I'm back

[Karha of Honor]

Yet you're giving me a hard time. Hypocrite much?

I honestly have no clue what do you mean.

When i think of online getting a hard time i think of 7 users going at me at the same time calling me a cocksucker and wishing death on me.

[Yukaphile]

You think dicks are people too, yet nihilists aren't?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Because life really has no meaning, does it? We all live, grow, have our own sins, just to varying degrees, we suffer, we have the same body functions, we're all tiny compared to the universe, and we die. Also generally speaking, I'm a misanthrope. I dislike humanity as a whole. Not individual people. But our species as a whole turns me off. We're awful to each other when you take into account the greater collective.

It's a pretty simple concept when you look at Earth as an anomaly. Based on what we scientifically know about the universe, there's no order that really requires our being. The magnitude of happenstance just kinda resulted in us having extensive consciousness.

So that's neither a good or a bad thing. We just are. Individually we're more inclined to find meaning through utility; pleasure opposite pain. Collectively though people are incentivised to find meaning through sustainability. The problem that you seem to be getting at though stems from how we establish collectives. They're typically discrete in the broad scheme of things and come across less than idealistic in their means of sustainability.

[Karha of Honor]

You think dicks are people too, yet nihilists aren't?

I don't like the current widened mainstream definition.

[Yukaphile]

I've decided to return. Yeah, I can hear those sphincters tightening, but I'm probably gonna shy away from politics, and stick to sci-fi discussions for now. As I already have a new topic for a thread in Video Reviews. Check that out if it suits you.

[clearspira]

You think dicks are people too, yet nihilists aren't?

I don't like the current widened mainstream definition.

There is little difference between atheism and nialism. If there is no God or gods, then there is no designed purpose behind the universe. We are all a fluke that came into being through a random series of events. And I think that scares a lot of people.

[Madner Kami]

There is little difference between atheism and nialism. If there is no God or gods, then there is no designed purpose behind the universe. We are all a fluke that came into being through a random series of events. And I think that scares a lot of people.

Actually that kinda depends on your outlook on what really constitutes a god. For instance, follow me on that thought, when this all is really a simulation we are all in or, that only I am in, or you, then there could be a designed purpose behind the universe. Argueably, the people who create that simulation in the first place are functionally gods within the constraints of this simulation, assuming they can change anything that is, though they certainly aren't gods in the traditional meaning.
Or we can take that a step further, same scenario, except that the creators just are not allowed to change the simulation while it is running. They wouldn't be gods if you look from outside the simulation, their lack of ability to interfere within the simulation functionally disqualifies them as gods, but the simulation still has a designed purpose.

You think dicks are people too, yet nihilists aren't?

I don't like the current widened mainstream definition.

Of what? Dicks, people or nihilists?

[Yukaphile]

I don't see any point in the universe because I question whether those who commit such evil crimes will face punishment someday, whether in this world or the next. The fact millions of people can do so and get away with it and have done so in the past is a frightening, sobering concept. I also question all our sacred beliefs people are raised with, that they hold as sacrosanct... do they really mean anything in the end, given how tiny we are next to the large, unexplored universe? I mean, the 93,000,000,000 light-years thing? Yeah, um... that'd be equivalent to being trapped in a lightbulb... on Pluto. The actual universe could and probably IS much larger and far more alien than we can comprehend. Of course, if reality is a simulation, it could very well be being run by apathetic or malevolent deities, or those too beyond our limited comprehension to understand. I feel it's pointless, however, because my religious faith is important to me, and I find it's been strained lately, not helped at all by how people today act, and no, I'm not talking about anyone on this forum.

[Madner Kami]

I don't see any point in the universe because I question whether those who commit such evil crimes will face punishment someday, whether in this world or the next. The fact millions of people can do so and get away with it and have done so in the past is a frightening, sobering concept. I also question all our sacred beliefs people are raised with, that they hold as sacrosanct... do they really mean anything in the end, given how tiny we are next to the large, unexplored universe? I mean, the 93,000,000,000 light-years thing? Yeah, um... that'd be equivalent to being trapped in a lightbulb... on Pluto. The actual universe could and probably IS much larger and far more alien than we can comprehend. Of course, if reality is a simulation, it could very well be being run by apathetic or malevolent deities, or those too beyond our limited comprehension to understand. I feel it's pointless, however, because my religious faith is important to me, and I find it's been strained lately, not helped at all by how people today act, and no, I'm not talking about anyone on this forum.

Can't be a nihilist and have a religious believe at the same time. Anyways, as we were already trying to tell you before, even if things have no meaning within the eyes of the universe, they clearly have meaning to us and even much clearer, to you. You put value in people treating each other nicely and there is nothing tangible within this reality that makes you do that, other than argueably your genetic programming and whatever your parents and society at large put into your head labelled as "proper behaviour".

I still think and I am sorry if I repeat myself here, that Terry Pratchett put it best when he let the Discworld's antropomorphized Death and his adopted daughter Susan have this dialogue:

“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.”

[Yukaphile]

Yeah, things matter to me. Being nice to others, or trying to be. My values and morals, the beliefs I was raised with. Even if there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I feel that's important.