation went though.

Accurate views tend to be depressing, so I know which way my vote goes.

Source - slightly depressed person