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

[Saint]

the rotting food is for a rotting physical body, therefore both end up in rotting permanently

 

[Saint]

if life has no meaning, it is even more meaningless to seek the meaning of life.

 

[Saint]

religions teach me, the meaning of life is not based on this life-form --- your body,
but rely on SPIRIT inside your body.
this is only Belief,
can't be subjected to scientific experimentation, and it is subjective to each one of us.

However, generally, the outcome of your life will depend on your mind-set and attitude.

 

[plum]

Learn all you can. Not as a means, but as an end. Knowledge is fun.

 

[RingoKid]

to evolve to a point where we don't need life or purpose anymore

 

[selfAdjoint]

Who says it has a purpose?

 

[russ_watters]

Life is short, what purpose can it have ?

Who says it has a purpose?

I do.

All you need to know you can get from the Matrix Trilogy: The point all boils down to life is what you make of it. My life has a purpose because I choose for it to have a purpose.

 

[selfAdjoint]

So I am to fall down and worship a movie? If I have to do that, I would rather it be the Harry Potter series than that pretentious dud The Matrix Trilogy.

BTW, you like that stuff because you are thrilled with choice. But free choice cannot be demonstrated, only asserted, just like God.

 

[lordinfamous]

I do.

All you need to know you can get from the Matrix Trilogy: The point all boils down to life is what you make of it. My life has a purpose because I choose for it to have a purpose.

Takes a Big hammer and hits the Nail on the head!

 

[lordinfamous]

So I am to fall down and worship a movie? If I have to do that, I would rather it be the Harry Potter series than that pretentious dud The Matrix Trilogy.

BTW, you like that stuff because you are thrilled with choice. But free choice cannot be demonstrated, only asserted, just like God.

So if I make a choice to swollow a quart of 20wt motor oil, is not a demonstration of (choice)stupitity, its only assertion!?? (wisdom)

 

[hypnagogue]

So if I make a choice to swollow a quart of 20wt motor oil, is not a demonstration of (choice)stupitity, its only assertion!?? (wisdom)

selfAdjoint was talking about 'free' choice, in other words a kind of choice that is made free of deterministic constraints. The argument is that it's impossible to demonstrate the existence of 'free' choice (vis a vis 'deterministic' choice), because there is nothing in the nature of any given act that will tell you, of itself, whether or not it was chosen 'freely.' If you swallow motor oil, that may have been an act of free choice, or it may have been caused by a deterministic set of events (eg, a certain conversation caused you to want to demonstrate that you have free choice, and you deterministically chose to swallow motor oil in an effort to demonstrate this, and then you deterministically carried out the act).

So, if it's true that the existence of free choice cannot be thus demonstrated, then selfAdjoint argues that one can only flatly state that it exists (or does not exist), and this is called 'assertion.' (I think we can do better justice to the problem than just assertion, but that's a topic for another thread.)

 

[russ_watters]

So I am to fall down and worship a movie? If I have to do that, I would rather it be the Harry Potter series than that pretentious dud The Matrix Trilogy.

BTW, you like that stuff because you are thrilled with choice. But free choice cannot be demonstrated, only asserted, just like God.

Worship? Certainly not. You are indeed correct that I like the trilogy so much because of the message. You are also correct that free choice can't be demonstrated, but here's the rub:

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!"
-Rush

Whether freewill exists or not, you should choose to act as if it does. If you act as if it does and it doesn't, you've lost nothing. If you act as if it doesn't and it does, you've given up your choice.

So if I make a choice to swollow a quart of 20wt motor oil, is not a demonstration of (choice)stupitity, its only assertion!?? (wisdom)

Same idea as above: whether choosing to drink the motor oil or not is pre-determined or not, you're still better off choosing not to!

 

[lordinfamous]

selfAdjoint was talking about 'free' choice, in other words a kind of choice that is made free of deterministic constraints. The argument is that it's impossible to demonstrate the existence of 'free' choice (vis a vis 'deterministic' choice), because there is nothing in the nature of any given act that will tell you, of itself, whether or not it was chosen 'freely.' If you swallow motor oil, that may have been an act of free choice, or it may have been caused by a deterministic set of events (eg, a certain conversation caused you to want to demonstrate that you have free choice, and you deterministically chose to swallow motor oil in an effort to demonstrate this, and then you deterministically carried out the act).

So, if it's true that the existence of free choice cannot be thus demonstrated, then selfAdjoint argues that one can only flatly state that it exists (or does not exist), and this is called 'assertion.' (I think we can do better justice to the problem than just assertion, but that's a topic for another thread.)

OK. sorry for jumping to conclusions. I now understand your meaning of "Free Choice".

 

[Saint]

Live and treasure what you have, don't miss your opportunity etc.,
try to do good to yourself and others,
avoid silly mistakes,
be frank, open your heart,
face life with COURAGE, love people around you,
.....walk the path of your short life steadily, Thanks God.

 

[TENYEARS]

To lie, cheat, steal, be unconcious, hate, destroy, mislead, whittle away, drain and eventually fizzle into the mist.

Yes life is good is it not. If only there were love. For in love one rises out of the ashes of defeat, for in love all things are possible, for in love we become imortal. Where is this thing called love?

 

[Castilla]

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 ??

 

[Mouseman]

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.

 

[RAD4921]

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.

 

[selfAdjoint]

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.

 

[gerben]

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, 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.

 

[RAD4921]

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.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

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.

 

[Sariaht]

Perhaps we are functions with the purpose to function among other functions.

 

[TENYEARS]

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?

 

[pete66]

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?

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I'd be an indication that would support free will but the experiment is impossible

 

[Addell]

Who is John Galt?

 

[Rothiemurchus]

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.

 

[omicron]

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

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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.

 

[scienceguy]

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.

 

[bomba923]

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

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?

 

[AiA]

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.

 

[Erazman]

The universe needs an audience.