# LIFE - will we EVER know the point? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 5, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699 "2002-12-05T15:36:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/1 "2002-12-05T15:36:23Z")
☹ the great meaning of life debate… do u think YOUR life has meaning? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/2 "2002-12-05T15:37:50Z")
If we haven’t figured out the “meaning of life” by now, chances are it **has** no “meaning.” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/3 "2002-12-05T15:41:30Z")
😉 bloody good point! scary though, dont u agree, that we will NEVER probably know JUST WHAT and WHY we are even here. ---
**Author:** ![Tehanu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@Tehanu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tehanu)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/4 "2002-12-05T15:41:43Z")
I’m working with the notion that the meaning of life is to find out what makes you happy, and strive to achieve that. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/5 "2002-12-05T15:43:13Z")
I’m with Tracer. I suspect life has no “point”, it just _is_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/6 "2002-12-05T15:45:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tehanu \* > \*\*I’m working with the notion that the meaning of life is to find out what makes you happy, and strive to achieve that. \*\* 😛 A good notion, but a perhaps materialistic one… looking out 4 maybe ourselves and only ourselves? Unless of course helping otheres makes you happy… :smack: Maybe death holds the answers… and that’s such a frustrating thought to have ! ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/7 "2002-12-05T15:57:09Z")
A gene is interested only in its propagation, it has no preference for the survival of its own carrier. You are the carrier, your job is to propagate your genes. That’s your point. Everything else is just a smokescreen. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/8 "2002-12-05T16:01:53Z")
Aro - a cold and logical way of looking at it. But as the superior race in the game of Evolution, we have the ability to form complex relationships, so we are so much more than that… or so that’s what we’d like to think. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/9 "2002-12-05T16:04:51Z")
What **tracer** said. What meaning we give it, is what meaning it has. To climb the great hieghts, to walk through the valleys, and know them. The struggle of the race, and the exhileration of crossing that finish line. To rise above the animals, to be perfect in moral stature, and grow in our intelligence. To build, to grow, to command and dominate. A cold glass of water on a hot day, a hot shower on a cold one. Life in harmony with oneself, and a steady progress towards ones goals. Life is to experience. Experience greatly, sadly and happily. The darkness, the light, the sweet, and the sour. A tapestry of contrasting highlights that define beauty and give us contentment. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/10 "2002-12-05T16:09:32Z")
Epimetheus … 🙂 i like that notion… life is a range of experiences for us to take in our hand, and sample all. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/11 "2002-12-05T16:10:10Z")
Any species can form a complex relationship, from ants to birds to gorillas. This is not what gives you uniqueness. And yes, we are unique, but there is nothing unique about being unique. Does self-consciousness guarantee a greater reason to be, or rather just a greater facility to question / ponder the reasons? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/12 "2002-12-05T16:18:25Z")
self-consciousness prob plays a big part in our ability to question… wen i say complex realtionships, i shud have mentioned our ability to use LANGUAGE and its massive role in the dominance of our species. Language means we hav deeply complex relationships… do u think animals LOVE one another as deeply as we can ? ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/13 "2002-12-05T16:21:03Z")
42 unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/14 "2002-12-05T16:21:39Z")
What is love but an attachment in a social setting. You love that which you are familiar with, or hate, however dissimilar those emotions are. Yes, I think animals love each other as deeply as we can. Can they express it, as humans can intellectually? No. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/15 "2002-12-05T16:26:38Z")
Why on earth would you consider existence - in the absence of a common “purpose” - scary? And an argument could be made for the evolutionary superiority of bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/16 "2002-12-05T16:57:56Z")
Jeez, it’s just a picture magazine. I guess some people like to look at pretty pictures. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@don\_t\_be\_a\_jerk-off](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_be_a_jerk-off)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/17 "2002-12-05T17:31:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dinsdale \* > \*\*Why on earth would you consider existence - in the absence of a common “purpose” - scary? > \*\* :rolleyes: because it is scary not knowing why the fcuk we’re here ! i suppose i think too much. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/18 "2002-12-05T17:51:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t be a jerk-off \* > \*\*i suppose i think too much. \*\* Not necessarily! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/19 "2002-12-05T17:59:37Z")
I don’t worry about whether my life itself, as a whole, has meaning. Its all the little bits that I think do have meaning… those are the ones that I’m scared of losing. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699/20 "2002-12-05T19:32:05Z")
I know the meaning of mine. It’s to act out a moral play. Whether that’s the meaning of anyone else’s, I haven’t a clue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-will-we-ever-know-the-point/140699.md?page=2)