Do you suspect, as I do, that human extinction could be the meaning of life? That perhaps our creator/s, such as they are, are allowing all this pain and torture and misery just waiting for humanity to figure it out and do the right thing (stop making new people, stop continuing the cycle of horror for each new generation?). What if this is the test of our selflessness? To see if we will selfishly choose to perpetuate the human race thereby subjecting billions of lives to immesurable sufferings or if we will selflessly decide that humanity on the whole has shown itself unworthy of continuation and graciously choose not to perpetuate our species? Isn’t it the good and humble thing to do, to make a gracious exit (by non-procreation) rather than sticking our feet in the mud and refusing to be moved?
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No, I think the purpose of life is to make the best of what you have. I’ve seen a lot of people do it, I just haven’t been able to do it myself unfortunately. I do believe it’s possible though.
Hey rach, I have thought about this as well. Personally, however, as a nihilist, I do not believe that there is any point in life, but knowing that I have no plans to bring offspring into this world can be relieving. I believe that there are too many people in the world suffering. Of course, as moral beings, we would not want to go around killing people, but I believe that we should teach children, especially in poorly educated countries, how to slow down on or to stop reproducing.
I dont understand why you think people would stop pro-creating. imo 99% of all species of this Earth are extinct. No matter what happens (Asteriod, War, Viruses, etc.) There are people prepared to try and survive. My guess is that it will be a rogue planet or massive rock.
@SadSteve
The sooner people are extinct, the fewer people have to suffer.
True. I wish the world was better not for me but for my daughter, nephew,and niece.
Well when you think about things that way maybe WW3 isn’t exactly a bad thing seeing how things will undoubtedly spiral out of control….countries who have nuclear weapons will use them then humanity will effectively kill ourselves.
I know one thing though I would never have any kids and I’m glad I never had any. Any potential life I could have created in this world is non existent and if they had some sort of consciousness to be aware that I didn’t bring them into this life I’d bet they would be so grateful
rach, I’ve wrestled with this question for years. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are (mostly) right. There are far too many humans consuming this planet. We definitely need to decrease our numbers, whether willingly or not. Personally I made a vow decades ago never to procreate, and I’m sticking to it.
But total extinction is a tricky subject.
If there is indeed a “meaning of life” (one that was put in place by an intelligent designer), then it couldn’t be as pointless as making ourselves extinct, otherwise what idiot designer would have created us to begin with?
(Of course it is entirely possible that the designer was an idiot, but for now let’s assume not.)
I do agree that the human species must destroy itself because we are too flawed. But I think we need to accomplish something first. Here is an analogy. Yeast. When you make bread, the yeast consumes the wheat and grows, causing the bread to rise. The yeast eventually grows so much that it starves itself out of existence. But it leaves a beautifully formed loaf of bread behind.
I firmly believe (again, if there is a point to this lousy human world) that we are supposed to create something and then destroy ourselves so that the next, more noble, species can inherit a better world.
With that in mind, my philosophy is to do everything I can to “fix” things and make the world a better place, not necessarily for humans but for some other life forms to enjoy long after we’re gone.
We are just a stepping stone in the vastness of time. We have proven time & time again that we suck and don’t deserve this planet. But maybe that was never the intent. Maybe, like the noble earthworms who churn the soil and make plant life possible, we’re just supposed to set the stage for something bigger. Depressing as that may sound, I like to think of it to make myself feel better.
@ cyanide …I absolutely love your idea….”I firmly believe (again, if there is a point to this lousy human world) that we are supposed to create something and then destroy ourselves so that the next, more noble, species can inherit a better world.”
But what is it then that we are supposed to create? A nicer, cleaner world perhaps? I try so hard…to be GOOD towards animals, to tread lightly on the earth, but it’s made so little difference in a world where 99 percent of humanity don’t care for anything but their own selves.
What do you suppose the more noble species would be like? Certainly I’d hope a species which lives in harmony with nature and animals would take humanity’s place. And a species which is responsible enough not to overpopulate. It’s not depressing at all to think about our race ending for a new one to begin, I like it very much, humanity has failed…failed to be humane
I’ve thought long & hard about this, but the more I think the less it makes sense. Humans have definitely failed miserably. Although I once had hope that humans would get their act together, I see more & more that we’re going in the opposite direction.
A more noble species… my gut reaction is to say any one but ours! Not immediately, but maybe in 5-8 million years (the time it took humans to evolve from apes) I could definitely see one of the benign species taking a form that would deserve to govern this planet.
It’s funny, Hindus revere the cow as the most perfect animal. Maybe in 5 million years there will be some new species sprung from cows (unless of course we eat them all first). I think dogs possess tremendous deserving qualities like loyalty, intelligence, selflessness and overall good nature.
Or maybe the new species will be literally a creation of ours. Some ass of a scientist will be mixing genetic material so he can be on the cover of Science Digest, and who knows he may end up creating the new rulers of earth.
Or if you want to get real scifi (though entirely possible), maybe we will create intelligent machines, programmed with all the noble qualities we lack, and they will take over Earth, actually *taking care* of the planet responsibly, the way I believe we should have done but failed.
I guess until we know for sure, the best we can do is try to protect whatever lifeforms we can. Because every species that goes extinct is another possibility that we just killed out savior race :/