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As a young kid, I was plagued by complicated questions, one of which was "Are humans special? (And if not, is all futile?)". At that time my argument was to po

As a young kid, I was plagued by complicated questions, one of which was "Are humans special? (And if not, is all futile?)". At that time my argument was to point of the ways in which humans are better than machines. But I have to say that it is not even necessary to go down that route. If there is some life form that is smarter than humans, or some machine, then it does not detract from the basic departure point that some values or value propositions are absolute. The ability to discover the Pythagorean theorem is absolute in that way. You either discover it, or you don't (or you discover only the special cases). It doesn't matter how many other entities discover the Pythagorean theorem. Now I don't mean absolute in the sense of the ubermensch or some dumb crap like that, but I do mean that values are values even in isolation. I think the tinkerer's spirit is very much like that. If you are devoted to your pursuit, then it doesn't mean you have to best some notion of the best. It's like that with an appreciation for life too. If you see a beautiful landscape, then that moment in itself is valuable and irreplaceable, whether there are many such or few such—each is valuable in isolation. I don't the the point of being human was ever to prove ourselves the smartest.

pjc50 7y ago
One of the difficult things to cope with is our need for meaning. It's tempting to think that it's exogenous - if we look hard enough we'll find it "out there" somewhere. But now that we've looked under every rock and around every star we're starting to have to deal with the fact that it exists only inside our heads, and is socially constructed. But that doesn't mean it's not important. In some ways it lets us take ownership of the need to make meaning ourselves - to craft it. To the universe, we're not special. To ourselves, we can be.
- las_balas_tres 7y ago
  What a beautiful response.

pjc50 7y ago

One of the difficult things to cope with is our need for meaning. It's tempting to think that it's exogenous - if we look hard enough we'll find it "out there" somewhere. But now that we've looked under every rock and around every star we're starting to have to deal with the fact that it exists only inside our heads, and is socially constructed. But that doesn't mean it's not important. In some ways it lets us take ownership of the need to make meaning ourselves - to craft it. To the universe, we're not special. To ourselves, we can be.

las_balas_tres 7y ago
What a beautiful response.