Who said it was a rose garden?

Compared to eternity of nonexistence? This pain is infinitely greater than zero; even if not compared.

Comparatively speaking, nonexistence would be paradise. I don’t know anything better, with which to compare paradise. Nonexistence is probably the best possible scenario.

Yeah, pretty much.

Not to say nothing is amazing about that, but it’s still better to consider the available information, rather than leaping to a supernatural conclusion that isn’t supported by anything but ancient anecdotes, built from even more ancient rehashed stories.

If we just default to “supernatural!” then we’ll never be able to understand anything, which means very slow or nonexistent progress toward eliminating the source of what causes people to create problems for each other. People should stop doing that.

(that was in response to HealingInHisWings’s reply… i now realize it could be perceived as an astonishingly arrogant reply to OnlyLOVEisReal’s comment, which wasn’t yet showing on my page, when i wrote the above…)

Lots of people concoct all sorts of entertaining fantastical “theories” about the nature of existence… many of which seem to aim precisely for invalidating this one and only evidenced state of existence, as if to make us feel like it’s not a big deal if it’s almost entirely terrible. Because hey, reincarnation, or heaven, or whatever, right? So that would mean “this” isn’t even that important, since (as often fantastically asserted) “death isn’t the end.”

But i’m pretty sure it is the end, which is why i get so outraged when i have to suffer because of something someone else chose to impose upon me. Now i’m stuck with the affliction of an unacceptable affront, for the duration of the only existence i can be sure that i will have. Desperation leads people to “believe” that there is more than this, because they can’t handle the idea that their only chance to exist, has been ruined, for some stupid or unfair reason, or even none at all; “just because they can.”

“It is too complex to be random”

Uh, no. There is absolutely nothing about randomness that limits potential complexity. If anything it is ORDER and “creation,” that cannot be “too complex.” Random can be infinitely complex, as long as it’s not limited by finite time or resources.

“Random,” can, in fact, be SO COMPLEX, that lots of people are unable to even grasp the meaning of the notion… and therefore misunderstand it entirely.

But like i said: it’s not exactly “random.”

Things interact and react with other things, not based on “random,” but based on physics (real physics, not merely the limited human concept which attempts to understand how things work).

The only thing that’s “random” about it, is that the right materials made it into the right circumstances to produce what was not random at all, under those circumstances.

Oh, oh the irony… the irony…

The “lie” indeed.

claiming that “remove the negativity from yourself” is the answer, is tantamount to “blaming the victim.” Attitude adjustments only go so far. Should i be “positive” about all the choices other people make that make life harder, nay, impossible for me to enjoy? No! I shouldn’t! Because they are choosing to impose their will upon my environment, which inflicts an unwanted negative condition upon my life, and reduces the potential enjoyment or fulfillment it can produce! And you know what? Being “nice” to everyone, does not fix the people who intend to exploit every nice person they can find. It only makes you a more vulnerable target. Which means more bad things are put on you, against your will, by other people. Which means more negativity, and more being blamed for being negative about people doing negative things to you.

It’s like if i light you on fire and then blame you for being flammable, if you complain. Don’t like burning? Nevermind that i intentionally immolated you, the real solution is that you should just stop being so flammable all the time. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about people setting you on fire. It’s totally your fault, for being too negative, and thus, flammable… and thus, burning alive. It has nothing to do with the people who go around setting others on fire, knowing that most people are indeed flammable.

Anyone interested should check out the “kiosk” articles on “infidels dot org.”

@OLIR:

I don’t think we can really reach a conclusion as to whether we understand “all matter,” since we have such a comparatively small sample of the universe’s material, by which to judge, and with which to experiment.

If matter is finite, then it had to come from “somewhere.”

And the relationship between matter and energy is… important… but beyond my technical qualifications.

Is it possible that all matter can be converted (with or without “loss”) to energy? Is it possible that all energy can be converted to matter? If there is a finite amount of matter, does that mean there is a finite amount of energy?