Do you realize that there is really no point to exist?

Question

Yea - sure, you live for your family, friends, to enjoy life, etc. But in the long run, there really is no point. We simply die, rot, and that's it.

HAPPYKID: I SAID, IN THE LONG RUN.

damn it people, I said IN THE LONG RUN. Yes, our existence now has meaning for our current generation and maybe the next. But eventually this planet will decease to exist, and that takes away all the meaning of everything that has ever happened (because none of us nor our future generations will exist.) It will be as if nothing has ever happened.

Happykid: Again, you don't like to pay attention. In the long run equates to millions of years. In millions of years neither we nor our grand grand grandchildren will exist. Chances are (and they are damn high) that this planet will decease to exist before we figure out how to get out of it. Thus, we will all be annihilated out of existence, and as far as space and time is concerned, it's as if we never existed. So, now, what is the significance of existing in the long run?

Happykid: Chances of us getting out of this planet before the sun runs out of hydrogen are minute. And in any case, with the way things are going today - it might be very possible that we ourselves wipe ourselves out of existence (nuclear warfare). In any case, somewhere down the line of existence we would either be wiped out by one of nature's forces, or we would wipe ourselves out. Whether it takes a million or a billion years is irrelevant. The point is that it's inevitably going to happen sometimes down the line. And then, where is the meaning, mrs. happy kid?

Happykid: For the fourth time, you fail to realize something simple. Yes, we can theoratically speaking get out of this planet before the sun runs out of hydrogen gas. First off, the chances of that happening are improbable to begin with. But suppose it happens. SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME, down the line...whether it's a milloin years, a billion years ahead, or 20 billion years from now - we WILL all get wiped out. EVENTUALLY!

And then where is the meaning of existence, for those people and for all the persons who lived before them?

I am saying that whether we affect the future generations or not is completely IRRELEVANT. Humanity is BOUND to be annihilated at some point in existence!!!!! It can be a trillion years from now, but it WILL happen. That's what you fail to recognize.

(and by the way, I'm being silly giving big numbers like that. Just in the span of the past 2 thousand years we have seen so much destruction, and built nuclear weapons that can wipe us all out. Perhaps in another two thousand years they will produce some button that only one person has to press to destroy the entire planet. Who knows?)

Happykid: You may choose to think like that. You are the type of person that would say "I should go to school because there is the chance that I may become the next Bill Gates." True, theoretically speaking there is a 0.0000001% chance, but you are willing to live by that statistic. So be it!

I am a realist...I don't like to delude myself.

HAPPYKID: YOU ARE DELUDING YOURSELF INTO BELIEVING YOU WILL BECOME THE NEXT BILL GATES AND YOU ARE STICKING SOME MEANING TO IT. AGAIN, NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE PROBABILITY OF THAT HAPPENING ARE SO SMALL THAT I FEEL SILLY HAVING TO MENTION IT.

Answer 1

Ok, so what's your point? Should we just kill ourselves now and save the trouble or enjoy what little time we are lucky enough to have? I think I will go with the latter.

Answer 2

Look at all creation. The earth, the stars, the sun. The life on this planet, the trees, insects, animals, marine life, plant life, humans, and the distinct and obvious intelligence that went into each and every creation of every creature, plant, star, planet. Look at the complexities of the human body, the eye, the organs, reproduction. Look at how animals live in their specific environments. Look at the intelligence of the earth itself and how it is a self sufficient bio-sphere that supports all this life. Ask yourself, where did all of this come from?? Can you not SEE the intelligence of all this creation? Can you not SEE that all this came from somewhere, and was not just an accident. All of this could not have come from just some comet that crashed on earth and let loose some microbes that evolved into millions of different species. Otherwise, there would be life on all the other planets where comets have crashed! Think, pray, and see that there really is a God. And then, open a Bible and read Genesis and learn the truth to our existance. I pray you will know God and your purpose for life on earth.

Answer 3

We all have a purpose. Let me put it this way.

Imagine you are walking along and some kid says, Sir, can I have some water?

You say Why yes and give him some.

She was so thirsty she thanks you and leaves.

She comes to someone who says Please, may I have some of that water?

She, being so grateful to you, gives that person some water.

That person in turn gives water to another thirsty person.

Soon by that one simple gesture people are receiving water...like a rippling effect.

Or something more major.

Say one starts to make blankets for the poor and soon it spreads and thousands of blankets by volunteers are being made and thousands of lives are being changed and those lives some day will be changed.

Further a child is drowning. You do CPR and save the life. But the parents of that child are so grateful and their family so happy that your story of how you saved the child is passed on from generation to generation.

Basically what we do, whether negative or positive ultimately effects everyone.

If I say, Why sir you are very handsome. That sir will pry feel good and compliment someoen else who then will uplift another. and on and on

But if I say, You are a fat ugly pig! That person will get angry and possibly hurt me or take it out on himself or someone else and then that other will get hurt and hrut someone else

Answer 4

You have clearly never had Coldstone ice cream on a hot summer day. Or stood on top of a mountain, above the clouds, to witness a sunrise. Or snorkeled over a coral reef, teeming with life. Or had a really fantastically good dinner with good company. Or danced with a beautiful woman.

There's a whole lot of points to life. If you keep focusing on what happens after the end, you'll miss all the good stuff in between.

Answer 5

I'm sorry that all you're going to do is live, die and rot, and that's all you aspire to be.

Me on the other hand. That's not happening. I'll leave my mark, and already have. I have left a lasting impression on the next generation that will help to shape them, and in doing so a part of me will always live on. My life has purpose and meaning. It isn't, and won't be wasted. I plan on treasuring every day I have and making for certain that I touch the hearts of those I come in contact with, and hopefully give them a piece of me to carry on with them.

Answer 6

The "point" you seek would seem to be some sort of validation that your deeds were significant, that your thoughts mattered enough to be recorded somewhere and acknowledged by the universe itself. But it doesn't work that way. The ability to remember, to think about oneself and to reason abstractly are survival traits, not just for individuals but for the species.

And it is all about the species, not you or me. The human species can survive without us, but we would not have been possible without the species. Our thoughts, acts and descendants can help the species survive, sometimes directly through invention, revolution, adaptation or somesuch, sometimes indirectly through the living of an ordered, conventional life. The "point" is helping US continue, not me.

Answer 7

[story mode activated]
A woman walk into a hospital 8 months pregnant.
She is asking to give birth early.
When i asked her why she said we are running out of time.
Two hours after the baby is born she rushes out of the hospital with her baby.
Somewhere out there, there a man is dying with a tumor.
The tumor is so serious he could have given up a long time ago.
Many times the question comes up why do we exist? What is the point?
Maybe its not WHY we exist, but who we exist for.
The man was able to hold the baby before he dies

Answer 8

Your mistake is to assume that because there is no form of eternal life, existence is meaningless.

The meaning of anyone's life is located in what is done HERE and NOW. That is the only long run any being has.

Answer 9

So there was no point to Albert Einstein's life? What about Ghandi's? He is responsible for a free India you know.

Edit: Longer than humanity? Because actions people took hundreds of thousands of years ago still affect us today. Actions we take today can affect the whole Earth, and all who dwell on it for who knows how long? How long of a run are you talking about? In this day and age we even have the power to affect evolution through concious choice.

Edit 2: How do you know we won't figure out how to go to other solar systems, and live on those planets, and evolve there as well? It's a possiblity. We could end up affecting the whole universe in some way.

Edit 3: If we end up making choices that in any way affect the evolution of our species or other species, and then these species are sent to live on other planets at some point before our own planet explodes, they will evolve there, and possibly on other planets as well, for millions of years, and who knows what those beings will decide to do. Choices we make now can affect evolution millions of years from now, even after our planet is gone.

Edit 4: So you're saying that the possibility that we won't affect something millions of years from now in another solar system (even though who knows, we could have already somehow) means life is definitely meaningless in the long run? How can you possibly know when we can't begin to comprehend the consequences of our actions in the long run?

Edit 5: You can't possibly know that if we end up or cause another species to end up on another planet somewhere that those species won't end up on another planet somewhere and evolve there and that the cycle won't continue. It's possible. And that possibility makes our actions today relevent in the long run.

You say it's improbable we end up in another solar system. Well perhaps the way someone decides to raise their child could determine if they will reach their full potential to possibly be the person that will grow up and take us to that point. How can you know?

We can't possible know ALL the consequences of our actions in the long run. I understand perfectly what you are saying, and have the whole time, I simply disagree with your statement and have given you reasons why.

Edit 2,004,345: All it takes is us affecting evolution on another planet. From there those species (or our own, more evolved one) could theoretically hop from planet to planet. We have the knowledge to estimate when our sun will explode and no longer be able to support life here, so why couldn't we in the future?
How do you know time and evolution won't continue forever, and that our actions won't set something different in motion now?

Edit 3 million: The possibility of me being the next Bill Gates gives meaning. The POSSIBILITY of us affecting evolution gives meaning. Because it means our choices mean something, even if not what we thought.

If I go to school hoping to be the next Bill Gates, maybe I will be. Maybe I will simply provide a better upbringing for my children. Maybe I will learn something that can change the world, that could affect someone with more knowledge than I, someone who could make choices that will affect whether we make it out of the solar system before we die out.

Answer 10

I agree when it's over, it's over, but in the meantime, I choose to live not for nonexistence, but for each individual existence out there. Sure, your body and mind may die, but the power you have in your words and actions towards others is nothing to scoff at.