What is the Purpose of Life ?

[sethoflagos]

18 hours ago, M.Ross said:

... Cosmically we are insignificant...

I once held this view, and to a certain extent it served a purpose. But in recent years I've come to think differently.

Whatever else it does, life appears to be an extremely efficient way of producing novel structures from simpler lower entropy resources. And not just by the evolutionary process of 'faulty' self-replication, but also in the reshaping of local environments, and now exponentially so in the products of our technologies.

As agents of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, life processes appear capable of converting homogeneity to diversity many orders of magnitude more effectively than non-biological processes. And while the 2nd Law does not consciously create each new biological structure (obviously), it spontaneously redistributes energy flows away from preexisting pathways and into any new outlets made available to it, and hence actively favours and fuels evolutionary divergence. 

The 2nd Law favours us because we provide it with new avenues to explore, and has provided us with a broad array of individual drives and preferences to maximise the production of those new horizons. So ...

16 hours ago, mistermack said:

So basically, if you want life to have a meaning, you have to invent one. 

... existentialism appears to be strongly encouraged by the 2nd Law. Even if it can seem a little scary at times.

[MyCall]

What exactly do you mean? 

Do you want to know the purpose of YOUR life ? 

If so; only you will have that answer.

Do you want to know the purpose of life in general, of all that lives and exists?

Religious answer : The purpose of life is to serve the god or gods that you have chosen.

Scientific answer: Life has NO purpose.

[dimreepr]

On 9/10/2022 at 10:51 PM, MyCall said:

What exactly do you mean? 

Do you want to know the purpose of YOUR life ? 

If so; only you will have that answer.

Do you want to know the purpose of life in general, of all that lives and exists?

Religious answer : The purpose of life is to serve the god or gods that you have chosen.

Scientific answer: Life has NO purpose.

If you read the thread first, you'll find it's your answer that has no purpose... 😉 

[naitche]

What is the purpose of Life?

 

Is always  subjective to the reality/perspective given.

So Objectively, the purpose it serves  looks to increase and enhance the values and estates expressed .

Its dimensions connected and altered  through familiarity, recognition and response, increasing its states and manifestations through relationship. Ie: increasing subjectivity, or subject matter/states of reality recognized and 'assumed' in connections forged.

[Intoscience]

On 6/24/2022 at 11:54 AM, M.Ross said:

Cosmically we are insignificant. In our small family groups and by ourselves, we find meaning in many things.

Also religion, spirituality or lack thereof play a part. If you don't believe in anything after death, there is little meaning to living other than the continuation of the species (o your family line)

In terms of sheer vastness and size we may well be insignificant. On the other hand we could be the most significant thing in the universe. Depends on your point of view and how common or rare, or relatively complex we are (we in the sense of conscious life, especially deep thinking technological life).

You said yourself "we find meaning in many things" then you said "there is little meaning to living" again depends on your point of view. There maybe no meaning at all, in that the universe may not require meaning to operate and that meaning is nothing more than an applied human condition. 

[dimreepr]

7 hours ago, naitche said:

Is always  subjective to the reality/perspective given.

1 hour ago, Intoscience said:

In terms of sheer vastness and size we may well be insignificant. On the other hand we could be the most significant thing in the universe. Depends on your point of view and how common or rare, or relatively complex we are (we in the sense of conscious life, especially deep thinking technological life).

The total perspective vortex

Quote

 The machine was originally created by its inventor Trin Tragula as a way to get back at his wife. She was always telling him to get a "sense of proportion," so he showed her the Vortex. Tragula was horrified to learn he had destroyed her mind, even as he proved his point that if life was going to live in such a vast Universe, one thing it could not afford to have was a sense of perspective.

Drink a pan galactic gargle blaster and relax in the many rehabilitation centres...😉

[StringJunky]

On 10/27/2022 at 1:20 PM, dimreepr said:

The total perspective vortex

Drink a pan galactic gargle blaster and relax in the many rehabilitation centres...😉

It's cool stuff.  I'm tops with Zaphon.

Edited October 28, 2022 by StringJunky

[𝓔𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵]

To help this world become a better place through fulfilling your own path.

[dimreepr]

1 hour ago, 𝓔𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵 said:

To help this world become a better place through fulfilling your own path.

What if your plan is to walk into a school and kill as many people as possible? 

[𝓔𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵]

1 minute ago, dimreepr said:

What if your plan is to walk into a school and kill as many people as possible? 

Ah, well. That is certainly an unethical decision. It goes against many ethical theories. Certainly, a path of darkness is not the path I was referring to.

[dimreepr]

9 minutes ago, 𝓔𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵 said:

Ah, well. That is certainly an unethical decision. It goes against many ethical theories. Certainly, a path of darkness is not the path I was referring to.

All paths are subject to yin-yang; a dark path may lead to light...

[Moontanman]

The purpose of life is obvious, to reproduce and create more life. 

[iNow]

[𝓔𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓮𝓵]

On 1/23/2023 at 2:58 PM, dimreepr said:

All paths are subject to yin-yang; a dark path may lead to light...

That is true...two paradoxical opposites may lead to a unison...

[Pepe]

The real question could be: "What can motivate a soul to get associated with a human body?"

I can see 2 reasons:

- The brain represents only 2% of our weight but uses 20% of our energy. That should make anybody suspicious.

- If we don't use our 100 billion neurons during the day, we must use them at night.

To solve a problem is to become conscious of its solution. It helps to "sleep on it". We wake up the next day with an increase of consciousness that helps us solve the problem.

The purpose of our life could be to use our 100 billion neurons, at night, to process the energy sent to the brain and generate an increase of consciousness.

More details at my homepage, which I should put in my signature and not make threads about, which is against the rules.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Phi for All
No advertising, please.

[Bufofrog]

2 hours ago, Pepe said:

The real question could be: "What can motivate a soul to get associated with a human body?"

I can see 2 reasons:

The first thing I would like to know is what is a soul?  Can a human body be alive without a soul?  Are there lots of souls waiting for bodies?  When does a soul enter a body?  Can a soul enter more than one body over the lifetime of a soul?  Where do souls hang out when they are not in bodies?  Do souls associate with nonhuman bodies?

[dimreepr]

13 hours ago, Bufofrog said:

The first thing I would like to know is what is a soul?

I think of it as macro scale DNA (the self, the essence of me), constantly being damaged by almost everything, including oneself (@Pepe).

[Genady]

21 minutes ago, dimreepr said:

macro scale DNA

Macro scale acid? What does it mean?

[dimreepr]

5 minutes ago, Genady said:

Macro scale acid? What does it mean?

Sometimes, a metaphor shouldn't be taken literally. 😉

Edited April 8, 2023 by dimreepr

[Genady]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:32 AM, dimreepr said:

Sometimes, a metaphor shouldn't be taken literally. 😉

How can I know what is a metaphorical DNA?

[dimreepr]

15 minutes ago, Genady said:

How can I know what is a metaphorical DNA?

A dictionary is useful, sometimes...

[Genady]

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

A dictionary is useful, sometimes...

OK, next time. When the object is something more interesting than soul. DNA, for example.

[TheVat]

On 4/7/2023 at 3:24 PM, Bufofrog said:

Where do souls hang out when they are not in bodies? 

Down in Costa del Soul.

[dimreepr]

22 hours ago, Genady said:

OK, next time. When the object is something more interesting than soul. DNA, for example.

There's nothing more interesting than the soul, whatever word you choose to describe it.

There's nothing more valuable than the soul; yet everyday we choose to ignore it and damage it, because we think money/status is more valuable, than being content.

Edited April 10, 2023 by dimreepr

[Genady]

2 minutes ago, dimreepr said:

There's nothing more interesting than the soul, whatever word you choose to describe it.

There's nothing more valuable than the soul; yet everyday we choose to ignore it and damage it, because we think money/status has value.

It is a very narrow view.