Mental masturbation!

[Someone here]

This is not meant to be religious but might be taken to be mystical - Because it reflects concepts such as immortality and rebirth.

This post is based upon the thinking of Max Planck, the famous Nobel Prize winning physicist who gave us Quantum Mechanics
- And specifically my favorite quote by Planck:

“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”
― Max Planck

Again 'consciousness is fundamental' - No beginning, no end, but rather a fundamental state of conscious existence that is
the be all of all that exists - The past, present, and future is backed by an ever existing state of consciousness 

Now assuming, just for the sake of argument, that Planck is correct - Is death even possible 

How can any form of life actually die, discounting the actual physical body which we know will eventually pass on
- But the ever existent conscious state that the physical body came from will always exist and the conscious essence that the
body came from is ever present.

So we Humans, or any life form for that matter, can not die completely - It simply returns to the primal and forever state of
consciousness

That said - Can we postulate the existence of a real afterlife where our ego specific conscious mind can maintain itself
and voluntarily choose to return and be reborn 

And finally do you know of anyone, including yourself, who believes, and even better still has evidence of living before

[Someone here]

Software needs hardware. The idea that the software mysteriously goes somewhere else when the hardware it's running on is dismantled seems like a misunderstanding of the nature of software.

[Someone here]

 Is man the logical and expected result of Evolution? 

Science is advancing rapidly - In the near future we, Humans, may become capable of literally creating artificial life that can mimic
biological Human life - And in many ways may be created to be superior to the existent Human.

I'll give you an imaginary, but at least possible, future where you will have the power to correct any mistakes made by Evolution.

Can you design a Human that is better suited for the future  Can you alter the internal death wish that drives Humanity to destructive
self and social tendencies to destroy his own kind - fix the evolutionary paradigm that will drive the Human species to extinction 

Maybe this new science is still beyond your imagination - But it is possible 

Is the Human species capable of evolving to a higher plane of existence either from altering internal biological flaws
or designing a 'New Humanoid' better than the old biological one 

[Someone here]

I don't think that evolution, in the simple, Darwinian/Dawkinsian sense, is either logical or predictable ("expected"). It is a random response to circumstances as they are. We tend to think of evolution as an intelligent agent, but it is not. Mutations happen, and their suitability for their world determines their survivability, in a more or less random manner. This is 'evolution'. Such a process cannot give rise, except by coincidence, to "logical and expected" results.

I think that when Science can do such things, it will be Sensible and Expected that we take the next step and create artificial Life forms that are more durable than what Evolution has provided. Not only for currently alive people to transfer to, but for all people that have ever lived and died to return to. This might be the great purpose of Science that we did not even realize.

[Someone here]

Why are we here? Why the human form, why this world, why this technological civilization? The world seems to sort of begin to "understand" itself through us, "reflect" on itself.

From the near-infinite of possibilities, why did we end up with this one? Is there something "special" going on here, if yes then what?

In my opinion that's the central question of philosophy. And those who think that there's something going on here that needs explanation, have come up with a million different answers throughout history. Trying to answer the mistery of our existence.

Most of these answers explain what's going on with us, humans. (And that didn't work so far, so there are alternatives where the answer is not directly about us humans, if at all. Maybe it's some machine we will create etc.)

So it was usually implicit that it's about all humans, or none. The universe must be benevolent and egalitarian, life must be something good, so whatever the answer is probably has to do with all of us. After all no one wants to be left behind.

Except that's probably wrong. One of the great dark turns of "truth-seeking" is the realization that such an answer probably only has to do with one human, or maybe with a few humans. The rest of humanity, the vast majority only paved the way, just like evolution before humans paved the way. But otherwise their existence is largely irrelevant here.

[Someone here]

Have you ever felt that everything you do and will do is meaningless? That no matter how great you are at something you will never be truly important, and that's when you are good at something, because most of the time you are just average. So why should we live if our existence has no importance, if it is not going to make any difference in the world? No big changes, you are just one more person like many others. 

Then again, while we rely on society to survive, our sense of self worth need have nothing whatsoever to do with our societal interactions or dynamics. Walk in nature - just be a living thing amongst other living things, drawing in the same air, absorbing the same solar radiation as part of this extraordinary edifice of life on Earth.

Rather than feeling pointless, you can feel glad and privileged to part of these extraordinary things - the body of humanity, the biosphere, the Earth, the solar system. You are ultimately a tiny part of the expression of each of these entities. The nice aspect of this is that, since you (like me) are apparently not especially good at anything or capable of making much of a needed contribution to the world, we can sit back and enjoy watching it unfold without undue pressure of responsibility. Personal and local level assistance rendered to others is always an option and often happens naturally through the usual interactions of life anyway.

Being a major influence, mover or shaker is only for the few. Many prefer, or at least settle for, a pleasant life that only includes little victories. The beauty is that one may be thoroughly mediocre - say, only gaining fame by twerking on reality TV - and still be one of the most complex and extraordinary things in the galaxy for trillions of kms, and still be part of this incredible evolving biosphere.

Enjoy the show

[Someone here]

Looking back at the more nihilistic periods of my life, I don't think that even then everything was meaningless. There was a high unbalance, perhaps, between what was not worth living for and the little rewards.

So you're deep down in a hole and what do you do? A Spanish philosopher said that once you find yourself lost, you have begun to find the way. Your mission is to climb up and leave the damn hole. The strength you gain in doing so will help you make the difference.

[Someone here]

A message to myself..

....

Humility is the first step beyond nihilism.

Ask yourself WHY you're asking this question in the first place. Ask yourself what you mean by "exist" and what "meaning" is?

After that it may be useful to think about what you imagine a good and bad future could be for you. Decide whether you want a good future or and bad future and then decide if you're willing to suffer and strive toward the good or simply lie back and surrender all responsibility.

You were born. You are here now. Go explore. Go find out what other people are out there, what other opinions people have, how far you can push yourself. Discover your limits and you'll discover "meaning".

[Someone here]

There is a great deal of discussion about the meaning of life as if that word "meaning" signifies something everybody understands. I can be useful to many people in different ways. I can be useful to a hamburger joint if I eat their hamburgers and I can be useful to a squirrel if I give it a peanut but does that satisfy my meaning in life? No matter how useful I prove to all sorts of creatures is my main purpose in being alive to serve squirrels? If not, then what determines my usefulness?

[Someone here]

Are we that sure that we exist, life comes from nothing as I see it, and letting the world come out from nothing is reasonably impossible and that makes us the same, impossible to exist or impossible to understand why we exist and then the reason to exist falls with that, as reachable knowledge. And if we exist so is that because we can do the impossible, and that is s a believe it a meaning in it self, if I can do the impossible then everything is possible when nothing is impossible instead of nothing is possible. And that may be the meaning of all, everything is possible!

[Someone here]

We exist because one evolutionary path led to us, led to the existence of what we call ourselves: humans/Homo sapiens sapiens. That's the simplest and most direct answer. Anything more would have to deal with the mechanisms of evolution or more specifically the elements/details of the evolutionary path that resulted with humans coming into existence. But then, is that really a philosophical question, or is it an evolutionary science question?

"Why do we exist?" is not a philosophical question!

[Someone here]

 The realization that life has no meaning can also be the most liberating experience you can have. You can decide yourself what you want to do with your life. Seeing everyone you meet and everything you do as an endless stream of opportunities makes life incredibly rewarding.

[Someone here]

Even though we haven't been born with a reason to exist, other than the fact that our parents and ancestors generally wished to further their genetic line, we can, on the other hand, each give our own life meaning by establishing our own personal reasons to make our lives meaningful or purposeful. The problem many seem to have with that is that you want there to be some grander reason for your existence, something beyond you, some transcendent reason, something that brings us in someway at least fractionally closer to godlike creatures rather than merely being the highest evolved animal on this planet where we live.

After the human species conjured up Gods to worship, it was the next logical step that we would then imagine that we have some distinct connect with those Gods or that God, and less of a connection with the natural world from which we came. This effort to place some extra meaning or significance to our existence is simply an effort to inch us more closer to the God side of a line that has godliness at one end and the natural world at the other. 

[Someone here]

Yup. We're here because we're better at it than than all the other species before us, and the things we create (artificial intelligence) will burn up the galaxy.


(We are the spark)

[Someone here]

We exist so that that existence can be conscious of itself.

Feeling meaninglessness is an emotion that everyone has experienced. Yet, there have been moments when you feel things are meaningful. Importance is subjective. Don't tell Donald Trump he has no importance. People who get stuck on this idea about meaningless keep living because the body forces it to do so, therefore, you might as well enjoy it. The "world" is your creation. You can make it as small or as big as you wish. Make it small like just you and a couple of your friends and close family members and you'll see you can make a difference. It makes no sense accepting the world stage if you can't be a player. You don't have to be in the NBA (or the world) to enjoy some basketball (or power play your friends.)

[Someone here]

Everything I do is meaningless and truly to my own amusement,i feel no reason to change the world whatsoever and truly don't care.I like myself just the way I am and i dont see that in any way shape or form connecting to my legacy,achievements or desires about changing the world

[Someone here]

There is no reason why we exist or do not exist. Existence itself is a thing of beauty and meaning and reason. We exist and the rest coexist with us and to be significant or valued in society is one value among many and that is not the end or meaning of living. I love life and when I see a flower in my garden or simply a blade of grass my soul leaps up. Or when a small baby smiles at me and to see the innocent smile, totally a natural one, as we adults smile artificially faking happiness, I feel happy. What I think is existence has little to do with being esteemed, commended and significant in society. It is more than all these things.

[Someone here]

I tend to talk to myself all day long more or less in a narrative way conversing with myself I guess. I'm never really sure what the hell is responding back to me. I've been told I am psychic and I am sure of that to a small extent.

Most people will roll their eyes and say sure... But though I cannot prove it I am certain there is something listening to me and occasionally responding. Call me schitzophrenic of whatever, I'm indifferent to that. It's gotten to an odd point where it's become an ordeal.

I am an anxious person by my own faults. Pretty much based on the topics I choose to look it. Regular **** loses my attention and more complex and frightening topics give me a sense of dread but I tend to go towards them. I think it's because of the absurd and scary nature of many topics.

War, god, life, human characteristics and the reasons for this world. Most of them are meaningless. They have no bearing on my life but I tend to be drawn towards that **** out of fascination and pure obsession. I can not really turn my brain off. It's a computer that keep processing **** all day long.
 

[Someone here]

Everyone is afraid of death. Dying is a terrifying thought to the individual, and it brings sadness to that individual's close ones. And there are many that become like 'vegetables' (technically speaking 'vegetative state') and live a terrible life before dying. Latter is more tragic than the former.


But I always felt like life is the real tragedy. We always struggle to keep our lives, maintain our bodies, keep our relationships, to be happy, etc. And we have to put a great effort to fulfill all these, yet at the end if we do not achieve what we expected we feel sad. However, death is not like that. It is a peaceful state in which you can stop all the running and struggling, and be calm and quite. So I feel like life as a tragedy and death as a gift. 

[Someone here]

Has space and time always been there? If so, will it one day come to an end? If not, where does this leave us with these two or one thing being eternal? What does it imply in all fields such as science, myth and religion? How useful can an eternal space-time be in helping us solve abstract questions as well as concrete ones?