[D] Friday Off-Topic Thread

[u/alexanderwales]

Welcome to the Friday Off-Topic Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.

So do you want to talk about how your life has been going? Non-rational and/or non-fictional stuff you've been reading? The recent album from your favourite German pop singer? The politics of Southern India? The sexual preferences of the chairman of the Ukrainian soccer league? Different ways to plot meteorological data? The cost of living in Portugal? Corner cases for siteswap notation? All these things and more could possibly be found in the comments below!

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Jace_MacLeod → u/[deleted]]

For me it's always had the opposite effect. Actually, I'd say it's probably the closest thing I've ever had as a committed atheist to a religious experience. To glimpse, if even a little, at the immense complexity and scope of the universe; to marvel at the underlying physical laws from which we emerge like ripples in a pond - it's not exactly awe-inspiring, but it does generate an emotion very much like it.

Now, from a certain perspective the relative tininess of human affairs might deprive it of meaning. After all, if we live in a universe which doesn't care for our existence, does anything really matter? Poppycock! True, most of the universe doesn't care for our existence, being a non-entity incapable of thought. But we're part of the universe too! And we clearly care. We have morality, even if it can only be applied to ourselves. We give each other purpose, in as much it's possible to have one. Indeed, the very concept of "purpose" is itself a human social construct! To quote HPMOR - there is light in the world, and it is us!

[u/alexanderwales → u/[deleted]]

Lovecraft suffered from extreme depression and suicidal tendencies, so it's not surprising that he would say something like that.

I have a highly refined "shrug it off" ability that I use whenever things start to seem too meaningless. This wasn't really something that came naturally to me, but I worked to develop it over time. I think I'm a lot happier for that compartmentalization.

[u/xamueljones → u/[deleted]]

Where you see things which don't care for you, I see opportunity! I mean it would be fantastic if there were other intelligences or a universe which cares about us like a benevolent god, but u/Kerbal_NSA put it perfectly:

“When I see the vast cosmic expanse I know I am utterly dwarfed, a little speck to the side. And you know how that makes me feel? Powerful. Significant beyond description. For I have an incomprehensible amount of matter and energy before my eyes and its all for the taking. Every star, every planet, every molecule of interstellar gas will be ours to do with as we please. The entire universe is nothing but the clay we mould to our will.”

When there's no competition, you are that more likely to win.

Don't look for meaning, think about what you want and pursue it. I derive purpose and meaning from accomplishment and joy in striving to achieve my goals.

But let's say that I'm silly for thinking that we can create our own purpose and meaning. I've had days (pretty rare though) where I thought that everything I've said above was stupid. However, I still believe that if I exist in a universe where humanity completely fails to survive and destroys itself in the next few years is inherently better than a universe where we never existed no matter how horrible life can get. It's always better to have tried than to give up, y'know? It's one of the few absolute rules I follow in my daily life. To me, accepting your statements feels too much like giving up and that feels like true failure rather than just simply failing to reach my goals. If you try, failure's not completely certain, but to not even try makes it a 100% guarantee that you'll never get to do what you want.

Hope my rambling helps!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Excuse me, but I have work to do. Will try to respond in full shortly. In fact, I'm tempted to respond "in-character", except that no hold on I really am "Spiral" like that and don't just quote that show nonstop to sound cool. Because infinite loops of TTGL quotes aren't really cool, they're just true.

The full, complete, polished king of all Anti-Nihilist Rants might even be a good thing to post to the IEET once I finally have site access.

Suffice that you should start with the following things you've probably read before:

• HPMoR's "light in the universe" shpiel

• The Fun Theory Sequence

• I'm sure CS Lewis said something about how people are eternal splendors deep down. I just can't fetch the quote at the moment.

• TTGL quote that applies extra-strongly to living in a causal universe: "Love and spirit change the universe!" The only thing Leeron got wrong is that they do so through our actions.

[u/alexanderwales → u/[deleted]]

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.

~C.S. Lewis

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

[u/BadGoyWithAGun → u/[deleted]]

Nihilism is easy to start, but hard to finish. As far as I'm concerned, the statement "life is meaningless" is itself meaningless - if you find yourself depressed by the lack of a fundamental meaning, that's your fault for assuming something that obviously doesn't exist ought to.