What is the Purpose of Life? The Universe's Audience

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The discussion centers on the philosophical question of life's purpose, with a consensus that there is no objective purpose for humans; instead, individuals must find their own subjective purpose, often centered around the pursuit of happiness. The conversation explores the origins of the universe and the nature of existence, questioning why everything, including life, is expected to have a purpose. Some participants argue that life’s purpose may be tied to survival and reproduction, while others suggest that purpose is a construct of human perception. The idea that actions can exist without a motive is debated, with some asserting that purpose is inherent in daily activities and societal roles. The dialogue also touches on the cyclical nature of existence, the importance of connections with others, and the subjective nature of happiness and fulfillment. Ultimately, the discussion reflects a broad range of perspectives on existence, purpose, and the human experience, emphasizing that meaning is often derived from individual interpretation and personal growth.
  • #51
Sentimental love??

Love to whom?

You love a woman hoping that she at least will like your love. Therefore, is it this kind of love something more than egoism??

Why some men think that their sentimental love to a woman is something "noble" ?? When you are desperate for a drink of water, do you consider "noble" your dry thirst ??
 
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  • #52
I don't know...

I think the purpose of life (in general) is to ensure the survival of the species. All other actions or goals or feelings or desires are moot. They're fringe benefits.
 
  • #53
RAD:What is the purpose of life

From a purely biological point of view, it appears that the purpose of life is survival and reproduction. Since the beginning of life on Earth, organisms have gotten more complex and obtained greater awareness of their environment. One could GUESS that the purpose of life is self awareness since outside of reproduction and survival that appears to be the goal of evoultion.
 
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  • #54
RAD4921 said:
From a purely biological point of view, it appears that the purpose of life is survival and reproduction. Since the beginning of life on Earth, organisms have gotten more complex and obtained greater awareness of their environment. One could GUESS that the purpose of life is self awareness since outside of reproduction and survival that appears to be the goal of evoultion.

Some organisms have gotten more complex, others have not. The total body mass of bacteria at present is greater than the total body mass of humans. From a bacterium's point of view, all of metamorphic life is a minor fizzle.
 
  • #55
We attribute "purpose" to our actions. We say that the purpose of some action is to reach a certain goal. We have these feelings of purpose and a drive to reach certain goals. The reason that we have them is probably because such feelings and drives make us successful in replicating ourselves (that is just evolution theory, the only reasonable theory we have so far with respect to why organisms are the way they are).

We also attribute purpose to the actions of other people and that is probably correct:wink:, the other people presumably also have a feeling of purpose. I think it is wrong to attribute purpose to inanimate things. Except for the things we call tools that have a purpose to us. I think that accepting that life has a purpose is implicitly accepting that there is some human-like entity (some may call this God) that wants to attain a certain goal with life, in the same sense as we made the hammer and saw with the purpose of attaining certain goals.
 
  • #56
selfAdjoint said:
Some organisms have gotten more complex, others have not. The total body mass of bacteria at present is greater than the total body mass of humans. From a bacterium's point of view, all of metamorphic life is a minor fizzle.

You bring up some good points and interesting ideas and facts.
Rougly, life began as blue-green algea floating in warm seas and evolved into what we are today. I agree that some organisms have remained stagnant but in general scope of things, life on Earth is increasingly getting more complex with greater self awareness. Whether self awareness is "the pupose of life" I don't know. What is the purpose of a flea? It just is.
 
  • #57
gerben said:
Except for the things we call tools that have a purpose to us. I think that accepting that life has a purpose is implicitly accepting that there is some human-like entity (some may call this God) that wants to attain a certain goal with life, in the same sense as we made the hammer and saw with the purpose of attaining certain goals.

Agreed I think the answer to this tread lies in refining the question a bit, the only possible answer to the question right now would be: purpose of life to whom. To generallize purpose as a allencomassing purpose means putting a god like entity into the equation and then the question becomes does god exist or not and I think we don't want to get into that.
 
  • #58
Perhaps we are functions with the purpose to function among other functions.
 
  • #59
Castilla said:
Love to whom?

You love a woman hoping that she at least will like your love. Therefore, is it this kind of love something more than egoism??

Why some men think that their sentimental love to a woman is something "noble" ?? When you are desperate for a drink of water, do you consider "noble" your dry thirst ??

Castilla, love is an experience of true freedom. When you experience love the purpose of life will begin to be understood. Not until a human being experiences this will they understand. There is no predefined path to this love. Love is not a choice it is an experience and from it arises great strength, noble purpose, intelligence, compassion and clear vision.

Sometimes in life we are like a dog chasing it's tail. The dog chases something that is part of itself. What does the dog need to do to catch it's tail?
 
  • #60
Does anyone think we'd be getting close to proving freewill if we were to take a spider, make 2 exact clones of it and then simultaneously hatch the 2 clones into identical jars, with identical temperature, relative position and background. If they each follow different paths then each one biologically has freewill?
 
  • #61
I'd be an indication that would support free will but the experiment is impossible
 
  • #62
Who is John Galt?
 
  • #63
Life doesn't have a purpose.It is just the result of the activity of innumerable particles and waves.A plug has a purpose - to stop water going down a sink.In other words a plug is something that yields a result that humans want it to yield.Life would have a purpose if living things were doing something that a creator wanted them to do - just
as a plug does what its creator wants it to do.
 
  • #64
praveen said:
What is the purpose of Life ?
There are so many different opinions so it really matters how u see it. It also matters on ur religion (if u have one). Then again u can be sure about peoples opinion because they are always based on something (can be religion or how they live), it may be right to them but not to u. So it really depends on u :bugeye:
 
  • #65
The purpose of life? If we assume that "purpose" goes beyond the observer's own mind - you - to some greater Cosmic measure, then it is either to serve or commune with God, to commune or co-exist with the Cosmic Consciousness, or to be a meaningless bag of mostly water that has no purpose at all. You pick.
 
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  • #66
The purpose of life is different for everyone, but my guess is to pursue life and survive. It's kinda like asking the reason for our existence. There is no definite answer that would satisfy everyone.
 
  • #67
omicron said:
There are so many different opinions so it really matters how u see it. It also matters on ur religion (if u have one). Then again u can be sure about peoples opinion because they are always based on something (can be religion or how they live), it may be right to them but not to u. So it really depends on u :bugeye:

Relativistic, just as you say...

Just curious: would a known absolutist answer to that question make people feel happier? Well, let's say it's sort of a universalist absolute. You describe the meaning as relativistic across differentent peoples...but i am just curious though. Would an absolutist answer to that question make people feel happier? Also, would the world be a better place should there be universal agreement on this answer? Suppose this absolute answer complies with universalist philosophy, and then with a more negative philosophy--what would it be like?
 
  • #68
The answer is simple, to be happy.

In every action, we do it for some sake of self happiness. Even in happiness there is a standard, things that bring about momentary happiness obviously doesn't bring about as much happiness something that brings about non stopping happiness, (trandsendental happiness, beyond time) so it isn't as opinion based as some would think.
 
  • #69
The universe needs an audience.
 

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