# Why are we alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 24, 2012, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931 "2012-05-24T08:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/21 "2012-05-24T17:33:05Z")
\*\* Why are we alive?\*\* Because 2 people of the opposite gender’s hips slammed together \*\* What’s the point of being alive when after a couple of decades we die.\*\* Because the above is fun even if something isnt alive because of it. \*\* Who/what is responsible for starting life on planet earth and who/what is it?\*\* Me. \*\* Why did bring forth life on this planet?\*\* The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind… Pull my finger? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/22 "2012-05-24T17:34:35Z")
> [@thepillar](#): > > What’s the point of being alive when after a couple of decades we die. Who says there needs to be a point? Do animals care whether there is any “point” to their living? No, they simply live. “Why are we alive?” “Why” is a confusing word because it conflates two very different questions into one package that therefore sounds more profound than it is: “From what cause?” and “For what purpose?” Every observable event or phenomenon has a cause, but not every one has a purpose. So far as we know, living things exist because (very primitive) living things can emerge out of certain environmental conditions, and then they can reproduce and evolve. That does not imply any overall purpose to the whole business, nor to the life of any individual organism. Biological evolution, certainly, has no teleologies; it happens like water running downhill, and finding its channel this way or that. If a species finds a stable niche, it might continue virtually unchanged for millions of years like the horseshoe crab; there is no impetus for it to evolve “upward.” There are no [Evolutionary Levels.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvolutionaryLevels) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/23 "2012-05-24T17:37:08Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > A couple of decades? Has life expectancy suddenly suffered some kind of precipitous drop I was not aware of? One hour, 100 years, it’s all the same _sub specie aeternatis._ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/24 "2012-05-24T17:38:47Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > King Solomon asked the first question in Lamentations (Old Testament), his conclusion is it’s pointless. > > My take on it, which involved a belief that God will save us, is we are not ‘living’ in the true godly sense of the word, but actually we are in eternal death, a cycle of continuously dieing over and over in a ‘soul sense’ sometimes called reincarnation. Do you have any Scriptural (i.e., Biblical) authority for reincarnation? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/25 "2012-05-24T17:40:06Z")
“I s’pect I just growed. Don’t think nobody never made me.” – Topsy, _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/26 "2012-05-24T17:43:43Z")
The purpose of life is to live. Life is the end not the means. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/27 "2012-05-24T17:50:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Do you have any Scriptural (i.e., Biblical) authority for reincarnation? When a person has Archangels come down and fix traffic tickets for them, [they don’t need scriptural authority](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14480032&postcount=254). ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/28 "2012-05-24T18:37:06Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > A couple of decades? Has life expectancy suddenly suffered some kind of precipitous drop I was not aware of? For very large values of couple. ---
**Author:** ![Lightlystarched](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Lightlystarched](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightlystarched)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/29 "2012-05-24T19:08:20Z")
Actually, we are just the vehicles created by our masters, the bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/30 "2012-05-24T19:18:07Z")
> [@thepillar](#): > > What’s the point of being alive when after a couple of decades we die. Who/what is responsible for starting life on planet earth and who/what is it? Why did bring forth life on this planet? 1. Every day you decide for yourself whether to continue or not. 2-a. Best educated guess? A chemical reaction. 2-b. Best uneducated guess? Pick the myth that fits you. 3-a. When it comes to chemical reactions, thems the breaks. 3-b. When it comes to mythological entities…whatever the myth says it is. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/31 "2012-05-24T19:25:56Z")
Why presume a point? What need is there for one? ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/32 "2012-05-24T19:39:38Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > This. > > Which is sometimes sad as I know I could have used an instruction guide. I hear you, brother, and I would guess that it’s more common than we think. My grandmother used to have a saying hanging on the wall (in mock German for some reason): “We are too soon oldt, and too late schmart.”🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/33 "2012-05-25T02:06:07Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > We are here because the laws of physics allow the evolution of sentient life. > > Of all the matter in the universe, only some small, truly infinitesimal quantity ends up being able to think and feel. The vast, vast majority of matter is in stars, rock, gasses or dust. Unthinking, insensate, simply existing. > > But you, and I and everyone else here, of all that insensate matter, have been lucky enough to have consciousness. We exist. We know we exist. And we get to see the rest of the universe and have some level of joy. > > The point of living is that you, of all the matter in the universe has been gifted with consciousness. It’s only for a small window of time. It’s subject to a lot of conditions. But it’s yours. You get to have a blip of reality and understanding before going back to oblivion. You get to love someone. You get to raise children. You get to stain the deck in your back yard. > > To suggest that life has no point if it ends is utterly missing the point. It does end, so use what you have. Yes but why do the laws of physics exist? Is it because of God? Then why does God exist? What’s the point of anything existing? And how did it come to exist. Did the universe just create itself because the laws of physics allow that to happen? Then why do the laws of physics exist? I don’t know that anyone will ever know the answers to these questions. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/34 "2012-05-25T02:19:44Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > Yes but why do the laws of physics exist? Is it because of God? Then why does God exist? > > What’s the point of anything existing? And how did it come to exist. Did the universe just create itself because the laws of physics allow that to happen? Then why do the laws of physics exist? > > I don’t know that anyone will ever know the answers to these questions. The most basic unanswered question of cosmology is, “Why is there something instead of nothing?” ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/35 "2012-05-25T10:36:16Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > 1. Yes but why do the laws of physics exist? > 2)Is it because of God? Then why does God exist? 1. There is no point. I’ll just repost a bit from **Brainglutton** who, I think, said it best > [@](#): > > “Why” is a confusing word because it conflates two very different questions into one package that therefore sounds more profound than it is: “From what cause?” and “For what purpose?” …That does not imply any overall purpose to the whole business… iow: stuff happens. 2) See how adding a God doesn’t add a purpose either. Indeed the next question is: What’s the purpose of an afterlife? what’s the purpose of God? ---
**Author:** ![thepillar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@thepillar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thepillar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/36 "2012-05-25T14:05:07Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > The Old Ones. You lack the abilities necessary to comprehend our purposes. Would you care to elaborate who these Old Ones are? ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/37 "2012-05-25T14:11:57Z")
> [@thepillar](#): > > Would you care to elaborate who these Old Ones are? Wait here, I’ll go grab the Necronomicon. ---
**Author:** ![thepillar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@thepillar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thepillar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/38 "2012-05-25T14:30:52Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Do you think there’d be a point to being alive if we lived a heck of a lot longer? I think that the generally- allotted 5 to 7 decades is too short for one to finally figure out what the hell one is doing on a sphere that spins on its axis and around the sun. ---
**Author:** ![thepillar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@thepillar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thepillar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/39 "2012-05-25T14:33:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Who says there needs to be a point? A human being has organs which have specific functions: hands, the brain, blood capillaries, the heart, mouth, nose, digestive system etc. Each organ has its own “point” and works harmoniously with the rest. Just like a motor vehicle’s point, which consists of different parts fulfilling a specific task, is generally transportation, there should likewise be a general “point” for humans who like the vehicle have many parts carrying out different functions. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931/40 "2012-05-25T14:35:09Z")
> [@thepillar](#): > > I think that the generally- allotted 5 to 7 decades is too short for one to finally figure out what the hell one is doing on a sphere that spins on its axis and around the sun. But you’re not the only one trying to figure it out. Billions of people have for thousands of years. The total man/hours put into it is staggering and it still hasn’t been answered. Face it, it probably never will be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-alive/622931.md?page=3)