I believe that an excess of cynism is rather childish. I'm rather childish, though.

mchekhov 2: Chek Harder wrote:

Skyab23 wrote:Regarding humanity...I feel what an individual does, he does because of a personal satisfaction he gets. Even if that is helping another person, or donating to a charity, there is an inherent feeling of pride that we're doing something right. But regarding Rust Cohle's philosophy, I think much of what he says is certainly true.

Quick, name your great great grandfather. You probably cannot, as is the case with almost everyone. That is in essence, part of Rust's argument: what we do, in the grand scheme of things, is irrelevant because no one will remember us many years after we're gone. We become a faded memory. We make ourselves feel better by telling ourselves what we're doing is making a difference, and perhaps on some small, insignificant scale, it is. But in regards to the universe, the future and our legacy, our actions are pointless.

So what is the point of living? I guess Rust's final moments in the show give one some sense of reasoning (although it's likely just our programming reassuring us )

Great, life is pointless and Cohle is 2deep4u. Now what? Are you gonna kill yourself because you consider life some grand irony or something? Of course not. Our limited time on this planet is precisely what gives life it's significance so enjoy it wouldja

Life is pointless in the grand scheme of the vastness of this universe. Like I said, name your great great grandparents. You can't. And that's exactly the point. You can live your life in front of you in the best way possible (that's what we do, and that is worthwhile in our limited perspective as individuals;), but years down the line, no one will remember you, or what you did, or what your favorite movie or color was. You are insignificant to this universe. If I die tonight, the world keeps spinning. We are not as important as we convince ourselves.

Talking about problems that (do) exist "out there" in the world isn't even close to being realistic. The burden of conscioussness and the issues of existence are supposed to concern or even strongly intrigue you but if you're so bothered by them then you're simply suffering from uncertainty in perceived self-worth and you're projecting that onto matters of universal signifficance. Nothing makes sense and has a purpose because you don't make sense to yourself and can't figure out what to do. There's an infinity of reasons for why even the most horrible of truths are supposed to be the way they are but all of that is noise to you because you think you're broken and you need a promise of light at the end to feel fine. Existential anxiety ain't gonna shoo itself away, you need to supply your own light.

Normally I'd go for less pathos but heck.

Skyab23 wrote: Life is pointless in the grand scheme of the vastness of this universe. Like I said, name your great great grandparents. You can't. And that's exactly the point. You can live your life in front of you in the best way possible (that's what we do, and that is worthwhile in our limited perspective as individuals;), but years down the line, no one will remember you, or what you did, or what your favorite movie or color was. You are insignificant to this universe. If I die tonight, the world keeps spinning. We are not as important as we convince ourselves.

Would you feel more fulfilled if life had an explicitly stated purpose? Would it change anything?

mchekhov 2: Chek Harder wrote:

Skyab23 wrote: Life is pointless in the grand scheme of the vastness of this universe. Like I said, name your great great grandparents. You can't. And that's exactly the point. You can live your life in front of you in the best way possible (that's what we do, and that is worthwhile in our limited perspective as individuals;), but years down the line, no one will remember you, or what you did, or what your favorite movie or color was. You are insignificant to this universe. If I die tonight, the world keeps spinning. We are not as important as we convince ourselves.

Would you feel more fulfilled if life had an explicitly stated purpose? Would it change anything?

No, I'd feel like a slave. If I wanted a fairy tale life that explicitly stated a purpose, I'd become religious and serve a God, with the promise that when I die, I can continue to serve Him at his altar. Sounds like a ravishing good time.

prince0gotham wrote:Talking about problems that (do) exist "out there" in the world isn't even close to being realistic. The burden of conscioussness and the issues of existence are supposed to concern or even strongly intrigue you but if you're so bothered by them then you're simply suffering from uncertainty in perceived self-worth and you're projecting that onto matters of universal signifficance. Nothing makes sense and has a purpose because you don't make sense to yourself and can't figure out what to do. There's an infinity of reasons for why even the most horrible of truths are supposed to be the way they are but all of that is noise to you because you think you're broken and you need a promise of light at the end to feel fine. Existential anxiety ain't gonna shoo itself away, you need to supply your own light.

Normally I'd go for less pathos but heck.

Well, I guess that's why I watch films then. The only light in an eternally dark world or something poetic like that.

RIFA wrote: By specifying you're not intentionally ignoring the positives you're kinda showing that you're doing exactly that.

For every negative thing you say about humanity there's at least a positive thing to balance it. This is why looking at humanity and paying more attention to the wrong things is absurd because you're ignoring all the equally important good things that happen.

I think that's an unfair statement. I am not ignoring the positives- in fact talking about it- mentioning it twice does not indicate that I am. I feel indifference is certainly an ugly side of humanity as well and there's a whole lot of going around. I'm not denying the capacity for good but to say that we have been in the past- or currently are capable of 'that' amount of good is somewhat naive.

Regarding life and its point: I don't believe there's an inherent point to life at all. But I don't think it's entirely doom and gloom. It's not particularly fair to go off myself if my life doesn't have a point. Developing your own reason for living through own choices and own life experiences is all worth it. A few others have already mentioned this. Perhaps, just perhaps there may be some initial cognitive dissonance here. Especially in reference to good and bad but I don't think there's much a of a problem- honestly I don't believe in inherent good and bad either but for all of us, our environments , our upbringing have informed our current views, our current morality. And that's a fascinating thing.

Ultimately, it's all about your own frame of reference and trying to reconcile it with the rest of the world. I think painting me as a doom merchant in unfair. I should clarify that I feel that we're doing more and more exciting things everyday but I also feel there are pockets of barbarism and oppression holding us back and that a large amount of us are growing more complacent and indifferent. I not a fan. We're living in what's being described as the most peaceful time in our history and of course we're in the most advanced era yet. I'm both excited and trepidatious to see where we go next.

Skyab23 wrote:You can live your life in front of you in the best way possible, but years down the line, no one will remember you, or what you did, or what your favorite movie or color was. You are insignificant to this universe.

This whole thing is a load of crap since if this were true we would have 0 history. Now you if we're talking history then we can reach this next conclusion. You are only insignificant to this universe if you're insignificant to Earth.

Which pretty much means that if you're insignificant to Earth then you didn't actually lived your life in the best way possible. So you do have a choice to make yourself remembered.

However it's much more than this. As long as you contribute to something/someone, as long as you are part of a whole... then you are not insignificant. Even if you cause nothing but damage, you're still significant. Not gonna go into a debate over how it's pretty much retarded to say that you're insignificant because nobody will remember you 100 years from now.

Cop 223 wrote:to say that we have been in the past- or currently are capable of 'that' amount of good is somewhat naive.

Explain.

Cop 223 wrote:I don't believe there's an inherent point to life at all.

Ehhh.

Cop 223 wrote: I'm both excited and trepidatious to see where we go next.

You will see worse. This Earth hasn't seen shit from the amount of bad things that can happen. Ahead of us is a total disaster. However, imagine how much good will come with that. It's fascinating.

RIFA, get real. The only people that history recollects by name are the 0.0001% of the history of the Earth's population. The Thomas Jeffersons, the Michael Jordans, the Hitlers, etc. Unless you're that one in a billion individual that really makes a historical difference, no one is going to care about you, or what you did, and they sure as hell won't remember you.

Like I said, name your great great grandparents, what contributions they made, etc. Most people cannot, and there's a reason for that. They're ultimately irrelevant. The likelihood is that you are and will be too. So will I. So will everyone who writes on Nolan Fans. That's not a knock against anyone, it's simply the truth. You can lie to yourself and tell yourself that you're important and that your contributions somehow matter to the future of the human race and nature...but you'd be hard pressed to make that case in a fact-based manner.

I think anyone who thinks their life is so important to the rest of the world and to the future of the universe is self-delusional. I live my life based on what gives me pleasure and satisfaction. For example, If someone is nice to me, I return the favor, because that makes me feel satisfied. I am however, under no illusions that what I do will matter in the grand scheme of things, hundreds of years from now when 2014 is but a distant memory.

I believe that everyone will be or is/was cold hearted at some point in their life.