Does it really matter?

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut

Yes it matters.

"Why," you ask? Simple. Because, if nobody gave a damn about any of these questions of morality and injustice, that we talk about (seemingly, pointlessly), then the world would be a much worse place for all of mankind - not just ourselves.

If everybody truly "didn't give a fuck", because it "doesn't matter, on a cosmic scale", then it would be a veritable Hell on Earth.

It is BECAUSE people care about these kinds of things enough to talk about them (even though talking about it 'doesn't matter') that there is a sense of balance.

One person's forum activity doesn't change the world. Ideologies change the world, and conversation is the conduit for ideology.

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Earth is unimaginably small. Do you think if noone cares and the world ends up supernuked, the whole universe is just going to say "Wait, wait, wait, thats not fair". No, it will continue until its end and if there is no end, it will continue until infinity. And if the world doesn't get nuked what then? we live on until the sun dies out? If we discover (When we discover) a faster means of travel, what then? Inhabit new planets lightyears away? And then? The inevitable destruction of the universe. Because if the universe doesn't end on its own, the expansion of civilisation will. (Considerring Humans as an example of sentient beings.) Sentient beings have a serious problem where they cannot consistently think rationally.

It is peoples sense of justice that will destroy things actually. Accidents happen and when they happen, someone usually ends up unhappy, and with an outlook of everything should be fair, that person will want to get even. I don't think I need to explain that, if this person does "get even". The other person will feel wronged as there action was accidental. And then it continues. :P

^ Seriously flawed? Yes. I however don't give a damn because it doesn't matter anyway

Kromoh, I was putting my own opinion forward in the original post, I was attempting to start a discussion based around the concept.

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Originally Posted by Lucid fanatic

Do you think if noone cares and the world ends up supernuked, the whole universe is just going to say "Wait, wait, wait, thats not fair". No, it will continue until its end and if there is no end, it will continue until infinity.

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IT'S STORY TIME!!

"One day a young man was walking down the beach when he saw something weird in the distance. As he approached he noticed that a man was throwing something into the ocean. The closer he got he saw that the man was throwing star fish into the sea over and over again. When he got close enough he noticed that the tide had washed hundreds of thousands of star fish onto the beach. They would be dried up by midday.

He shouted out to the man, "Sir what are you doing?"

The man replied, "I'm throwing these star fish in, they will die if I don't."

Shocked the young man answered "Surely you don't intend to throw all of them in? There are thousands and thousands of star fish out here. It won't matter, there are too many of them."

The man stopped and without speaking picked up another star fish. He threw it into the ocean. He gazed for a moment at the young man and said, "It mattered to that one".











I don't need the whole universe to acknowledge me to matter. And earth doesn't need everyone on it to acknowledge it to matter either. The earth only needs just one, just ONE consciousness to say "Earth, you matter" and it does.

Wow juroara, bravo. I've heard that story before, but this is the most timely use of it. Thanks for the minute of enlightenment.

If it doesn't matter, then why not try to end suffering? I mean it doesn't matter, right? But you have the privilege to contemplate these things. To others, they can't step back and philosophize that it doesn't matter. To the people in Haiti who are orphans, it matters, and it is real. It is real, not a philosophy. Reality is not a philosophy. If you are so privileged to be wasting your time asking these philosophical questions, you are privileged enough to be making a difference for the better, even if philosophically it doesn't matter, in reality it does matter.

It is true that all the injustice in the world, all the suffering man causes each other and the Earth, is all a natural part of the evolution of consciousness. And life is a flux. Sometimes things are out of balance and the earth trembles, tsunamis destroy villages, and things settle back into balance. A river starts out as a small headwaters, then a violent cascading rapids down the mountains, then a wide deep slow moving estuary that empties into the ocean. The journey from the headwaters to the ocean is rough, and many won't survive. Life is a flux.

Your evolution is a flux also. But your evolution has a point. What is the point to your evolution? Where are you headed? What is the destiny of the human race if you don't annihilate each other? Either you will destroy yourselves and countless other species, or you will face the dark abyss of death in the face and turn back and work together to bring back balance to each other and the earth. Either way, it doesn't mean anything, except a loss of a great opportunity for there to be something new and unheard of before in the Universe: a true humane human civilization. Either way, it doesn't mean anything.
But come to think about it, all the best things in life don't mean anything. Beauty doesn't mean anything, love doesn't mean anything, life doesn't mean anything, art doesn't matter, music doesn't matter, but it is all these things that make the universe worthwhile.
Humans can bring something new to this creation. You can bring equal rights, justice, peace, environmental balance, etc. You humans are very unique, you who brought laughter to the Earth, you who brought art and music to the Earth. None of these things were here before, yet they do not matter. It doesn't even matter if there is a universe or not, that is why there is one.

The Universe is always trying to reach new heights. It sends out branches in all directions. Something as pointless as laughter is a flowering of the Universe. End suffering and bring celebration to each other. It won't matter if you do, but it will matter to you. All of you will be so much happier. And you are the eyes and the ears and the hands and the hearts of the Universe, and through you the Universe would very much like it that you cared enough about life to help evolve past this unbalanced flux and try to reach new heights.

I have a dream for the human race. I feel that if you look into your hearts at what humanity really wants it is your destiny to create an Utopia. A world where humans are the caretakers of the Earth. A world that is covered with fruit trees. It is amazing that it isn't covered with fruit trees yet, seeing that you humans know how to plant trees.

It doesn't matter if you don't dream, or if you don't fulfill your dreams, but you are dreamers. Dare to dream the BIG dream and dare to figure out a way to make it a reality. Otherwise, what is the point?

Thats just it. I can see logically why none of this matters but I obviously don't believe it considering I still experience emotion. Like I still have an ego, I care what people think even though I know deep down, when its all over there may not even be a consciousness to look back on the past, therefore there wasn't one really.

My post was from a purely logical perspective, and emotionally, I'm still in a things matter frame of mind. I don't even try to get rid of this frame of mind either, I value physical possessions and I have a sense of morality.

Also, my point wasn't that there were too many problems to fix. My opinion on the starfish story (Which I've seen before :D) isn't that it doesn't matter. Its more that it shouldn't matter, and in the end those starfish are going to die of old age or predators or whatever. What about the offspring you say? Eventually there will be no offspring, asteroids, ice ages and the sun burning out (All extremes!!! but each of which is incredibly likely to happen eventually)

Another question/story/thing, I can't really remember it and it was a long time ago but it was like this:

Would you go to a complete paradise for one year, where all your desires would be satisfied and you would be as happy as possible, if at the end of it all, you couldn't even remember it? Well after the year you would be back in your ordinary life and would not have developed as a person one bit. You'd simply be a year older. The same kind've thing could possibly apply to the universe simply happening and being gone. (On a much larger scale of course) However I don't think I'll ever get over my basic human needs, cause to be honest, being happy seems worth living for. Even if its going to go away eventually, I'm human and I have a limit of where I stop thinking about it, simply cause I don't want to lose that happiness (It does help during depressing times though)

All of the above is just a general mish mash of alot of my thoughts and opinions. There is zero structure so don't expect a good read lol

What one person does will not be much on a cosmic scale, but if everyone runs around saying 'it dosen't matter', they will probably do stuff that makes other people's lives a misery. Remember other people have their needs and wants too, not just in the now but in the future too. 'Good' and 'bad' come from this. We can learn from our mistakes in the past too.

You can find articles about how doing good things (like helping other people, species, etc.) are rewarded in the brain, in the same area it rewards us for eating food and having sex. So, generally, morally good deeds feel nice. Mix it with the 9999 other aspects of the human brain and you get people passionate about destroying injustice and all that jazz.

I agree that we're just a spec of a spec in the Universe and that everything is pretty much pointless, but hey, I'm not going to be an ass because of it. :cookiemonster:

If it didn't matter, then why ask the question? Exactly...

^^ Just what I was going to say, but with more words.
If the question "does anything matter" matters, then something matters, at least to somebody.

je pense je suis
je pense je suis
je pense je suis