The meaning of life

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Lets put this plainly. This discussion is for providing "The meaning of life" in the way you see it. And then allowing others to debate over your theory.

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@InkRune,

Solved.

Quote:

life (lf)
n. pl. lives (lvz)
1.
a. The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.
b. The characteristic state or condition of a living organism.
2. Living organisms considered as a group: plant life; marine life.
3. A living being, especially a person: an earthquake that claimed hundreds of lives.
4. The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence: the artistic life of a writer.
5.
a. The interval of time between birth and death: She led a good, long life.
b. The interval of time between one's birth and the present: has had hay fever all his life.
c. A particular segment of one's life: my adolescent life.
d. The period from an occurrence until death: elected for life; paralyzed for life.
e. Slang A sentence of imprisonment lasting till death.
6. The time for which something exists or functions: the useful life of a car.
7. A spiritual state regarded as a transcending of corporeal death.
8. An account of a person's life; a biography.
9. Human existence, relationships, or activity in general: real life; everyday life.
10.
a. A manner of living: led a hard life.
b. A specific, characteristic manner of existence. Used of inanimate objects: "Great institutions seem to have a life of their own, independent of those who run them" (New Republic).
c. The activities and interests of a particular area or realm: musical life in New York.
11.
a. A source of vitality; an animating force: She's the life of the show.
b. Liveliness or vitality; animation: a face that is full of life.
12.
a. Something that actually exists regarded as a subject for an artist: painted from life.
b. Actual environment or reality; nature.

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@Calamity Dal,

Yup. That's the meaning all right.

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Ah. Some wonderful sarcasm. By the people who do not take life for the serious game it is.

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@InkRune,

Oh I could never take a life

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@Calamity Dal,

Calamity Dal wrote:

Oh I could never take a life

...nor consider it a "serious game"?

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@InkRune,

Ink the meaning of life is popcorn on Friday, three bottles of The Brew Tuesday afternoon, an occasional visit by the offspring and grandkids

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'Excellent' replies, but sadly missing the point. I am lookig for what you think the meaning of life is, not 'A reason to continue living'.
In other words: Why, and for what purpose are we (humans in general) alive? Do we even have a reason? But why else would we be so superior to all other creatures in the sense of intelligence?

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@InkRune,

The notion that we are "superior to all other creatures in the sense of intelligence" is just part of the colossal egotism of our puny human minds. We think we're superior. But I have this uncomfortable feeling that my cat thinks that he and his species are waayy superior in intelligence to those dumb two-legged creatures that feed them. Our feelings in this matter constitute a classic case of unreasonable hubris . Why in the world should our existence have any more "meaning" than the existence of, say, cockroaches? We are all part of the same eco-system.

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@InkRune,

Quote:

I am lookig for what you think the meaning of life is, not 'A reason to continue living'

The meaning itself is ineluctable as we don't yet even have the vocabulary to express it. Doubtless it's in some concrete/abstract concept expressing that "things are the way they are because that's the way they have to be," But taking exception to Andy above, intuitively some of us see something "special" about the humanoid because without us the Whole Shebang is a totally meaningless exercise

How the "specialness" of the humanoid evolves however I don't have the slightest notion; since admittedly I can't see how we've had much that importance to the Big Picture

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Important perhaps,in the fact that we are slowly annihilating all life on earth. Just a small impact...

And to further this discussion, what do you think the 'Big picture' is?

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@InkRune,

Quote:

what do you think the 'Big picture' is?

Who, Ink, me
I see it as all, the Whole Shebang

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@InkRune,

InkRune wrote:

And to further this discussion, what do you think the 'Big picture' is?

You mean, like, on my 25-inch wall console? Colors are good, resolution excellent.

Are you capable of a conversation without time-worn cliches?

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@InkRune,

Quote:

we are slowly annihilating all life on earth

Yea Ink, inevitably. Recent discoveries suggesting there may be more planets than stars prompting the old q, "Why haven't we heard from any of 'em" answered in perfect seriousness that about the time a civilization becomes capable of interplanetary communication is about the same juncture at which it destroys itself through nuclear weaponry

….and/or overpop, disease, starvation

1 Reply

@InkRune,

I'm sorry Ink, but I just can't think in terms of THE meaning of life. I am aware only of meanings that I and my fellow humans construct and attribute to different experiences, events, situations, phenomena, etc. etc.

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

Or, as the joke goes, The greatest sign of extraterrestrial life is that they have not tried to contact us.

And just to add a random filler,
What if the supposed alien civilizations are in fact lesser than us in intelligence and technology? The generic theory almost always suggests beings of higher power, but this might not be true.

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@InkRune,

Quote:

Or, as the joke goes, The greatest sign of extraterrestrial life is that they have not tried to contact us.

Still again Ink, made my day

Quote:

What if the supposed alien civilizations are in fact lesser than us in intelligence and technology?

We'd be pretty snooty to assume we're the smartest. Probably other planets are randomly in varied stages but the number is so huge that even an infinitesimal chance of intelligence represents almost certainty

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I agree completely.

And thanks, a joke here and there is my style.

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@InkRune,

Quote:

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. . . .
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 1 28,31

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@JLNobody,

Quote:

only of meanings that I and my fellow humans construct and attribute to different experiences, events, situations, phenomena, etc. etc.

Alas true JL, problem being our vocabulary so anthropocentric

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The meaning of life

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