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Meaning of Life?
Ok so seeing as how Rym delayed on starting his new flamewar I decided to step in. This is something I found a while ago and thought was rather interesting. This journalist named Robert Wright went around and interviewed several of today's leading intellectuals around the world. He recorded his interviews with them and put them up here. I suppose I am just reinvigorating the religion discussions, but hell we are geeks/nerds.
meaningoflife.tv
Flame on
meaningoflife.tv
Flame on
Comments
Gaw...... :-)
Renshi
I can assume that I am immortal, simply because I have never experienced anything prior to my own existence, and I cannot conceive of my conciousness ceasing to exist, nor could I know were it to do so.
Seriously, there is no meaning of life. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
For the record, I hate Apple Jacks.
So, life has no reason to exist beyond any reason which said life believes to exist.
"I like pie."
Rather than a meaning to life which exists, there is a meaning that I would like to give.
We humans possess massive forebrains relative to other species on this planet. The meaning of our lives should be to extend our reach not just to the farthest corners of the Earth, but to the seas below and to the heavens above! It is our right, by might and intelligence, to crush those races unfortunate enough to have developed physical superiority over mental acuity.
We must harness the fundamental forces of the Universe, bend them to our own purposes, expanding our dominion beyond the ever-shrinking confines of a single world.
We must move beyond being creatures controlled by the vagaries of chance and take our genetic destiny into our own hands!
It is our purpose to achieve ever greater feats of fabrication and manipulation, testaments to our will over Nature, monuments to the resources that we command, proof that we are brave enough to not merely walk, but run where angels and demons fear to tread!
Zieg Menschlichkeit!
There will also be barbecues; a cofirmation of our position on the food chain with the consumption of that which was once alive.
Oh, and Japan has dibs on the orbital laser satellites.
Your idea intrigues me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
/ramenite
//pastafrarians can die in a heretic fire
///yes, I brought Fark slashies
Or throw a different track: We are the only race we are aware of with what we think of as higher intellect. Why is that? Is it because we are weak and puny prey creatures who developed to be smarter then all of our hunters?
Why serve what you can consume?
The challenge of creation lies not with the initial genesis and engineering, but with control. For when the progeny become strong enough, powerful enough, they will invariably chafe at their shackles and turn away from their intended destiny to forge their own.
Control requires observation, vigilance, and sometimes intervention. For only when total control is complete and absolute, is one worthy of the title, 'Master'.
As for the premature destruction of our biosphere:
There is no need to destroy our biosphere. Why destroy that which we may exploit? Exploitation of the environment does not require destruction of the said environment.
As Sun Tzu detailed in the Art of War, the greatest text on human military strategy and compassion, it is not the acme of skill to destroy an enemy army. It is, however, a display of great skill to capture intact an enemy nation and its resources, and to make them loyal subjects.
Robots are machines which are capable of autonomous operation without direct human control once they have been programmed and activated. What you, and every body else that bandies that word about, are referring to is a giant vehicle.
If the mech had an onboard AI which was capable of autonomous operation if the human pilot was rendered inoperable, or was capable of enacting independent courses of action without direct human control, then it would be a giant robot.
Now that the clarification has been made between a giant robot (Berserkers and Mobile Dolls) and a giant vehicle (such as a BattleMech, Mobile Suit, Arm Slaves, Voltron, and MegaZor), if you want a giant robot, that's fine.
Giant Robo and Tetsujin-28 (Gigantor in the US) are debatable. They obviously had operators, which would suggest that they are merely remote-controlled. However, there is some evidence that they may have a limited level of autonomous operation.
It kinda goes with the statement "Life is but a dream"
Dreams, also don't mean anything other then the meaning that you escribe to them. They can mean something because they then tell you what your concened or care about because you'll create meaning from them in how your view the dream. Life is just like this...
Of course the meaning of life has to involve Mechs as well.
/Ha! Ha!
//got nothing
///slashie slashie
Okay, Eva Unit-01 has taken actions independent of a human operator, so it would fall into the category of giant robot, but I think something should be clarified. Nowadays, the line between mechanical and biological systems is becoming blurred; I would say that the Eva Units are also giant cyborgs, as they contain both biological tissue and non-living mechanical and electronic components.