h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK
so we all die.......
and then what?

Any evidence of what happens next?

I dont see that awareness has anything to do with it, Life is Life...Isn't it? Thats entirely the point of my entry, we overlook lifeforms because we have a superiority complex to, but in the end life is defined the same way, they have it, as do we. If life has a meaning, it has one for them too.

Otherwise the question should be, what is the meaning of consciousness?

holy crap!! a lot's been happening in my absence!!

peteY's gotta get in on this!!

to Hypnotoad:
1. kick a$$ name, dude!!
2. somebody whose posts rival mine in length and rambling

to hasselfree:
1. are you human? you talk like some superhuman being who is thinking on a higher plane.
that's a compliment, btw
2. there are 3 creatures on this planet which have awareness?
YOU MUST BE TALKING ABOUT YOU, ME, AND AMANDA, RIGHT?


to amanda:
1. hope you're still feeling manic

2. i totally dig your comment about the meaning of life = death, maybe...
i hadn't thought of that, really
peteY gives you

and, SHAME ON YOU, gaffer, for wanting to use a pencil to crush amanda's fingers
open-mindedness is the foundation to these discussions.

peteY out!

Ok
Let me try to explain the awareness thing with stupid metaphors

Take billiard ball. Hit it with a cue.
Cause and effect determines where the billiard ball will go.
The ball is unaware, it can make no decisions.

Take a human and hit it with life.
It can either cause and effect it and go like the ball OR it can use it's wareness to IMAGINE various different scenerios which can CHANGE cause and effect.
Awareness projects/predicts the future.
Awareness allows us to CHOOSE which of these futures we will travel along.
UNLESS we actually believe we have no choices.

billiard ball...cue...sure...

i'm not sure if i believe in free will.
after what you told me about illusions and life, i think that we can be considered to have free will.
another viewpoint is that we are "travelling" along a spacetime terrain [4-dimensional] that is set. it just exists and we "travel" "along" it. we are able to move in any direction in 3-D space, but are constrained in our travel thru the time dimension.

thoughts

You said previously that only three creatures had awareness. But by this surely you actually mean SELF-awareness. because different levels of life have different levels of awareness, and who is truly fit to judge which level of awareness is the one at which life begins. all life is life you cant divide it up on the basis of decision making, because many animals make decisions. We dont have to be talking earth shattering consequences just one simple decision. The point is, LIFE no matter how simple is LIFE(man i am tired of repeating myself plus ive been up all night so im not at my best here its 630am). The question was what was the meaning of life. life is NOT defined as the capacity of decision making, nor is it defined as self awareness. therefore life Does in fact contain all the amoebas and bacterium and all the animals that you would like to simply gloss over, Tell me, if a dog was sitting in the sun, was too hot, so it got up and walked into the shade, would this not be decision making and therefore awareness. what about a plant that turns its leaves to follow the sun through the sky, or even the venus flytraps ability to "decide" when to close on prey surely this takes some minor level of awareness, no matter how small the level. It isnt about thinking we dont have choices, actually i thought my theory left a large proportion of our lives rather open for suggestions. I think we spend far too much time looking for something grander when perhaps we should be looking for something simpler. I apologise if this makes little to no sense but i am due to faint from tiredness at any moment. I'll re-read this post when ive had some sleep and perhaps take you up on it later.

Sorry - I wasn't really serious. I would never do that to someone, it REALLY hurts. Personally I don't think there really is a meaning of life, the universe or anything. I've thought about it a lot and, while any belief anyone comes up with has just as much chance of being right/wrong as any other (including mine), I've found I feel most comfortable with the idea that the universe just exists and always has done, with no beginning, end or creator.

But that idea of humans being the only truly conscious life form is one that really has always got to me - it's the most conceited thing I've ever heard. We assume other animals on this planet have no real understanding of the world around them in the same way we do because it makes it easier to murder/brutalise/eat and ignore them which are things we have to do in order to maintain the lifestyle we have created for ourselves. If we're going to maintain our own survival and well-being at the cost of theirs, we should at least face up to the cruelty of it.

This is getting exciting now.

I am so excited, I can't remember what I was going to put.

I will be back.

Amanda out.

SusY says hello to everybody!
she's not a member of this site b/c she doesn't have internet access at home and, she, unlike me, does not have hours of free time at work to ponder all this stuff
but, she's read some of our conversations and totally digs 'em

i'm sure you all would totally dig her ideas and everything

she's be kinda like another "hasselfree" in on the conversations

btw, amanda, she things picard is super sexy , too

SusY is my new best friend.
No offence intended to anyone else.
Patrick Rocks.

Eww

who here thinks Arnold Schwarzenegger is 10-times as manly as patrick stewart?

SCHWARZENEGGER is bad-a$$

i know he makes Amanda . but, i still dig her.

how about you, Gaffer? think arnold blows away picard?

In a fight Arnie would snap that gangly old fart in half like a dry twig. Praise be to the mighty Conan!

Oh my god Pete, NOW I AM MAD.
There is no need for slander/deformation of character.
We have accepted gaffer into our fold and look what s/he does, somebody stop me!

He is not Gandy, he is 62 but looks better than a lot of guys half his age, and he is one of the best actors to have come out of the UK.

I am going off to calm down.

peteY, look out for me.

Kidding, I was just kidding!! Geeze, why don't you and Mr Stewart get a ROOM, for God's sake!
Seriously though, imagine those two in a fight. Formidable actor of stage and screen he may be, but against that monstrous mound of musclebound magnificence? Hoo-eee! I'd pay to see that!

ok, amanda, i'll stick up for ya even though i think schwarzenegger rules.

"gandy"? i don't know that term.

anywho, i don't really see it myself, but i can imagine how women would get weak in the knees from patrick stewart.
and, arnie, for unclear reasons, is much more popular with guys than with girls
which brings me to this next question. Gaffer, are you a guy?
are you totally looking forward to t-3 like i am?

ok, i think Amanda's gone off to bed .
i'm about to head out now, too.

but, one last comment:

ANYBODY WHO BAD-MOUTHS AMANDA OR MAKES FUN OF HER IN ANY WAY HAS TO ANSWER TO *ME*, DAMMIT!!!!!

PETEY ADORES AMANDA !!!!!

PeteY out for the day!

He is in the States and Married, otherwise I would have already asked him. ! ok?

I'm a MAAAN, man. And "gangly" just means skinny, I guess. Not sure how good T3's gonna be, but I'm still looking forward to it - maybe there'll be some new kind of terminator, played by Patrick Stewart, with lasers for arms and a huge duel between him and Arnie at the end, with jet packs and rocket platforms! That would be great!