Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[kaijyuu]

Well aren't we a sardonic nihilist.


Who's up for that gay romp through space to Mars? I know I am! Never done it in zero-g.

[rarborman]

Well aren't we a sardonic nihilist.


Who's up for that gay romp through space to Mars? I know I am! Never done it in zero-g.

Someone has to be.

[Jerick]

That is one strange view you've got there.
Knowledge is valuable even if you do not value it.
The world is full of things you as an indvidual don't know, is knowing them trivial?
Knowledge and understanding allows us a small measure of control of what we understand.
You are surrounded by complex machines is it useless to know how they work?
Knowledge will usualy outlast the people that discovered it, the institutions that discovered them and the cities where they discovered.
Buildings crumble and are replaced, people die but information copied and spread will endure.
All knowledge is built on what we've already learnt.
Everything we learn contributes to our advancement as a species no matter how small, can lead to more knowledge and more control of the world and universe around us.
And that in itself makes learning new things the most important thing we can ever do.

[kaijyuu]

Someone has to be a sardonic nihilist? What for? To see things how they "really" are, I presume?

[Scelly9]

Who's up for that gay romp through space to Mars? I know I am! Never done it in zero-g.

Wonderful idea.

[rarborman]

Someone has to be a sardonic nihilist? What for? To see things how they "really" are, I presume?

No, to keep us from being happy to be ignorant of reality.

I know more then my family, I know more then my friends, I know more the my neighbors, and I know more then I wish to... knowing only leads to learning you dont really matter, that you are not important, and that you will die.

[kaijyuu]

We don't matter... to what?

You obviously value something if you feel that humanity has failed at it. So what is it that you value? Permanence?

[Loud Whispers]

I'm sorry but when the world is full of fat sick idiots, there is no knowlegde worth a damn.

"Ignorance exists, so I'm going to abandon the pursuit of knowledge."

What in the name of Duuvian is this?

I know more then my family, I know more then my friends, I know more the my neighbors, and I know more then I wish to... knowing only leads to learning you dont really matter, that you are not important, and that you will die.

I'm sorry but you presume too much. The knowledge of our mortality is well within our grasp from the moment we're born - it makes every damn last shred of knowledge we have in between for the spark of time we're alive that much more valuable.

[rarborman]

Permanence?

Dear me, I hope not, forever would totally suck.

Valuable how? Can I sell my knowlegde? Can I trade it for influence? Can I use it to entertain or relieve my lonelyness? Why does it not fill these empty spaces in time?

There is noone that wants it, no where to use it, it is trivial, if I did not have it it would change nothing.

[kaijyuu]

Okay, so you value:

1) Influence (though you didn't specify over what)
2) Entertainment
3) Relief from loneliness
4) Filling empty spaces in time, whatever that means.

Knowledge definitely helps with 1. Doesn't really matter what kind of influence you want.
Definitely helps with 2. This shit's exciting, man.
Can help with 3, if you bond with someone over it, or use it to approach people.
And duh it helps with 4. Gives you something to do.


I refuse to believe you're an actual nihilist because one of those wouldn't be getting irritated or annoyed. They'd have nothing to get irritated or annoyed over, as they wouldn't care.

[10ebbor10]

Someone has to be a sardonic nihilist? What for? To see things how they "really" are, I presume?

No, to keep us from being happy to be ignorant of reality.

I know more then my family, I know more then my friends, I know more the my neighbors, and I know more then I wish to... knowing only leads to learning you dont really matter, that you are not important, and that you will die.

So what, halt all progress just because? The insignificance of our existance is something we need to cope with, and knowing what's out their can only help us. Questions are there to be answered.
Even if something doesn't seem to have any use, it might not always be like this. There are many reasons to invest in theoretical science(Even though the rover is technically applied science it still qualifies).

Also, one should look at the moral value of a spaceprogram. It shows what things we can accomplish if we all work together, and in a way, that we're not completely and utterly insignificant. Nasa is funded one half a penny per American citizen, and look at what it has accomplished. They put people on the moon. We have send Rovers over the entire solar system, and almost beyond. Things we learn today will be recorded, and said information might be transmitted, one way or another, till the end of humanity.

Permanence?

Dear me, I hope not, forever would totally suck.

Valuable how? Can I sell my knowlegde? Can I trade it for influence? Can I use it to entertain or relieve my lonelyness? Why does it not fill these empty spaces in time?

There is noone that wants it, no where to use it, it is trivial, if I did not have it it would change nothing.

Yes, I believe those are used patents. While pure science doesn't produce this sort of things, all science has it uses.
Yes, of course.
Philosophizing about the nature of the universe can be entertaining, as well as knowing things.

[Lord Inquisitor]

Some people love being ignoran due to the I have no use for learing so why should anyone else.
These people can die horrible deaths for all i care, esp if they dont know what killed them.

Knowledge and the aquissation of, has and always will be reason enough to learn and explore.

[kaijyuu]

The thing I don't get when people whine about being "insignificant" or "pointless" is the fact they never specify what is actually valuable. To be significant, you have to be significant to something. Otherwise, there's no such thing as significance.

We all have basic axioms of what we care about. To be unhappy, we have to not be fulfilling those. So for someone crying at the heavens saying "nothing is important!" I have to wonder what their axioms are.

Many people seem to think we're irrelevant compared to the rest of the universe, but I have to ask, would the universe be relevant without life to see it? I don't think so. We give it value, not the other way around.

[Jerick]

Can I sell my knowlegde?

Yes but it has to be knowledge some one is intrested in buying. Ever hear of a consultant?

Can I trade it for influence?

Yes, ever hear of blackmail

Can I use it to entertain or relieve my lonelyness? Why does it not fill these empty spaces in time?

Why does it have to? Besides yes it can I solve maths and logic problems for fun I am entertained by puzzles and learning new things

There is noone that wants it,

Well I do

no where to use it,

I know how to type, I know english, those are just two bits of knowledge which you seem to be currently using 

it is trivial,

No

if I did not have it it would change nothing.

I am stunned by the ignorance expressed in this single statment. If you wish to know nothing I could apply brunt force trama to your head till you go into comma.
Then and only then would you be without knowledge.

[rarborman]

Meh, even a nihilist needs somthing to do.

I'm not saying ignorance is bliss, or being dumb makes you happy, just that not knowing is sometimes better.

Aquiring things people places knowlegde, its all just pointless; there is no goal, no nice place to go, no reason to go to space.

If I am told I'm going to grow up to do great things and be someone important and smart and talented, and I go grow up and I'm no different then the next person, have nothing to show for my knowledge, have no influence in anything that matters more then moving debt that isnt even mine around and have no practical skills to speak of... how do you think I'm going to feel about the world? How I'm going to view other people? How I'm going to view the actions of people that others have placed above me?

I value nothing, not life nor love nor money nor power over others nor fear pain or death, I would kill if it would make me the slightest bit entertained but it would not for I have killed, I do not value truth or knowlegde, men in space is simply fun for smart fools that get money from dumb people.