Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26384

The Meaning of Life

It's been a loooong time since I've linked this. It's a long read admittedly, but WELL worth it.
http://sysopmind.com/tmol-faq/meaningoflife.html

Check it out.

Discuss.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Sedona, Arizona
Posts: 18823

OK, thte first thing that caught my eye was this.
"What is the ultimate purpose of the universe, if any?"

I don't see why the universe should have a purpose.
I don't see why mankind should have a purpose.
I don't see why *I* should have a purpose.

I HAVE thought about this and have come to the conclusion that there IS no purpose, there just is all of this.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Playa d'en London
Posts: 9788

thanks. thats my reading material sorted out for the night.

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forever in a trance

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26384

I haven't read it in a long time myself so I'm gonna go do that.

To those who haven't seen it (I remember Pangloss got real into it when he was around but can't remember who else read it), try to read the whole thing from start to finish to truly get the whole scope and magnitude of what he's saying. It sounds really flaky at first (the overview, trying to contain it in a few paragraphs, doesn't really do it justice), until you read the whole thing, click on the links, do the research for yourself, etc etc.

When I finished it all it was nothing short of an epiphany.

I'm gonna go read it again and see if I haven't changed my mind in the year or so since I happened upon it.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26384

Oh, and the last time I started this thread (probably about a year ago and then again maybe six month ago at Hyper Tribe), I get a lot of responses like "thanks, I'm bookmarking that" etc. This time I'd kind of like you to remember this thread and when you've finished the whole thing, get back to me and tell me what you think about it all. I warn you that it's a good day or two of solid reading if you really want to put in the effort to see for yourself if the guy is full of shit, but after the first hour I was so into it that I was reading in 6 hour sittings.

But like I said, it's WELL worth the time.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Elysian Fields, TX, USA
Posts: 2618

I tore that thing apart and wrote a really really long post (in notepad) about it the first time you should that to me Paint. Do you remember?


I chunked the post. It didn't look good. I can't write good without sounding like an idiot.


Boohoo...woe is me.

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Sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Essex, England
Posts: 4523

I still have it bookmarked!
I still haven't read it!
Sorry!

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Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Baba Kueria
Posts: 3146

I was right there with the author till they cited Douglas Hofstadter as the most significant human life so far. D.H's book "Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies" which details research into cognitive science by himself and his students, including the Copycat AI mentioned on the page, is my bedtime reading at the moment and it's... er, let's just say it's not one I'd recommend for the Asylum bookclub.

This transhumanist movement looks pretty damn interesting all the same, thanks for the link.

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"...and I'll do it again as soon as the scabs heal."

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Florida
Posts: 316

"If I had to name a single human with the most concentrated significance as of 2000, it would be Douglas R. Hofstadter."

I'm sorry, but this guy needs a fucking reality check. I have read a few of Hofstadter's books, and I admit the ones I have read are wonderful books; "Godel, Escher, Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid" is an awesome read. However, there is no fucking way in hell that guy is any more "signifact" than any of the other great leaders, mathematicians, physicists, etc... in history.

I do agree with a few of his "runners-up" choices.


All in all, it was a decent read. I agree with a lot of it, and certainly disagree with some of it. I think that maybe if the guy spend some time making his own hypothesis instead of quoting a bunch of sci-fi books to come to his conclusions, then it would have been a better read.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Baba Kueria
Posts: 3146

heh, I picked the Snow Crash reference on the first page but that's about it. Maybe I shoud read more Gibson. ;D

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Registered: May 2001
Location:
Posts: 126

you posted that in spf a while back, i read it then. if i remember correctly, it is only relevant to people who assume that the purpose of ones life is to achieve goals?

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So I was walking down the street, and there was this pregnant bitch looking at me funny, so I kicked her in the stomach and ran away! HAHAHA!

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: library
Posts: 19562

quote:

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Originally posted by mobile terror unit:
you posted that in spf a while back, i read it then. if i remember correctly, it is only relevant to people who assume that the purpose of ones life is to achieve goals?

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 374

and i thought this was about a monty python movie.

*curses*

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beatrice, Nebraska
Posts: 18490

I haven't read it, nor do I plan to. I don't want to hear what some other person has to say what the meaning of life is because this meaning is his meaning. His idea of what the meaning of life is and my idea are, I'm quite sure, very different.

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Have a good day, and if you feel like subjecting your genitals to high doses of x-ray radiation I'm sure the world will kindly thank you.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
Posts: 9453

I will work on reading that whole thing Paint. I am in the midreading Ray Kurzweil's precis of his new book. In case you don't know, Kurzweil wrote "Age of Intelligent Machines" and "Age of Spiritual Machines." I have only perused the first 5 lines of the page you linked to, so maybe it won't be relevant, but Kurzweil is all into the exponetial growth curve and thinking about what will happen.

You can read the precis here. If anyone is interested in developing intelligence in computers, I highly, highly, greatly, extremely, realy, really recommend George Dyson's "Darwin among the Machines." It is a incredible historical synthesis of information about intelligence, computering, communication, and whatnot with a really different idea of where it all is headed.

Of course, all this is moot because we are going to destroy ourselves in the near future by cannabilizing our energy resources. If we make it out of the upcoming dark age with our current knowledge intact and develop renewable resources to support our energy appetite, then some of this futuristic stuff has some interesting merit. But that is hundreds of years off (the end of the next dark age, that is.) and most of this is just fun exercise in thinking and postulating.

I'll report back after reading that page you gave me though.

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The Law of Fives is never wrong.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
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quote:

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Originally posted by wonderaz:
OK, thte first thing that caught my eye was this.
"What is the ultimate purpose of the universe, if any?"

I don't see why the universe should have a purpose.
I don't see why mankind should have a purpose.
I don't see why *I* should have a purpose.

I HAVE thought about this and have come to the conclusion that there IS no purpose, there just is all of this.

---

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26384

quote:

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Originally posted by SocialParasite:
I haven't read it, nor do I plan to. I don't want to hear what some other person has to say what the meaning of life is because this meaning is his meaning. His idea of what the meaning of life is and my idea are, I'm quite sure, very different.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 237

That was an interesting read.

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"What does this button do?" -- The person that starts World War III

[This message has been edited by ike (edited 06-01-2001).]

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Baba Kueria
Posts: 3146

Yeah, definitately interesting, but the guy is way off on some crazy tangent IMO.
Where it turns to politics and their cult society of Singularitarians (sp?), I was almost expecting Xenu to get a mention.
Those external links are pretty interesting though.

And now for something completely different...

THE MEANING OF LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING ACCORDING TO SLIGHT
(subject to change without notice)
(We are, Life is) (the Universe, Life, God) (being, becoming) aware of (the Universe, Life, God).
Circle as applicable.

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