Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

>Philosophically, if our existence has no purpose, then it seems that everything else we believe and value is built on a foundation of sand.

Only if you assume that only "inherent" or externally supplied meaning or purpose is valid.

Why make that assumption, though?



Well, that is what Nihilism explores. Under Nihilism we can still have a sort of right and wrong, but only with respect to goals. The goals you pick, are of course arbitrary. However, reality sort of strong-arms us into continuing our existence as a precondition to choosing any other goal (aside from death), and in that sense all other goals become subordinate to that one. I guess there are some other ways to interpret it, but regardless, the implications of this vary from somewhat Utopian (Transhumanism) to very Dystopian (The Borg.)

I'm not a Nihilist but if I were I wouldn't be too happy about it.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: