There is no real meaning to life.

Edit3: Also I won't be writing any more sensational blogs with gotcha headlines. 
 
Edit2: Can we please let this thread die? Please? I don't want to be thought of as the downer GBer? Me and my girlfriend split up and I had a moment of negativity.  
 
 EDIT: Okay this is really getting out of hand. I now have 111 messages in my inbox and for some crazy reason this has more then 10000 views. I wasn't trying to stir up any controversy or anything like that. Actually I wrote this at 4am after being slightly buzzed. I wasn't looking at it from an emotional or spiritual point of view but a simply factual one. Most people who reply never really read what I wrote but simply make a comment based on their own opinions on the title. MORE then a few have posted many suggestions to me personally. I never said anything about my personal life so what is with all the advice? Many of you say that I need to fall in love. If you would have read my article, you would realize that love is just your brain flooding with chemicals to give you pleasure. It's merely a biological function. I was merely interested in having a discussion over a fact based meaning of life. MANY of you did give good points though, which I appreciate. This was actually my first blog I ever wrote, isn't this what a blog is supposed to be about? My thoughts?
 
 

There is no real meaning to life.

This may sound like an extreme statement, but I was just laying in bed and my mind was running rampant over all the   different possible meanings and reasons, humans are around. The only logical conclusion is that there is none. We are nothing more than biological automatons.  We are robots powered by electrical impulses and chemicals nothing more.   What makes you different from a mouse or a dog? Nothing. You inject a dose of adrenaline into either and you get the same response.   Both mice and humans have the same basic biology. Humans have a much more advanced brain, but where has that got us? Has life generally improved?

                We sit in our air conditioned houses and apartments, staring at lit boxes for hours and hours at a time for what? Happiness? out of boredom? It seems that we are wasting away the hours that we have. I shouldn't say waste as there really isn't anything more important to do. We could all get our PHD's in Science, Medicine, History, or Medicine, but for what purpose? Financial gain? Sure, you may have a greater understanding of the world around you, but to what end? Create a pill that cures all disease? Solve our energy problems? Even if you did those, you wouldn't solve anything. Our world is already overpopulated, by billions.   Humans have done a great job at filling our planet. Is there an end in sight? How long can we keep doubling our population without some great catastrophe happening?

                If six billion people lived as American's do, the world would be a mess. We throw away and waste more than any other civilization   in the history of the world. Sure, India and China may have much higher populations, but as of now they eat mostly vegetables, being the cheaper option. If every person in these countries drove cars and ate beef the energy required to produce all of those commodities would be incredible.

                So here we are. Sitting in front of our computers, whiling away the hours. We all grow older, one day at a time until we die. Some say the reason for life is, the pursuit of happiness. Forgive me if I copy the phrase from Will Smith's movie but the line seems to fit perfectly. But what truly is happiness? Is it the chemical rush from endorphins clogging the receptors in our brains so we feel pleasure? You people realize they make drugs for this same reason. Ever heard of anti-depressants? Millions of people override their brain chemistry with artificial drugs. You can self induce happiness with a pill. What if you could hook yourself up to a machine that would make you permanently happy? It could provide you with a limitless supply of the chemical / electrical stimulant needed. Would you do it? Why not? Sure makes things easier in the long run. What's the point of working at a hard job to earn money to spend on things that make you happy? You wouldn't need to do that.

                A biologist would tell you that the purpose of an organism is to replicate itself. Be it sexual or a-sexual reproduction, it only succeeds if it passes on its genes. The earliest organisms on the planet were simple replicating chains of organic molecules. A Siberian Tiger is really just a fancy gene-replicating machine, it is looking for a way to make the next generation. So are we. We are also just gene-replicating machines.   You know this is true. Why do you look at porn? Or want a girlfriend? You want that rush of pleasure as all those chemicals hit your brain, nothing more and nothing less. Billions of dollars are made on just simple human chemical needs. Even the feeling of love is chemically based, in face after a few years your brain can't receive this chemical anymore and you can't feel it anymore. That's why so many marriages fail after a few years. I bet you want me to sight a source on that one... we I am to tired and lazy to do it. There are excellent papers out there. Just go click Google.

                You may say, "But wait, what about art, mathematics, and the ability to self recognize?". These things all stem from the fact that we have such powerful brains. Other animals have the ability to count as well as recognize themselves in mirrors. As for art, that is something much less tangible. One person's work of art is another person's trash. We can all say, yes the pyramids were an amazing build and took an infinitely long amount of man hours to make but to some it might not be art. Is pure isosceles triangle art?

                I have been a bit glib, sure there are ways of stopping our population growth. Educating women around the globe puts a huge damper on growth as women seek careers instead of huge families. Subsistence farmers need big families to keep to make a livelihood. A more educated population produces much less children. Look at Europe, many of the countries there have negative population growth.

                Anyway, didn't mean to get side tracked.   I just want to conclude by saying that there really isn't meaning to us being here. Whether  you work your entire life, to retire in a nursing home or make millions in the stock market. It won't make any difference a thousand years from now. So keep staring at that screen, limit your human interactions, eat a terrible diet, smoke cigarettes, do whatever is easiest to keep those happy chemicals flowing to your brain. Feeling bummed out? Have a Twinkie! I hear pot has mood boosting attributes.

Edit3: Also I won't be writing any more sensational blogs with gotcha headlines. 
 
Edit2: Can we please let this thread die? Please? I don't want to be thought of as the downer GBer? Me and my girlfriend split up and I had a moment of negativity.  
 
 EDIT: Okay this is really getting out of hand. I now have 111 messages in my inbox and for some crazy reason this has more then 10000 views. I wasn't trying to stir up any controversy or anything like that. Actually I wrote this at 4am after being slightly buzzed. I wasn't looking at it from an emotional or spiritual point of view but a simply factual one. Most people who reply never really read what I wrote but simply make a comment based on their own opinions on the title. MORE then a few have posted many suggestions to me personally. I never said anything about my personal life so what is with all the advice? Many of you say that I need to fall in love. If you would have read my article, you would realize that love is just your brain flooding with chemicals to give you pleasure. It's merely a biological function. I was merely interested in having a discussion over a fact based meaning of life. MANY of you did give good points though, which I appreciate. This was actually my first blog I ever wrote, isn't this what a blog is supposed to be about? My thoughts?
 
 

There is no real meaning to life.

This may sound like an extreme statement, but I was just laying in bed and my mind was running rampant over all the   different possible meanings and reasons, humans are around. The only logical conclusion is that there is none. We are nothing more than biological automatons.  We are robots powered by electrical impulses and chemicals nothing more.   What makes you different from a mouse or a dog? Nothing. You inject a dose of adrenaline into either and you get the same response.   Both mice and humans have the same basic biology. Humans have a much more advanced brain, but where has that got us? Has life generally improved?

                We sit in our air conditioned houses and apartments, staring at lit boxes for hours and hours at a time for what? Happiness? out of boredom? It seems that we are wasting away the hours that we have. I shouldn't say waste as there really isn't anything more important to do. We could all get our PHD's in Science, Medicine, History, or Medicine, but for what purpose? Financial gain? Sure, you may have a greater understanding of the world around you, but to what end? Create a pill that cures all disease? Solve our energy problems? Even if you did those, you wouldn't solve anything. Our world is already overpopulated, by billions.   Humans have done a great job at filling our planet. Is there an end in sight? How long can we keep doubling our population without some great catastrophe happening?

                If six billion people lived as American's do, the world would be a mess. We throw away and waste more than any other civilization   in the history of the world. Sure, India and China may have much higher populations, but as of now they eat mostly vegetables, being the cheaper option. If every person in these countries drove cars and ate beef the energy required to produce all of those commodities would be incredible.

                So here we are. Sitting in front of our computers, whiling away the hours. We all grow older, one day at a time until we die. Some say the reason for life is, the pursuit of happiness. Forgive me if I copy the phrase from Will Smith's movie but the line seems to fit perfectly. But what truly is happiness? Is it the chemical rush from endorphins clogging the receptors in our brains so we feel pleasure? You people realize they make drugs for this same reason. Ever heard of anti-depressants? Millions of people override their brain chemistry with artificial drugs. You can self induce happiness with a pill. What if you could hook yourself up to a machine that would make you permanently happy? It could provide you with a limitless supply of the chemical / electrical stimulant needed. Would you do it? Why not? Sure makes things easier in the long run. What's the point of working at a hard job to earn money to spend on things that make you happy? You wouldn't need to do that.

                A biologist would tell you that the purpose of an organism is to replicate itself. Be it sexual or a-sexual reproduction, it only succeeds if it passes on its genes. The earliest organisms on the planet were simple replicating chains of organic molecules. A Siberian Tiger is really just a fancy gene-replicating machine, it is looking for a way to make the next generation. So are we. We are also just gene-replicating machines.   You know this is true. Why do you look at porn? Or want a girlfriend? You want that rush of pleasure as all those chemicals hit your brain, nothing more and nothing less. Billions of dollars are made on just simple human chemical needs. Even the feeling of love is chemically based, in face after a few years your brain can't receive this chemical anymore and you can't feel it anymore. That's why so many marriages fail after a few years. I bet you want me to sight a source on that one... we I am to tired and lazy to do it. There are excellent papers out there. Just go click Google.

                You may say, "But wait, what about art, mathematics, and the ability to self recognize?". These things all stem from the fact that we have such powerful brains. Other animals have the ability to count as well as recognize themselves in mirrors. As for art, that is something much less tangible. One person's work of art is another person's trash. We can all say, yes the pyramids were an amazing build and took an infinitely long amount of man hours to make but to some it might not be art. Is pure isosceles triangle art?

                I have been a bit glib, sure there are ways of stopping our population growth. Educating women around the globe puts a huge damper on growth as women seek careers instead of huge families. Subsistence farmers need big families to keep to make a livelihood. A more educated population produces much less children. Look at Europe, many of the countries there have negative population growth.

                Anyway, didn't mean to get side tracked.   I just want to conclude by saying that there really isn't meaning to us being here. Whether  you work your entire life, to retire in a nursing home or make millions in the stock market. It won't make any difference a thousand years from now. So keep staring at that screen, limit your human interactions, eat a terrible diet, smoke cigarettes, do whatever is easiest to keep those happy chemicals flowing to your brain. Feeling bummed out? Have a Twinkie! I hear pot has mood boosting attributes.

So kill yourself, then.
 
@Jack_Daniels said:

" Whether  you work your entire life, to retire in a nursing home or make millions in the stock market. It won't make any difference a thousand years from now. "

" So keep staring at that screen, limit your human interactions, eat a terrible diet, smoke cigarettes, do whatever is easiest to keep those happy chemicals flowing to your brain. "

Well you're just a Negative Nancy, now aren't ya? ^_^

*walks in* 
 
Oh. 
 
*walks out*

tl;dr

" tl;dr "

There is not enough information to confirm or deny the meaning of life. Yet.

The answer is 42.

Oh God damn, snap out of it.
Enjoy life for what it is, rather than for what you want it to be.

An interesting answer to your question can be found in Freud's Civilisation and its Discontents as to why humans have not grown any more content despite having far less to fear than at any other time in history. What I can infer from your post is that what you're arguing is "if there's no intrinsic meaning to life, then we might as well pursue what makes up happy, with little regard as to what that activity is". It could be looked down upon by society, unhealthy, mindless, etc.
Of course, there are many different ways of describing happiness, and "constant pleasure" doesn't seem to me to be the best way to conceive that state. Yes, it's obvious that there is no objective meaning to our existence, except for the values that inform who we are and our direction as a culture. What you're describing is a capitalistic way of viewing life, naturalising the consumption of experiences and objects, but that's not the only way to give meaning to one's existence. I view it as a shitty one.
In other words, the values we have are informed by our society, they don't emerge fully-formed from one's own brain without any influence from outside. Perhaps it's best to begin looking for alternatives rather than just stopping at the realisation that no value-system is objectively grounded.

Now I didn't read the majority of your post, I just wanted to say "good on you for noticing". Now spend the rest of your life ignoring this train of thought and go and have some good fun with the tools that're given to you. 
I dunno, play a videogame or something.

All we are is dust in the wind, dude.

Of course there is no purpose, but you are here so enjoy the ride. No reason getting depressed about it, that won't change anything.

This thread is way too deep for me^^

ITT: Some dude tries to look smart by publicly ranting about the futility of life. Of course he first starts out by implying his post is out of boredom, so that he has an easy out when someone calls him on his bullshit.

Pale blue dot.

" Pale blue dot. "

 @Manhattan_Project said:

" *walks in*  Oh.  *walks out* "

It is because we have such powerful minds that we are able to create meaning and purpose. Whether it be small such as training an animal or crating something that others around you will enjoy, or large such as making discoveries that change the way we view the world forever.
 
Don't worry, you'll change your mindset as you get older and begin to realize that you don't need to save the universe to have meaning or purpose in life.

PROFOUND 
 
SADNESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Life is not about the destination. The destination is the same for all of us -- death. It's about the journey there.
 
Just because you may think that others are wasting their lives, it doesn't mean that they think the same. Don't try to generalize and simply people like that. It makes you seem obnoxious.

Nihilism is so boring. The meaning of life is what you make it. Are you really so pathetic that you need a divine reason to get out of bed in the morning?

Why the fuck are people so hung up on that things have to have meaning, just enjoy the world with all it's wonders...and games 
 
Cheers for life!

Dude you're lucky to live out your miserable existence as a human. 

" Nihilism is so boring. The meaning of life is what you make it. Are you really so pathetic that you need a divine reason to get out of bed in the morning? "

" Of course there is no purpose, but you are here so enjoy the ride. No reason getting depressed about it, that won't change anything. "

Deep. 
 
Get busy living or get busy dying. Your choice. 
 
I once read this interesting story online that went something like; 
 
 When someone asks you what would you do if you got a terminal illness and you didn't have long to live you will normally say you want to do really positive, fulfilling things, enjoying every day you have left to the absolute maximum. Well, you do have a terminal illness; it's called the human condition and you really don't have a lot of time left. So, what are you going to do?

Of course there's meaning to life, and it's this: To propagate. This must be a truism because without propagation, there is no life.

The meaning of life is as follows
 

Live life like they're gonna write a song about it.

Well, duh.  There is a meaning to life though, we're hardwired to pass our genes on, so in a way that's the only true meaning of life.  

The meaning of life for Humans has always been simple, reproduction.

Well, duh. Humanity is a parasite; we're just here to breed and suck more life out of the earth. Get over it.

Video games.

" tl;dr "

If the meaning of life is to reproduce, it will ultimately destroy us in the end, as the earth can't handle an infinite number of creatures. No, there is no meaning of life, at least not to me. If there were some kind of purpose to life, that would suggest that it has been created willingly by someone or something, and not by some coincidence of space stuff colliding, which is what I believe. That said, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy life while you can and try to make the most of it.

"

"

" Now I didn't read the majority of your post, I just wanted to say "good on you for noticing". Now spend the rest of your life ignoring this train of thought and go and have some good fun with the tools that're given to you. I dunno, play a videogame or something. "

"   

"

I kind of agree, but you should enjoy your life for what it is anyway.

" @zudthespud: Carl Sagan is great, that video would have been a great way to open Civilization V. "

" @Alexander said:

"

"

That made me chuckle! I've never seen that gif before. "

Man, someone's feeling cheerful. 

Make you own meaning

Nihilism is weakness.