World/human population is 8 billion now. It keeps increasing. It doesn't even matter if one person is gone. It doesn't even matter if I'm gone or die.

[niki wonoto]

Most people probably don't think about this. People keep living everyday, thinking that their lives mean something; that their lives have meaning or purpose. Most people are even too busy with each their own survival mode everyday, which in today's world/era, it usually means people are busy making money, whether it's work, or run a business, etc etc etc.

Most people in this world are oblivious or ignorant to this harsh reality, that we are all basically just little speck of dust on this planet, let alone universe. I always use the illustration of ants: Some ants live, some ants die (from getting trampled, crushed by feet, etc etc etc). Nothing special. It's the same with human life.

People of course will always try to rationalize this, all in a hope to convince themselves basically that life, especially their own lives, have meaning & purpose. And that each individual matters; each person matters. But in the grand scheme of things, the harsh truth is nothing really matters (well, perhaps unless if we could somehow defy reality, whether perhaps through space travel, immortality, transhumanism/posthumanism, AI (artificial intelligence), VR (virtual reality), etc etc etc; but nothing is guaranteed for sure, in reality again). Everything we do will eventually just crumbles to the dust. So why bother?

Today there is even now a popular 'hype' philosophy like "optimistic nihilism". But to me personally, it's just the same basically with hedonism, which basically it all sounds the same, eg: "just live in the present moment, enjoy life, since we only live once!". But again, is this all there is to life? existence? It still feels pointless, in the end, in the grand scheme of things.

 

[TAW122]

I agree, that is true that at the large scale (beyond the scope of humanity itself), life and existence is ultimately meaningless. As far as the universe is concerned, it doesn't care about any species, it simply is and continues to persist until the end of time or so. We (along with many other species and animals) are just organisms that interact and bounce energy between each other and other living organisms that we interact with, at the end it just ends up to nothingness.

 

[SamTam33]

I think about people driving crazy, filled with road rage during rush hour with their horns blaring. And I wonder if they realize that they're on a never-ending loop. A human-sized hamster wheel.

All anyone every does is go from one place to another. Then back again.

All that impatience and stress just to get to a spot on the wheel. If it's work, you stop there for 8 hours, then get in your car and go back in the direction you came from.

They do this everyday.

Go to the grocery store and come back home? You're gonna end up in the same place you started. Like a boomerang.

If you take a vacation and get on a plane, you've made the wheel wider, but you're still on it. And you will ultimately end up back in the exact spot from which you began.

Over and over for 85 - 95 years.

Being alive and doing 'alive' things is downright weird and definitely unjustifiable.

 

[SectOfValtiel]

but we as individuals do not live for the grand scheme of things, we do not live on a cosmic scale- probably 99% of us are never going to live long enough to even see this all crumble to dust and return to the stars
its true there are 8 billion of us, and every single one is perceiving this reality of ours in a unique way... yeah, not completely, sure, true originality in its purest form is something practically impossible to achieve and someone has always walked a mile in our shoes whether it be now in the present, long before our time in the past, or far far beyond us in the future
but
we still experience those same things with completely different lenses, and i think that (at least to me) is the core of our existence
just like we do not matter in the grand scheme, why should the grand scheme mean anything to us?
i dont consider that a 'harsh reality' personally

people *do* mean something as long as there is still someone or something to matter to though, or something or someone important enough to them that it creates meaning in and of themselves... maybe its too hopeful to say i think a majority of those 8 billion people *do* matter in some capacity
and i dont see how that is meaningless at all
its the opposite; to matter is to have meaning, isnt it?

its when we convince ourselves we have no meaning, or truly do not matter, or are somewhere imbetween and still incapable of telling the difference between the two, that i think we should dread our existence in reality

to put it another way i dont feel sad when i think about the earth continuing to turn long after humanity his died off... after all, whos going to be left to mourn our loss?
but when im surrounded by 8 billion other human beings and i still feel like my life has meant nothing?
like not a single of those 8 billion people care one way or another what happens to me? that not a single one would even *remember* me when im gone? like im one of the 1% that truly do not matter, grand scheme or otherwise...
that is what *i* consider a truly harsh reality to be

 

[Forever Sleep]

I do get where you are coming from. Still, it's kind of odd when you loose someone you love. My Mum didn't make an enormous impact on this world. She wasn't famous. She didn't invent anything. By and large, she lived a very normal life. That said- when she died at 40, everyone around her (including me) was devastated because she was loved so much. Yet, the older I get, the fewer people there are around that even remember her. (They are dieing off now too.) I don't even remember her but when I'm gone, I expect that will be it for her legacy.

We are all our own worlds when you think about it. Time and experience begins and ends for us when we do. (As far as we know.) Unless you are hellbent on leaving some sort of eventful legacy behind and you have the talent to achieve something great (or terrible,) chances are you will indeed be forgotten about within a few short generations (if that.)

I guess the thing is though- is that really such a big deal? It's not like Van Gogh was even alive to enjoy his fame and fortune! Of course- it depends what you believe but it's quite possible you will not even be aware if people remember you or not when you are dead.

Like @SectOfValtiel just said- I guess it is largely the people around us that make our lives 'matter.' As in- someone out there (hopefully) would actually notice and care if you died- even if you don't care yourself. Everything else is replaceable- they'll find someone else to do your job etc. It's true that your memory may only linger a short time in the grand scheme of things but those memories and feelings can be very powerful for the people who remain.

I suspect many of us are very isolated though. Some of us from choice- so it's a lot easier then to say- I don't matter and no one will miss me. (Of course- that can be a relief too- no one left to hurt should you CTB...) Still for those of us who do have people who might care- to say- I don't matter and as such- I don't want you to grieve for me is pretty unrealistic.

Saying life doesn't matter is very likely logical but it doesn't take into account human emotions- and we are emotional creatures. We miss the people we loose and some people (bizarrely) have a great love for life in the first place. (Despite it looking shit to us.)

We're stuck with this thing called life that has no apparent meaning and has a time limit to it. We have also been blessed (or perhaps cursed) with the ability to perceive ourselves within the world and emotions to feel stuff with.

Maybe some people have enough love and support in their lives or decide that what they're doing is important or fulfilling to them- and that's enough. I guess maybe they don't need there to be an established meaning to it all and maybe they don't need anyone elses approval as to whether what they are choosing to do has value.

I think the dilema a lot of us here are facing is that while WE think our lives are pointless and miserable, those around us think otherwise. They put value on our lives- that's why they are upset if we die and even more especially CTB. Therefore, I expect many of us are reuctantly trudging on for them.

 

[FuneralCry]

It's true that our lives are so insignificant, and this fact is undeniable. Everything that seems important to humans right now will die with them and will inevitably be forgotten about. We likely won't even exist in the memories of the living someday. Therefore, there is no point to prolonging this and continuing to delay the inevitable just to die eventually anyway. Doing such a thing serves no purpose and just leads to humans potentially suffering to such extreme extents and then they just deteriorate.

I believe that life only exists in the first place as a consequence of evolution, and there's no objective purpose or value to any of this, yet the fact that human beings have the ability to be conscious and aware means that people attach significance to something so useless as existence as the true meaningless nature of their lives is too difficult for them to come to terms with.

But I just see life as being an pointless cycle of unnecessary suffering that will continue to repeat as long as life is brought here.
To me, the only thing that could ever be close to a relief is the fact that no matter what happens, we will all inevitably cease to exist. Eventually we will be free from whatever this life has burdened us with and to me this is the best thing possible.

 

[niki wonoto]

I agree, that is true that at the large scale (beyond the scope of humanity itself), life and existence is ultimately meaningless. As far as the universe is concerned, it doesn't care about any species, it simply is and continues to persist until the end of time or so. We (along with many other species and animals) are just organisms that interact and bounce energy between each other and other living organisms that we interact with, at the end it just ends up to nothingness.

thank you for this, I agree.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Don't you envy those people who aren't contemplate or reflective at all? They'll never naturally come to consider these kinds of things and if you try to start a discussion their minds just short-circuit.

 

[Spiritual survivor]

There's no such thing as overpopulation. They just say that to get people not to have kids. Much of the US is not populated, only in the major cities, so it looks like its overpopulated mainly if u are in a big city. If the Earth can't support the population many people die off anyway. It's literally impossible to be overpopulated, because the resources are not distributed equally among all people, which shortens the lives of the kids who are born into poverty or deprivation.

 

[Lost Magic]

There's no such thing as overpopulation. They just say that to get people not to have kids. Much of the US is not populated, only in the major cities, so it looks like its overpopulated mainly if u are in a big city. If the Earth can't support the population many people die off anyway. It's literally impossible to be overpopulated, because the resources are not distributed equally among all people, which shortens the lives of the kids who are born into poverty or deprivation.

exactly

 

[Unending]

There's no such thing as overpopulation. They just say that to get people not to have kids. Much of the US is not populated, only in the major cities, so it looks like its overpopulated mainly if u are in a big city. If the Earth can't support the population many people die off anyway. It's literally impossible to be overpopulated, because the resources are not distributed equally among all people, which shortens the lives of the kids who are born into poverty or deprivation.

I often feel like we will always be overpopulated as long as we have a monopoly on the planet.