Post: #1

Today, my character perma-died in a computer game, after a week of grinding. I thought to myself, "well, now that it's over...what was the point?" So for fun, I imagined the experience a microcosm of my real life time line.

At first, I figured I was in it for the personal achievement. It felt good to level up, gain power, and be a boss. But upon death, as in life, all that achievement was gone. Nothing to show for it except a ballin' ass coffin.

From here, I reasoned that achievement can't be the point. But the journey itself? The "experience"? I had a good run. Some exciting adventures for sure. But again, upon death, those memories didn't live on. At least the ones I didn't share. Happiness is fleeting. Too inward focused to hold meaning after death.

The shared experiences however. Those which were shared with friends. Or even strangers. Those would live on inside others. In knowing me, I might have made them laugh, and share with others. Or beat them, and taught a lesson. Some girls I've fucked will fantasize about me while with their significant other. Bringing new energy into that relationship, even after I'm gone.

Final thought. The point of life is; the stuff you create, and share with others. A creative life, in service to others. Could be a business that provides goods/services. Executing an ONS. Raising a kid. Whatever. Legacy shit.


I'm not a philosophy wonk. Maybe someone here can point to a dude who died thousands of years ago who stated life meaning more eloquently.

Or maybe it's as simple as what the evolutionary theorists say; The meaning of life is to 1. survive. 2. fuck. Two things RvF'ers seem to be excelling at

Post: #2

(01-21-2014 11:59 PM)Courage Reborn Wrote:  ... The meaning of life is to 1. survive. 2. fuck. ...

Notice how you hit on many of the characteristics of Maslow's pyramid:



The real pickle: next time you play the game, what if you adopted the mentality of kill your enemies before they kill you. Arguably, this isn't much a factor to maslow

Post: #3

It's much better to focus on the journey rather than the destination. Enjoy the path you take to go from point A to point B.

Post: #4

See! Computer games just lead to awkward introspection. Yet another hazard of gaming.

Post: #5

what game? I haven't logged into gta v in a few weeks and I am worried my dog will be dead.

Post: #6

(01-21-2014 11:59 PM)Courage Reborn Wrote:  The point of life is; the stuff you create, and share with others. A creative life, in service to others. Could be a business that provides goods/services. Executing an ONS. Raising a kid. Whatever. Legacy shit.

I would say, at least here, the point of life is consumption. Eat, drink fuck, sleep, repeat.

Post: #7

Legacy is BS. Many who left a wonderful legacy were miserable, like Van Gogh. And our species will be over in a few million years, and the earth will still orbit around the sun for another couple of billion, like the billions of other earths.

Post: #8

(01-22-2014 02:23 AM)RawGod Wrote:  Legacy is BS. Many who left a wonderful legacy were miserable, like Van Gogh. And our species will be over in a few million years, and the earth will still orbit around the sun for another couple of billion, like the billions of other earths.

Agree

Every older( Over 55) person I would talk too says Legacy is something only young men think about. The older you get the less concern you are with things like leaving a legacy.

Post: #9

I had a sort of epiphany like that when I was playing GTA 5.

I was hoping that the online play was just going around Los Santos and causing all sorts of craziness.

But it was just like the Sims with guns. Why the hell do I want to grind away online so I can buy properties and the like? Heck, why play "GTA Tennis" when I can go out side and play real tennis?

Stupid waste of time. I hate the whole "role playing" thing, I want video games to be an outlet for all of those destructive behaviors I have in real life! Thank god for Halo.

Post: #10

(01-22-2014 02:23 AM)RawGod Wrote:  Legacy is BS. Many who left a wonderful legacy were miserable, like Van Gogh.

Of course, as it usually happens, you only remember the extreme cases. However, for every "troubled artist" like van Gogh, there were 100 men who left wonderful legacies in the form of:

1) Human capital: starting a family is a startup whose returns are human capital. If you marry a low-IQ slut with ADHD and spawn subhuman trash, your startup failed. If you marry a high-IQ, beautiful woman who was raised properly, and if your children are intelligent, beautiful, confident, happy... then your startup produced excellent human capital. If you don't want to procreate, then make a load of money and start a foundation, and award scholarships to talented kids in an area that interests you, and take pride in their achievements (which were possible thanks to your funding). Easier said than done, obviously.

2) Intellectual capital: near the end of their lives, Einstein and Feynman said that their approaching deaths did not bother them, as they had taught others all they knew, which meant that their ideas would live on. Go to a library, check the Physics section, and you realize they were right. Of course, not everyone can be an übermensch of Feynman's caliber, but you can try to do something great and create ideas that will outlive you.

If we are here today it is because our ancestors left a legacy. You don't have to be remembered 200 years from now to have a legacy. Remember that humans 200 years from now won't materialize out of thin air, they have to be birthed and raised.

Post: #11

Legacy is just an illusion as well, on a long enough timeline:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.


Live life for the experience. When you die, you will no longer exist, so why care if your experiences end with you?
When you die, the whole universe dies.

Post: #12

(01-22-2014 10:48 AM)Eirykr Wrote:  "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

That poem is a very pertinent choice for the topic. With that in mind, I always felt that one of the ironies of this verse is that to the ancient Egyptians remembrance of their name was immensely important. They feared the death of their name and memory as much as (or perhaps even more than) bodily death...by mentioning his name, the poem itself fulfills that objective. To Ozymandias (Ramesses II) it wouldn't at all be an illusion, it would represent a renewal of his immortality. Mere mysticism, some might well say, but still a perspective worth considering.

Post: #13

(01-22-2014 10:48 AM)Eirykr Wrote:  Legacy is just an illusion as well, on a long enough timeline:

Have you ever been to a library?

Post: #14

The secret of happiness:

"Find something more important that you are, and dedicate your life to it" - Daniel Dennett

Post: #15

(01-22-2014 09:43 AM)Intl_Rasta Wrote:  Every older( Over 55) person I would talk too says Legacy is something only young men think about. The older you get the less concern you are with things like leaving a legacy.

Someone forgot to tell that to big daddy Lannister...

Post: #16

(01-22-2014 10:48 AM)Eirykr Wrote:  Legacy is just an illusion as well, on a long enough timeline:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.


Live life for the experience. When you die, you will no longer exist, so why care if your experiences end with you?
When you die, the whole universe dies.

Breaking Bad?

Post: #17

(01-22-2014 11:09 AM)Icarus Wrote:  

(01-22-2014 10:48 AM)Eirykr Wrote:  Legacy is just an illusion as well, on a long enough timeline:

Have you ever been to a library?

Yes, but who cares? All of human achievement and knowledge will fade away forever.

You seem to not be thinking on the same time scale I am. Here, let me illustrate it for you:

Post: #18

Whenever I see posts about "the meaning of it all" I just shake my head. Life is too various and spectacular an experience to ever be summed up in mere words.

Post: #19

(01-22-2014 02:09 PM)Eirykr Wrote:  Yes, but who cares? All of human achievement and knowledge will fade away forever.

As long as there are humans willing to preserve human knowledge and achievement, human knowledge and achievement will be preserved, period.

Yes, one day the Sun will explode and the solar system will be roasted, but by then humans should be colonizing other planets (outside the solar system).

Moreover, I happen to believe that preserving human knowledge and achievement is fighting the good fight, the only one worth fighting. If you want to just quit and go all "Carpe Diem", that is your choice. I happen to believe that the good life is lived when one catches a glimpse of eternity and immortality, not when one is rushing to live as much as possible before wrinkling up... because YOLO.

Post: #20

(01-22-2014 02:19 PM)Icarus Wrote:  not when one is rushing to live as much as possible before wrinkling up... because YOLO.

That's a bit of a strawman you're punching around there.

I didn't say anything about YOLO or pointless hedonism. I'm talking about Eudaimonia. Happiness for the sake of itself.

If you want to leave a legacy, have kids, get married, build a building, what-have-you, that's cool. But do those things because the experience makes you happy, not because someone on a forum told you that's what WILL make you happy. That's not the case for everyone.