5 ms·
> 3. Ethics matter. I don't believe there's any life after this one Serious, non-troll question: why bother? If there isn't any scope outside of the current p
by smitty1e 10mo ago
> 3. Ethics matter. I don't believe there's any life after this one
Serious, non-troll question: why bother?
If there isn't any scope outside of the current perceived existence, and we're all so much "smart dirt", then the difference between kindness and malevolence seems moot.
Note: I do subscribe to an explicit meaning to life, so this is posed more to express bewilderment at the alternative than reveal any anxiety on my end.
- cootsnuck 10mo agoI personally don't think belief in an afterlife should be necessary to believe it's worthwhile to not be shitty to people. "What goes around comes around" suffices for me. Call it "ethics", call it "maximizing outcomes for all involved stakeholders", call it "karma", "good business", or "kindness"...whatever you call it, I don't think it's difficult to find your own personal justification for it if you want to.
- smitty1e 10mo ago> "What goes around comes around" suffices for me. As you say. Best wishes, in any case.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- esseph 10mo agoWhen friends and family and acquaintances think of your name after you are gone, will they miss you? Then congratulations, you probably lived a good life and contributed in positive ways to humanity. I guess the question is: Do you want your time here to have impacted others in a positive way or not?
- surgical_fire 10mo agoThe universe is meaningless and the world is cursed. Sentient beings are the ones ascribing meaning to the meaningless, uncaring universe. You have only a short amount of time while you can do this. Once life is finished, you just become inert matter. Curiously enough, I don't think this invites nihilism. The opposite, really. The difference between kindness and malevolence exists because we perceive a difference, and give meaning to actions - they are either kind or malevolent. If we can give meaning to things, it is imperative that we do so, and act accordingly. It is out little defiance to the great enveloping cosmic nothing.
- smitty1e 10mo ago> The universe is meaningless and the world is cursed. Certainly a possibility.
- MattPalmer1086 10mo agoYou seem to assume that you can only have a meaning to life if there is an afterlife. Most people judge themselves against a narrative that matters to them. Most people do not want to cast themselves as a villain in their story. You may ask "but what does it matter if we are all dirt". It matters to them, even if there is no godlike perspective above it all. To be honest, I'm not actually sure why having an afterlife or some super-being would create any more explicit meaning for an individual life.
- mlrtime 10mo agoOne can make the argument that certain religious practices would help a person realize what OP is feeling all the time about morals, not just in front of their death bed. Lots of replies here about after life, and just doing the right thing because you're supposed to or "empathy", yet there are a set of people like OP who only observe this when their life is put in front of them for review, maybe they do need religion?
- smitty1e 10mo ago> Most people judge themselves against a narrative that matters to them. Most people do not want to cast themselves as a villain in their story. This is a reasonably assertion as far as it goes. At the risk of being a dripping faucet, I'm poking at "Why?", given an inevitable return to the dust from which all came.
- arghpirate 10mo agothat's what I thought if you don't believe in God then the only sensible option is to maximise your function while you still breathe.
- smitty1e 10mo agoWhat I'm questioning is how we got to 'sensible' here.