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

Kick it, James, I´ve been through all the knowledge of what will be at the end of the universe! I prefer to have the party now (or the social campaign to help people have a good (or better (or at least not half as bad)) life. If you want to discuss knowledge of anything there is to come you better consult the precognition fraction and noone in favor of nihilism

If Jesus was a nihilist, he at least got it right. Nihilism, like any philosophy, should begin with oneself.

I could be considered a nihilist, maybe, but I think I am better defined as an existentialist. I accept that any religion could be right or wrong. I am aware that this is a flawed philosophy, but the reasoning is simple. Prove to me that any religion is right. You can't. If God exsists, it is not tangible or knowable to the level of any kind of proof. This may offend some, but the bible could, after all, simply be a book. Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, and other such tales could just have been written to show one's opinion that obediance is a virtue and the little guy wins sometimes, not a history of Earth.

Phobos says that Newton and Darwin killed this hypothetical God. How so? Newton told us some of the most fundamental principles of how the universe functions, and he has been proved right time and time again. Darwin gave his theory of evolution, and there is fossil evidence greatly promoting it. Darwin was and is not the murderer of God; the only thing he did was choose to think that humans came from years and years of a natural, tangible, thesable, and all but proven process, rather than choose to think humans live because a magic man in the sky wiggled his fingers and wished it so.

But then again, the magic man in the sky theory could be right.

Frankly, evolutionists, nihilists, and many groups that don't accept mainstream religion are greatly discriminated against. It is true that there have been people from these groups that have been killers and villians, but there is no shortage of the religious who have done the same.

Lastly, a lack of religion dosen't mean one is devoid of morals. I belive Steinbeck said it best when he wrote "There ain't no sin, and there ain't no virtue. Just things that folk do that's nice, and some things folk do that ain't so nice, and that's all anybody has the right to say."

... and once you pass level 80 or so, it's Game Over and all that's left, MyRedDice, is your initials and a score for the next players to glance at before they start. I can't accept that view of life, and neither can you, I think. It's a great philosophy for someone who wants to divorce him- or herself from accountability -- to God, to society, and even to self. If, on the other hand, you want hope and (gasp!) conviction in something, please read the gospel and first letter of John. Or, if you want a real brain and heart challenge, try reading Romans. Then you might just see from Whom real conviction comes.

"Whoever loves dicipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates correction is stupid."
-- Proverbs 12:1

> "all that's left is your initials and a score for the next players to glance at before they start"

Well, I'm hope for my life's work to amount to slightly more than three letters and a score, but the analogy is correct, of course.

> "I can't accept that view of life"

Curiosity :- Why not?

> "and neither can you, I think."

You think wrong, then. Already have, though my views on its truth fluctuate wildly.

> accountability

Well, I'm not accountable to God, since I don't believe He exists. I don't expect your accountable to Goddess, either, so we'll call that quits, ok?
Naturally I'm accountable to society - so is everyone - that's what jails are for. Life's a game, and I don't intend to waste precious turns rotting away in some cell. Are you accountable to society? If society instituted state hinduism in your country, what would you do? Naturally I'm accountable to my self. My selves are very much against killing, and since Life's a Game, what possible reason would I have to go against that? Are you accountable to your self? If your God told you to kill your son, would you let your own morality get in the way?

> request to read the bible

Been there, done that. That's what stopped me being Christian in the first place.

"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that
increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow."
-- Ecclesiastes 1:18

Big laugh, isn't it? But there's one small thing to notice: The reply has NOT been written by god.

Sorry, my posting is a little bit out of context. I was replying to the joke 'god is dead, Nietzsche. Nietzsche is dead, god'.

Isn't believing in nothing a belief in its self,so how can anyone be a true nihilist

i was just thinking the same thing.
jibbly

Not believing is not the same as believing. Just notice the *not*.

I am not believing in pink elephants. That doesn't make me a believer in the-nonexistence-of-pink-elephants. It's just that I observe that all people who believe in pink elephants believe in something that doesn't exist. Do I have to be a special person to think so? No, those people who believe in pink elephants are special persons, not me. Special in the way that they believe in something which obviously isn't there.

It all boils down to the question whether "god" is there or not. Easy as it seems, it is not, as we first have to decide on which god to take of the hunderts to thousands mankind believes in. Let's for example take Donar, which was the old European's god of thunder (German word Donner) and namegiver to the day thursday. I do not believe in this god, do you? I think thunder comes from electric discharging. If you do as well, as I assume, then we two are non-believers in Donar the god of thunder, so to say a-donar-ists.

Do I need to go on?

wonko- i get what you're saying. but off the current train of thought...

although i am not a nihilist, i do agree with what someone once told me..."the only truly defendable stance is nihilism, its beliefs lie in nothing and therefore need or warrant any explanations. its an air-tight philosophy. and, if anyone disagrees, a nihilist has nothing to defend, hence it is air-tight."

very interesting to me, tautalogical almost.

however, as to picking a "god", i would say that most rational people in today's society would agree that regardless of the name: Allah, God, Buddha(though not god by the religion's definition of Buddha), etc. All present religions (minus satanism) worship the same "entity" for lack of a better word.

Jibbly

good discussion...

i think nihilism has been advocated wrongly as a negative mental state. it is not so i feel. i may be wrong.

the realisation that no philosophy works forever, is true nihilism.

as Osho has said, it is a journey from knowledge to innocence.