Some philosophers agree with biologists on this one.
this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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Am a biologist, can confirm.
A biologist who ignores asexually reproducing organisms, clearly.
I'm a philosopher. I can confirm the biologist seems right
Procreo, ergo sum
Pater tuus est?
Ita, fili mi.
42
Well, now I should take this meme down. You've given me a counterpoint so complete I have no retort. I will now go grab my towel.
Zark that, it's actually about finding a place to eat
Where all the hoopy froods meet!
that’s not the meaning of life, that’s the answer to the ultimate question about life the universe and everything…
The meaning of life is when catholics do a song and dance number about how every sperm is sacred.
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The meaning of life is very simple: life has no meaning unless you create meaning. What that meaning is is going to differ from person to person.
The meaning I give to my life is to do everything I can to further human knowledge and to learn as much as possible myself.
For other people, it could be exploring the world, finding inner peace, helping as many people as possible, gaining power/money by any means necessary, etc.
All valid, some more well-intentioned than others. IMO if your goal is to do good by yourself and/or to others without actively seeking to hurt others, there isn't really a wrong answer.
This was just meant to be something funny to make people chuckle and then continue on with their day. I find my meaning in being an existential jester. To laugh at everything. May I be from joy or mockery or grim determination. So much so that I've told my wife that if she feels the need to give me a memorial plaque after my death it can only have one of two quotes on it. The first is attributed to Shakespeare's Marc Anthony: "Have I played the part well? Then applaud, as I exit." Or from Darkest Dungeon: "He will be laughing still, in the end."
I too revel in the absurdism that results from a mind evolved to fuck and throw big rocks trying to understand anything beyond the five little sense peepholes it's looking through. Hello out there, fellow pervert! I wonder what the outside looks like through your peepholes!
When I'm not looking out, I build logical graphs in my head that represent social concepts and how I fit into the world, especially along the 1 time dimension, and sometimes the graphs make me happy or sad, usually because of how well rested or caffeinated I am.
I hope your mind graphs are happy today (or whatever abstraction applies to your thought process).
Here is to existential nihilism. That one set me free because it’s not centered on obligation toward other people aka living my false self. My meaning is inner peace by self actualization.
A hundred percent. I used to just call myself a nihilist, because on paper it applies. But straight up self described nihilists are stuck in a dead end.
I prefer to use nihilism as a reminder that there are no ultimate loci of meaning and that anything I insist on having meaning needs to be justified.
Lol this thread. You can't just mention the meaning of life on social media without us armchair philosophers crawling out of the woodwork and uhm ackshually-ing all over the place.
We can expand that into our existence doesn’t need to be justified. Nothing wrong with philosophy. It’s the only thing keeping me sane.
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yes. agreed. also, ugh. i'll guarantee you whoever downvoted your post is some fucking theist.
but yes. 100% agreed. and once people realize this, it comes with the understanding that there is no objectively true answer. to each their own.
BUT, here's where we get into the freewill part of giving individual meaning to life - if you decide that your meaning is to extract your own pleasure at the misfortune of others, then i am going to decide to end your life. AND... when enough people join together to stop those that would create suffering for others, that's when humanity is on its way to my version of a glorious moral union. a moral union not based on some book of ancient goat herders but on a democratic agreement about what we want the world to be like.
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Wait, where do I recognise her from, I'm sure I've seen her face before
asking for a friend I see
uWu
This meme was made better for me by provoking the thought that all the great philosophers were just aces
Except we have the foresight to know everything will end. Even if we were to produce 100 000 000 perfect replicas of our genes they would still hit the same wall— extinction. Further, whether we have free will or not (prolly not), we're able to coopt the gene platforms to further non-procreative aims.
It's a bit like saying the point of a TV show is to earn profit for the people who bankrolled it. Well, yes that's why it's here and literally the only thing that will keep it going, but you can do a lot more within those constraints than play out the material reality.
So the question remains.
Even if we were to produce 100 000 000 perfect replicas of our genes they would still hit the same wall— extinction.
Doesn't matter, had sex.
What is the meaning of life?
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
Personally I feel like it is a dumb question. Life gives you meaning. By that I mean life enables the creation of symbolic truths. And what enables life is a different question.
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I think almost everybody who isn't a philosopher is with the biologists.
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