9 ms·

The article searches for meaning and finds God. Whoops! It was a good try, though. Let's use the opportunity to be productive, though. Meanings must live in th

The article searches for meaning and finds God. Whoops! It was a good try, though. Let's use the opportunity to be productive, though. Meanings must live in their own realm apart from sentences, so that when we say that a sentence has a meaning, we imply that there is a mapping from sentences to meanings. However, those meanings cannot be complete and consistent; there must be some sentences which don't have permanently-mapped meanings, because such meanings would lead to self-contradiction [1]. The author should read more Meaningness, especially the section on the fallacies of eternalism [0]. They could also read Derrida on meanings and deconstruction, although Derrida's not easy reading. Edit: As usual, downvoters, want to reply? [0] https://meaningness.com/eternalism https://meaningness.com/eternalism [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarski%27s_undefinability_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarski%27s_undefinability_theo...

exolymph 6y ago
I literally linked to Meaningness in the post lmao
- Kednicma 6y ago
  Understandable, and yet, you did not read. The page I linked says, openly, > Dropping religious beliefs is only a first step towards freeing ourselves from eternalism. And continues to explain how your beliefs, about how there are definite meanings and purposes to life, are illusions. The next page [0] states it clearly too: > We cling to the idea that there must be a cosmic plan because we fear that without one everything would be meaningless. But this is mistaken; which means that most ideas about meaningfulness and meaninglessness are mistaken. Fortunately, life is meaningful without any cosmic plan or ultimate source of meaning. If you like arete, you could also stand to read Pirsig. He was very concerned with ethics and values. Finally, to directly critique your metaphysics, please first consider this phrase you wrote: > Everything matters, because we feel everything, and thus it matters to us. And then consider Russell's teapot [1]. Does Russell's teapot matter, floating out there around the rings of Saturn? Can we feel it? A bit of consideration will show that, while everything is connected to everything, not everything affects everything else equally. We are, in fact, far more sensitive to things which are close to us. [0] https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot
  - exolymph 6y ago
    It's really inconceivable to you that I simply disagree, huh?
    - Kednicma 6y ago
      It's quite conceivable. I believe my eyes; I read your words. But you have no evidence from which to justify your disagreement. If you genuinely are simply airing your opinion, and don't care about whether it convinces anybody else, then please don't post it to HN, since it is an actively anti-intellectual position. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. They're not entitled to immunity from critique, nor are they entitled to have their opinion be true nor provable.

exolymph 6y ago

I literally linked to Meaningness in the post lmao

Kednicma 6y ago
Understandable, and yet, you did not read. The page I linked says, openly, > Dropping religious beliefs is only a first step towards freeing ourselves from eternalism. And continues to explain how your beliefs, about how there are definite meanings and purposes to life, are illusions. The next page [0] states it clearly too: > We cling to the idea that there must be a cosmic plan because we fear that without one everything would be meaningless. But this is mistaken; which means that most ideas about meaningfulness and meaninglessness are mistaken. Fortunately, life is meaningful without any cosmic plan or ultimate source of meaning. If you like arete, you could also stand to read Pirsig. He was very concerned with ethics and values. Finally, to directly critique your metaphysics, please first consider this phrase you wrote: > Everything matters, because we feel everything, and thus it matters to us. And then consider Russell's teapot [1]. Does Russell's teapot matter, floating out there around the rings of Saturn? Can we feel it? A bit of consideration will show that, while everything is connected to everything, not everything affects everything else equally. We are, in fact, far more sensitive to things which are close to us. [0] https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot
- exolymph 6y ago
  It's really inconceivable to you that I simply disagree, huh?
  - Kednicma 6y ago
    It's quite conceivable. I believe my eyes; I read your words. But you have no evidence from which to justify your disagreement. If you genuinely are simply airing your opinion, and don't care about whether it convinces anybody else, then please don't post it to HN, since it is an actively anti-intellectual position. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. They're not entitled to immunity from critique, nor are they entitled to have their opinion be true nor provable.