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What Is The Meaning Of Life?

gellatly68 said:
escargot1 said:
we are really only monkeys who've barely evolved past showing each other our bums and fighting over bananas.
That passes for a good Saturday night out round where I live. :D

Mato Grosso?
 
When asked about her time in Hull, my friend usually gives the capsule description:

Hell + Dull = Hull.

Not sure whether that's fair comment as I've never been there.
 
escargot1 said:
we are really only monkeys who've barely evolved past showing each other our bums and fighting over bananas.
Wait....I've only finished the bananas part.
 
"Marxism has nothing to say about the anal scent glands of the civet, a silence which it does not consider a defect."

Terry Eagleton on The Meaning of Life

Imagining Marx with his nose up a civet-cat's bum is something Terry Gilliam might have dreamed up for the Monty Python film version. If I remember correctly, that involved the exploding Mr. Creosote and the wonderful Every Sperm is Sacred number. :)
 
DNA - reproduction and replication. Everything is geared to that. If DNA has a wider agenda, it's to get the bacteria we carry into space.
 
Purely subjective question, always has been. Everyone believes something but they have no idea if it's true or not.
 
DNA - reproduction and replication. Everything is geared to that. If DNA has a wider agenda, it's to get the bacteria we carry into space.


...but while we are waiting we have Brahms..... ;)
 
I think Humans understanding the meaning of life is akin to yeast understanding the meaning of (a) loaf (of bread).

Off-topic and probably belonging in another thread, but I did once have a dream that we were put here by higher beings to act as cosmic yeast and burn up all the fossil fuels in order to make the planet edible for them.
 
The only meaning of life is to survive long enough to pass your DNA to the next generation.
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/p...at-still-baffles-him-10007797.html?icn=puff-1

Sir David Attenborough interview: The one question about life that still baffles him...
Wednesday 28 January 2015

15-Attenborough-BBC-Sophie-Lanfear-v2.jpg

''Speaking at the launch of his new series Natural Curiosities at London Zoo, the broadcaster is lost for words. Almost.''
 
What if God and his Heaven would just be too busy and chaotic with all the souls there so he devised a method of filing them in the pending tray of organic hosts. This would certainly keep the numbers down up there and give some people a go at being meerkats.
 
This is a very moving story. It doesn't seem to quite fit any FTMB forums - this thread is the best I could find.
Why a state trooper waited to tell four children they were orphans

When Georgia State Patrol trooper Nathan Bradley rapped on the front door, four children in costume opened it.
He stood there staring at Freddy Krueger, Dracula’s daughter, a wizard and a firefighting ninja turtle.
“I immediately fell ill,” he later wrote on a Gofundme page he created for the family.

"Not only would these children discover they lost both parents, but would spend their Halloween in a county jail until somebody could tend to them; it just wasn’t right."

Earlier that October 31 night, their parents, Donald and Crystal Howard, had gone to get more Halloween candy and face paint to finish their children’s costumes. Less than a mile from home in Newborn, Georgia, their vehicle slid from the road and crashed into a tree.

Bradley, 24, responded to the call: “single vehicle wreck with possible fatalities.”
Both parents were killed. And Bradley needed to notify their next of kin.

But when the couple’s four children — ages 13 to 6 — opened the door, he said, he was at a loss for words.
“When we were greeted by four children dressed and ready for trick-or-treating, we knew we were going to have some problems,” Bradley told The Washington Post.

Bradley, along with a county deputy and coroner, asked to speak with an adult.
“My parents went to the store to get more face paint,” 13-year-old Justin Howard said, according to Bradley. “They told us not to open the door for anybody, but they should be back soon.”

Bradley called their grandmother and told her that her son and daughter-in-law had been killed, he said, but she was nearly 500 miles away in Florida. It would be morning before she could get there, and he wanted to keep the children occupied until she arrived. He also wanted to preserve their future Halloweens, so he decided to wait until the next day to tell them what had happened.

Bradley took them to grab dinner — nuggets from McDonald’s, burgers from Burger King. He bought them milkshakes. He chatted with them about TV shows and their father’s time in the U.S. military. Then he took them back to his post.
Bradley’s corporal arrived with candy, popcorn and Disney films, he said. Then the sheriff showed up with more goodies and a miniature deputy’s badge for Justin.

The children’s grandmother, Stephanie Oliver, was only two hours into a seven-hour drive. She told Bradley that she had been too emotional at first to get behind the wheel. So Bradley invited the children to spend the night in the barracks.
“They were excited about it,” he told The Post.

Bradley said the younger children didn’t seem to understand what was happening. When he was tucking them in, he wrote, one girl told him: “You turned an F-minus day into an A-plus night!”

Justin, however, knew something was up. He later told NBC News’ WSB-TV:
I had thought, something bad must have happened. If nothing bad happened then all these troopers wouldn’t be here.

The children’s grandmother arrived just before dawn the next day and went into the barracks to wake them up.
"She whispered to them as grandmothers do, and they jumped up,” he told The Post.
She was crying the whole time …but the children were looking at it as tears of joy. She was so happy to see that last bit of innocence in them before tragedy struck.

Bradley and Oliver decided it would be best for her to tell the children what had happened, but, later that day, he dropped by the house to check on them.
When he got there, he said, Justin fell into him.
He hugged me so tight I could him squeezing me through my vest. I asked him how he was holding up, and he said, ‘I’m doing the best I can, but why does it have to be both parents?’ I said, ‘That’s a question I can’t answer.'

Bradley grabbed his old Georgia State Patrol training ball cap and wrote his phone number under the bill, along with a note to the boy: “You’re a great person. Never Change.” The next day, Justin gave him a call.
The boy told him that it was going to cost $7,000 to transport his parents’ bodies back to Florida and hold their funerals, so Bradley set up a Gofundme page to help. At the time of writing the campaign has raised $360,000.

Though Bradley said he hopes he was able to save their Halloween, it was a night that will continue to haunt him.
“I have not been able to sleep straight since,” Bradley said.
My mind is constantly running. It has scarred me. It has. Very rarely do you have to do this to four kids.


http://i100.independent.co.uk/artic...source=indy&utm_medium=top5&utm_campaign=i100

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/05/u...ath-fundraiser/index.html?eref=rss_topstories


 
This is a very moving story. It doesn't seem to quite fit any FTMB forums - this thread is the best I could find.
Why a state trooper waited to tell four children they were orphans

When Georgia State Patrol trooper Nathan Bradley rapped on the front door, four children in costume opened it.

He stood there staring at Freddy Krueger, Dracula’s daughter, a wizard and a firefighting ninja turtle.
“I immediately fell ill,” he later wrote on a Gofundme page he created for the family.

"Not only would these children discover they lost both parents, but would spend their Halloween in a county jail until somebody could tend to them; it just wasn’t right."

Earlier that October 31 night, their parents, Donald and Crystal Howard, had gone to get more Halloween candy and face paint to finish their children’s costumes. Less than a mile from home in Newborn, Georgia, their vehicle slid from the road and crashed into a tree.

Bradley, 24, responded to the call: “single vehicle wreck with possible fatalities.”
Both parents were killed. And Bradley needed to notify their next of kin.

But when the couple’s four children — ages 13 to 6 — opened the door, he said, he was at a loss for words.
“When we were greeted by four children dressed and ready for trick-or-treating, we knew we were going to have some problems,” Bradley told The Washington Post.

Bradley, along with a county deputy and coroner, asked to speak with an adult.
“My parents went to the store to get more face paint,” 13-year-old Justin Howard said, according to Bradley. “They told us not to open the door for anybody, but they should be back soon.”

Bradley called their grandmother and told her that her son and daughter-in-law had been killed, he said, but she was nearly 500 miles away in Florida. It would be morning before she could get there, and he wanted to keep the children occupied until she arrived. He also wanted to preserve their future Halloweens, so he decided to wait until the next day to tell them what had happened.

Bradley took them to grab dinner — nuggets from McDonald’s, burgers from Burger King. He bought them milkshakes. He chatted with them about TV shows and their father’s time in the U.S. military. Then he took them back to his post.
Bradley’s corporal arrived with candy, popcorn and Disney films, he said. Then the sheriff showed up with more goodies and a miniature deputy’s badge for Justin.

The children’s grandmother, Stephanie Oliver, was only two hours into a seven-hour drive. She told Bradley that she had been too emotional at first to get behind the wheel. So Bradley invited the children to spend the night in the barracks.
“They were excited about it,” he told The Post.

Bradley said the younger children didn’t seem to understand what was happening. When he was tucking them in, he wrote, one girl told him: “You turned an F-minus day into an A-plus night!”

Justin, however, knew something was up. He later told NBC News’ WSB-TV:
I had thought, something bad must have happened. If nothing bad happened then all these troopers wouldn’t be here.

The children’s grandmother arrived just before dawn the next day and went into the barracks to wake them up.
"She whispered to them as grandmothers do, and they jumped up,” he told The Post.
She was crying the whole time …but the children were looking at it as tears of joy. She was so happy to see that last bit of innocence in them before tragedy struck.

Bradley and Oliver decided it would be best for her to tell the children what had happened, but, later that day, he dropped by the house to check on them.
When he got there, he said, Justin fell into him.
He hugged me so tight I could him squeezing me through my vest. I asked him how he was holding up, and he said, ‘I’m doing the best I can, but why does it have to be both parents?’ I said, ‘That’s a question I can’t answer.'

Bradley grabbed his old Georgia State Patrol training ball cap and wrote his phone number under the bill, along with a note to the boy: “You’re a great person. Never Change.” The next day, Justin gave him a call.
The boy told him that it was going to cost $7,000 to transport his parents’ bodies back to Florida and hold their funerals, so Bradley set up a Gofundme page to help. At the time of writing the campaign has raised $360,000.

Though Bradley said he hopes he was able to save their Halloween, it was a night that will continue to haunt him.
“I have not been able to sleep straight since,” Bradley said.
My mind is constantly running. It has scarred me. It has. Very rarely do you have to do this to four kids.


http://i100.independent.co.uk/artic...source=indy&utm_medium=top5&utm_campaign=i100

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/05/u...ath-fundraiser/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
It is a heartwarming story about good folk in tragic circumstances, but am I the only one who read,

"He also wanted to preserve their future Halloweens, so he decided to wait until the next day to tell them what had happened,"

and thought, "Yeah, right, we won't tell them that BOTH THEIR PARENTS JUST DIED right now, let them enjoy Halloween so that that's what they remember in future, and not that the only reason they've had this special Halloween is because BOTH THEIR PARENTS DIED!"

Perhaps there's a point I missed.
 
Brought a tear to my eye.
 
Until the End of Time tries to use physics to find the meaning of life

Brian Greene's new book argues that life is rare and extraordinary, probably transient, and that in the search for purpose, the only significant answers are ones we create

Source: Newscientist.com
Date: 18 February, 2020

How did life happen and where is it headed?

Now there is a conundrum we can struggle with in the dead of night. But it is one that Brian Greene is actually equipped to try to answer in his latest book, Until the End of Time.

Greene, director of the Center for Theoretical Physics at Columbia University, New York, hunts for humanity’s place in a universe when everything is governed by unwavering physical laws, to which we are no exception. He asks: “Could life be such a long-shot possibility that it arose only once… Or is life the natural outcome, perhaps even the inevitable outcome?”

How, then, do we work out our place in the universe? And where does that leave us?

One thing is for certain: virtually everything we know of now will one day cease to exist, a fact Greene lays out from the start. Although the breakdown of stars, planets and galaxies is billions of years away, Greene encourages us to cast our minds to the future, on almost unfathomable timescales – and to consider how those minds might be shaped and their fate ultimately determined by the universal forces at work.

It is an intriguing thought: can life persist in the wake of cosmic deterioration? Indeed, can thought? These ideas underlie a deep human striving, as Greene shows in his exploration of the origin and basis for art, storytelling and religion, among the meaning-making tools that may have emerged from nature’s drive towards survival.

https://www-newscientist-com.cdn.am...3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s
 
I have no idea about the meaning of life but I suspect it has no meaning at all and we are all just an accident of evolution.

For example around 70,000 years ago the human population worldwide was down to just a few thousand individuals and our species nearly died out. If we had died out then there would be no one here to ponder the meaning of life as there would be no sentient beings on our planet to do so but planet Earth would still be here probably with a lot more insects on it.

I used to think about this a lot when I was a teenager for some reason, when I was 18 I imagined being really old like 40 years old and looking back on my life to when I was 18 and wondering what I would see over the span of those 22 years. I wrote a song about it called Those Innocent Lost years which strangely enough I didn't get round to recording until I actually was 40.

I suppose it kinda fits into this thread so do have a listen, here is me at the age of 40 playing my guitar and singing a song I wrote when I was 18 imagining what I would see looking back on my life when I was 40 for what it's worth and to further complicate things I am now 55 as I write this post.

The photo was taken by the Urbanhafen Canal in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin and song was recorded in Berlin.

 
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Until the End of Time tries to use physics to find the meaning of life

Brian Greene's new book argues that life is rare and extraordinary, probably transient, and that in the search for purpose, the only significant answers are ones we create

Source: Newscientist.com
Date: 18 February, 2020

How did life happen and where is it headed?

Now there is a conundrum we can struggle with in the dead of night. But it is one that Brian Greene is actually equipped to try to answer in his latest book, Until the End of Time.

Greene, director of the Center for Theoretical Physics at Columbia University, New York, hunts for humanity’s place in a universe when everything is governed by unwavering physical laws, to which we are no exception. He asks: “Could life be such a long-shot possibility that it arose only once… Or is life the natural outcome, perhaps even the inevitable outcome?”

How, then, do we work out our place in the universe? And where does that leave us?

One thing is for certain: virtually everything we know of now will one day cease to exist, a fact Greene lays out from the start. Although the breakdown of stars, planets and galaxies is billions of years away, Greene encourages us to cast our minds to the future, on almost unfathomable timescales – and to consider how those minds might be shaped and their fate ultimately determined by the universal forces at work.

It is an intriguing thought: can life persist in the wake of cosmic deterioration? Indeed, can thought? These ideas underlie a deep human striving, as Greene shows in his exploration of the origin and basis for art, storytelling and religion, among the meaning-making tools that may have emerged from nature’s drive towards survival.

https://www-newscientist-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.newscientist.com/article/2234158-until-the-end-of-time-tries-to-use-physics-to-find-the-meaning-of-life/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2234158-until-the-end-of-time-tries-to-use-physics-to-find-the-meaning-of-life/amp/#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s



Oook...
 
The meaning of my life seems to be looking after two cats, ( well that's what the cats think anyway ).
My terrier agrees with your cats. Probably the only subject on which they would agree :)
 
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