# "It's all pointless" vs "So what? Have fun!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484 "2009-01-09T04:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Night\_so\_be\_it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@Night\_so\_be\_it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Night_so_be_it)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/21 "2009-01-10T03:05:51Z")
The pointlessness is the point in itself. Instead of dwelling on it, I embrace it and live with one aim: maximise happiness. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/22 "2009-01-10T03:21:07Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > I spend most of my time in state #2, but now and then, I’ll see something like old footage of a talk show from the 60’s or 70’s, where a young star/starlet is chatting with the host about his/her upcoming movie and other chit-chat, and I’ll compare it with all of today’s young stars/starlets on today’s talk shows doing the same thing, and it gets a bit depressing. It’s as if we are all part of this endless cycle where new generations come, think they are “happening” and “cool” and having fun, but they are just cogs in a big wheel of life and very soon they’ll be old and decrepit and looking at the next batch of young people doing all over again. Dude, you’re comparing the 60s and 70s to today. I mean, can you imagine working at a 7Eleven, going to a soda shop that’s a little too pedestrian as in _Happy Days_? That was the 70s. The 80s had arcade games. The 90s, super soakers. It’s depressing to compare stars and starlets from the 70s to today? :dubious: Don’t you think Emma Roberts aspires to be like her aunt, Julia Roberts? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/23 "2009-01-10T04:01:10Z")
I guess I’d go for #2…but I wouldn’t choose a very upbeat phrasing though. Our short existence, and gradual decline into decrepitude is depressing. We can find some positive things to do within that time however. I’m actually pretty happy in my everyday life. But that’s only because 99% of the time I’m caught up in the moment, and behave as though I’m going to live indefinitely. But in that 1% of the time when I reflect on the Big Picture, I get depressed. And I think I’m right to: as far as we understand, the Big Picture sucks. It’s in my nature to tell it like it is. All this stuff about “Life’s great _because_ it’s short” is just the standard BS people say to try to make themselves feel better about a situation that they have no control over. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/24 "2009-01-10T06:00:26Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > b) by always being aware of the ideas expressed in #1, but having the outlook that, despite those ideas, it is not something we should “cry” over, and we should just focus on the present and enjoy life. I guess this is how I see it. If you believe that the material world is all there is to existence, everything - absolutely everything, **including our impact on other people or future generations** - is probably ultimately meaningless, unless there is something more to the universe than we currently understand or perceive. Personally, I find some consolation in the idea that, yes, there is a lot that we don’t currently understand about the nature of the universe and human consciousness, and it is conceivable that there is something more to existence than meets the eye. Of course, this issue also is why so many people want so badly to believe in religions: it gives them a meaning in life. It is interesting to wonder if the aforementioned Martin Luther King would have been so motivated to change things and risk his life for his ideals if he hadn’t been religious and thought that he would have eternal life in which to reap the benefits of his efforts. Even if everything is pointless, though, I still think to myself: does it help to dwell on that? I can’t change the situation by being miserable about it, so might as well try to find something to be happy about instead. Even if being happy is pointless, it still beats being miserable over something pointless. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/25 "2009-01-10T12:56:07Z")
I’m an animal with an emotional response to the things happening near me, and feel a sense of reward when I make them better. So, unsurprisingly, I spend much of my time trying to do so. I live in a kind of harmony that is strongest when I help those I love or help things that are bigger than I am (like a group effort of some kind). I also note that other people’s actions are consistent with them being in the same situation, so it’s my model for how everybody works. Interestingly, it explains why dogs seem so happy when they are pleasing their masters or the leaders of their packs, and it explains religion. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/26 "2009-01-10T23:31:01Z")
Sure, life is probably pointless. But it beats the alternative. Since you probably AREN’T going to die in 10 minutes, the point is to make it meaningful for yourself and maybe some people around you. People find points in funny things. I spent an hour on Facebook messaging with some high school friends I haven’t seen in 15 years about the supermarket they demolished in our home town. It wasn’t particularly nice and most of us probably haven’t thought about it in 15 years, but it happened to be a fixture from our childhood. I think life is mostly a series of not particularly profound events or places or interactions that someone become significant. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/27 "2009-01-11T00:23:31Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > I seem to oscillate between two approaches to life: > > 1. It’s all pointless. No matter what we do, how many great things we achieve, we will all age, wither away and die. > > 2. So what if it is all pointless? Just enjoy your time here! I spend 100% of my time in the _3rd_ approach to life: 1. Everything I achieve has a significant point and when I die, the Big Guy in the Sky will reward my great achievements by granting me everlasting consciousness in a magnificent plane of existence, with 72 virgins and a couple of large breasted contortionists who’ve been around the block a few times. If I didn’t believe that, I’d spend more time kicking puppies. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484/28 "2009-01-11T04:35:02Z")
Watched “Rear Window” for the fourth time last night. What a brilliant film; people will be watching it for centuries, I hope. Why are you watching old interviews of stars? Frankly I’d love to see a few old interviews with Jimmy Stewart or Grace Kelly, or Thelma Ritter. Anyway, it’s not all pointless. Most of what we do crumbles to dust, and good riddance, but there is a bit, a small bit, maybe a tenth of a percent that carries on. Look at what people are quoting to persuade you; Shakespeare and de Bergerac and Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, all long dead and anything but forgotten. Maybe you’ll be being quoted in a hundred or a thousand years, or hung up somewhere or being watched on some future iPod. It happens all the time, and you’ve got a better chance at it than winning the lottery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-all-pointless-vs-so-what-have-fun/480484.md?page=1)