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

The meaning of life is a statistical probability.
Hmm. It seems *that* subject's over. Anyone got anything new? Or are we going to go back to ganging up on SolelySuffering?

There is no meaning of life because life is jsut another things. Another quirk of the universe. A side effect. Am *insignificant* side effect...

No, our subjects over... what to talk about... SS can think of something I'm sure... hmm...

I can think of something.

What is the meaning of searching for the meaning of life?

How about "What is life"? or have we (you) discussed it before?

yes. I think so.

its just probability, random chance, natural occurences.
and other stuff.



Scientist peoples always are like "its a good things this planet is just right for us" or the like... well duh, if it wasn't we wouldn't be here

Oh and life is something that lives, intakes, extakes<?>, reproduces, and the other "processes" of living things. and has cells or a cell.
we learned that in 5th grade science, I remember it

Oh, this stuff about probability and random chance, etc. is right but sometimes seems vague and useless in real situations. You may know and accept these concepts and still this will not make life more meaningful.

Realizing how futile it is to make judgements and look for the moral (as there is no universally valid definition and as someone said, everything we exeprience is a model of our mind) I want some side opinion.

We have head of a family, tired and exhausted with his family life. He isn't fond anymore of his wife and recognizes they share nothing in common, and he feels bored. Children are OK but they can't fill this empty gap.
Then this guy meets his soul mate and abandons the past. He is happy, no remorses, no load of duty, obligation, etc. is on his shoulders. He leaves his family and marries his beloved.

The family nearly falls apart. The wife who still loves this infidele charmer, gets depressed and leaves her children on their own.

The children have strong characters and manage to come out of adolesecence intact but they learn the lesson that their father hasn't honored his family duty and that duty is a key value. It is not that they hate but they do not trust their father.

Time goes by and years later the children are married, the father has younger son from his second wife. And it turns up that no one hates anyone anymore. The wife has forgiven, the children are proud of their Dad, they see each other regularly and chat happily.

So, though the father was selfish, all his duty was ****, he caused suffering, after all, all ended OK.
What would have happened if he had remained head of a false small family unit and has followed his duty instead of his heart? Actually, is there any solution of this conflict?

And finally, the children have made a promise they would do everything in the name of a happy marriage (if there is a such thing). Now, one of the children, head of a family, is facing the same choice but this time it is even more difficult coz he/she knows how they have suffered in the past.
Of course, any decision will turn wrong in the long run as this is the life and that's how things happen.
The point is how meaningful it is to follow your heart, i.e. your Ego against conforming with the needs of those around you who love you but give you no thrill at all.
Society is out of the context in this case.

hi milk chocolate!

I'm personally all for following one's heart whilst behaving as responsibly as possible. Thing is, whoever said life was supposed to be a bed of roses? We often end up learning more from traumatic events than happy ones as these challenge us more.

In the case of this family, as you say, everyone came out well in the end. Perhaps a bit wiser. If the man had stayed with his family for 'their sake' things may have turned out much worse. At least he knew what he wanted and needed. And although his wife and children suffered for awhile, in the end they became stronger and overcame their difficulties.

It's a hard call. Nobody ever really knows how their actions are going to affect others. What in the short term looks quite bad may end up for the best in the long term. And vice versa. And so, this is why I think that following one's heart is a good personal guide. I think that people who are living lives true to themselves are able to give society much more than if they live by some sense of social duty that is not in step with their character, needs and desires.

az

Everyone's an extension of your ego. They come to represent symbols from your ego in your mind; they can influence symbols in your mind, and you can influence them and their symbols. Reality is a metaphor, and whoever controls our metaphors controls us. "The limit of my language is the limit of my knowledge" - Wittgenstein.

Reality is a metaphor? Care to explain that?

To expand the question - if reality is a metaphor, what's it a metaphor for?

Noggin

The meaning? well it depends....If you're a grain of mineral you might go through thousand of years and turn into a rock like a diamond or turn into lava.

If you are a bird well you are born, you fly, you sing, you reproduce and you die.

If you're a human....your almost like the bird but you get to do more things....like write a book or ride a bike or wear silly costumes. So I guess it's up to you what you do and believe during your lifetime.

You can even sit around and ponder for hours about the meaning while you could be doing more fun things

Hey, this *is* fun - isn't it?
It's a metaphor because we see it as a metaphor/symbol - and it is a metaphor/symbol for itself. Satisfied?

LIFE.....DON`T TALK TO ME ABOUT LIFE......all the diodes down my left side are aching again.....brain the size of a planet... 8^D
Marvin
alias Amigo harhar

something billion years late3r they're still acheing.. hmm...

Well, that was random...

it was, at the end of the universe Marvin's diodes are still aching.

Yes, I know, but...
Anything we can talk about? H2G2 is slower than a lame turtle today.

Sure.


Something about education. I do't know why. You elaborate.

Okay.
Education.
Hmm.
Strictly speaking, my current worldview doesn't allow any education because it is inevitable biased, and pushes pupils and students either away or toward their teacher's views.
Anyone disagree/agree?