That's what I'm wondering.
Is the World worth it?
- Thread starter The Borg Queen
- Start date
That's what I'm wondering.
Sometimes I feel the whole world is against me. Sometimes I feel the whole world loves me. [You're bipolar AND psychotic. Get help - someone]
I don't believe in a Utopia, just as I don't believe true Anarchy exists either. Both ideals wil eventually crumble due to people who wish to instill chaos and order respectively. I like the world as it is now - a mix of fortune and tragedy, order and irreverence, good and evil. Yet I believe on balance that as long as there are good people out there, the world will be worth living in. So far, it's all we really have (even though I believe there's something more out there).
Yes, it really hurts us when bad things happen to us - everyone knows that. I certainly know that. And sometimes we feel like we should let the world burn in the fires of an apocalyptic event, but to do so would be to accept that we have no control over our lives, and we would only surrender to the forces of Entropy and Fate, and while we have the right to choose that destiny, life and mankind as a whole is too good to let that happen.
Planet Earth™: because you're worth it.
I don't believe in a Utopia, just as I don't believe true Anarchy exists either. Both ideals wil eventually crumble due to people who wish to instill chaos and order respectively. I like the world as it is now - a mix of fortune and tragedy, order and irreverence, good and evil. Yet I believe on balance that as long as there are good people out there, the world will be worth living in. So far, it's all we really have (even though I believe there's something more out there).
Yes, it really hurts us when bad things happen to us - everyone knows that. I certainly know that. And sometimes we feel like we should let the world burn in the fires of an apocalyptic event, but to do so would be to accept that we have no control over our lives, and we would only surrender to the forces of Entropy and Fate, and while we have the right to choose that destiny, life and mankind as a whole is too good to let that happen.
Planet Earth™: because you're worth it.
It wasn't that she was suicidal. She was driven to it. I didn't want her to see the world as bad. Just as it is. She couldn't do that. She believed that everybody should love everybody else, and when she couldn't have that, she tried to create it where it didn't exist. She had a VERY "pollyana" view of life, and was constantly let down. Over the course of her life, the constant negativity weighed her down until she simply couldn't handle the pressure anymore.
I tried like hell to help her, but nothing I did seemed to help.
Planet Earth™: because you're worth it.
I read your post... looked at your avatar and then realized it...
Lazytown and it's pink haired Heroine is the answer to all our problems.
And that's exactly the one I was thinking of. 
I'm sorry, but your mom was a sick woman. The world didn't drive her to kill herself, lots of bad things happen to lots of people and they don't kill themselves. Your mom might have set herself up for constant disappointment, and that might have been part of her sickness, but I don't believe it's the world's fault she died. If that's what gives you comfort though, so be it.
It's always the good ones that die young.
And you appear to frequently hear voices.
Which is more frequently used to make distortion, lies, and general BS that much easier to disseminate.
All the while creating new and potentially deadlier ones because of our irresponsible use of the medicines we developed.
World adult-level literacy rates are still pretty darned low. Half the adult population in the U.S. alone finds difficulty reading beyond a fifth-grade level. Hasn't child mortality rates been increasing slightly recently?
And just like the 19th century, international tensions seem to do little other than build up in pressure.
With all my dickish things being said, I still think the world is worth it. As long as there remains a spark of sense amongst our population, there's hope for new beginnings, evolution, enlightment and all that good stuff. Honestly, as I might have indicated already, I don't think we're going down a very good road right now. Our technical abilities may have grown by leaps and bounds but, to me, that doesn't mean much if WE don't evolve with it. Wishing for extinction though seems rather silly. So often, development comes when we're teetering near the precipice. If we manage to pull ourselves back from the abyss- well, then there is the proof that Humanity can't be entirely worthless. If, on the other hand, we fall- the next species down the line will get their shot, I suppose. My only beef is how much we have to dance on the edge just to grow up a little. I wonder how long we have yet before Humanity realizes it doesn't have to suffer so friggin much- until we realize that we have reached that point where we DO have a choice to get off the merry-go-round if we wish. The cruel, indiscriminate whims of nature no longer have to keep us in line. We have the power to do that ourselves humanely.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
I also find it funny when people say we are insignificant in the cosmic scheme of things. That may be true...other alien races may have done some damned incedible things by now...but when people do that Douglas Adams things and say our tiny worthless planet orbitting a small, inconsequential star etc etc. I say HEY! are you making fun of the size of the planet we live on and the star it orbits? Calm down buddy! You've gone too far!
I remember on another board I visited someone posted a series of pictures that were size comparisons of Earth next to Jupiter ,then Jupiter next to the Sun, then our Sun next to some other star that was much bigger.
Someone posted "Makes you see how insignificant we are in the universe."
Another came back with " Yeah, why is life worth living, what with stars being all big and shit?!"
Oh, and "Cooking By the Book" from Lazytown will cheer everyone up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-azqXygCzO8&feature=channel_page
I remember on another board I visited someone posted a series of pictures that were size comparisons of Earth next to Jupiter ,then Jupiter next to the Sun, then our Sun next to some other star that was much bigger.
Someone posted "Makes you see how insignificant we are in the universe."
Another came back with " Yeah, why is life worth living, what with stars being all big and shit?!"
Oh, and "Cooking By the Book" from Lazytown will cheer everyone up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-azqXygCzO8&feature=channel_page
I believe the world and the universe it is in to be largely hostile and cruel, and screwed up beyond measure. Life in it has no particular point or reason. I am insignificant and both the highs and lows of my life ultimately count for squat.
But it's not like I can do anything about it anyway. *shrugs* It just is what it is, you know? I guess I'm just pretty relaxed and easy going about my pessimism these days. I mean, I had my fun with the whole "LIFE IS PAIN AND DEATH! NOOOO!" brand of pessimism, but it's just so hard to get worked up about it now. Life sucks, the universe hates me, what-the-fuck-ever.
So no, the world isn't worth it. But it really wouldn't matter if it were, as it changes nothing. Just sit back and let the greatness and suckiness alternately wash over you.
But it's not like I can do anything about it anyway. *shrugs* It just is what it is, you know? I guess I'm just pretty relaxed and easy going about my pessimism these days. I mean, I had my fun with the whole "LIFE IS PAIN AND DEATH! NOOOO!" brand of pessimism, but it's just so hard to get worked up about it now. Life sucks, the universe hates me, what-the-fuck-ever.
So no, the world isn't worth it. But it really wouldn't matter if it were, as it changes nothing. Just sit back and let the greatness and suckiness alternately wash over you.
The world we live in today is far more accepting of things than at other times in the past. "Moral guardians" will always exist but they simply do not have as much influence and say now.
Again, we live at a time in history of relative stability, we have better healthcare, better flow of information, etc...
I think that most of us do not fully appreciate how easy we have it compared to people who lived even a say hundred years ago.
I also find it funny when people say we are insignificant in the cosmic scheme of things. That may be true...other alien races may have done some damned incedible things by now...but when people do that Douglas Adams things and say our tiny worthless planet orbitting a small, inconsequential star etc etc. I say HEY! are you making fun of the size of the planet we live on and the star it orbits? Calm down buddy! You've gone too far!
I remember on another board I visited someone posted a series of pictures that were size comparisons of Earth next to Jupiter ,then Jupiter next to the Sun, then our Sun next to some other star that was much bigger.
Someone posted "Makes you see how insignificant we are in the universe."
Another came back with " Yeah, why is life worth living, what with stars being all big and shit?!"
Oh, and "Cooking By the Book" from Lazytown will cheer everyone up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-azqXygCzO8&feature=channel_page
I dunno, I realize how insignificant and small we are in the Universe, but
I don't find it to be a depressing thing, just enlighting.
Well, Adams was being his usual flippant and irreverent self when referring to the Earth as insignificant, implying that the rest of the Universe is exciting and adventurous and filled with really wild things. While it's somewhat reassuring and mind-boggling that we know our place in the Universe (without the need of a Total Perspective VortexI also find it funny when people say we are insignificant in the cosmic scheme of things. That may be true...other alien races may have done some damned incedible things by now...but when people do that Douglas Adams things and say our tiny worthless planet orbitting a small, inconsequential star etc etc. I say HEY! are you making fun of the size of the planet we live on and the star it orbits? Calm down buddy! You've gone too far!
I remember on another board I visited someone posted a series of pictures that were size comparisons of Earth next to Jupiter ,then Jupiter next to the Sun, then our Sun next to some other star that was much bigger.
Someone posted "Makes you see how insignificant we are in the universe."
Another came back with " Yeah, why is life worth living, what with stars being all big and shit?!"
) it only enhances my view that with so much greatness in the Universe, our world is even more worth it, given that something so small and insignificant is that precious, the basis of everything we've ever known.Now you're talking my language.
I hate quotes. 
I mostly agree. I'm also bothered by the fact that we humans as a collective seem to adapt only after getting a bloody nose, even if we can see the punch coming from a mile away. Up until now we weren't capable of making any mistakes we couldn't recover from (short of nuclear war), but I think over the next hundred or two hundred years we'll have multiple opportunities to really screw ourselves over, and I can only hope the mistakes we make (with bioengineering, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, theoretical physics) aren't so big we barely get a scream out before it's too late.
Here's to knocking on wood.
I mostly agree. I'm also bothered by the fact that we humans as a collective seem to adapt only after getting a bloody nose, even if we can see the punch coming from a mile away. Up until now we weren't capable of making any mistakes we couldn't recover from (short of nuclear war), but I think over the next hundred or two hundred years we'll have multiple opportunities to really screw ourselves over, and I can only hope the mistakes we make (with bioengineering, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, theoretical physics) aren't so big we barely get a scream out before it's too late.
Here's to knocking on wood.
All the wonders of the Universe mean nothing without somebody to appreciate them.Another came back with " Yeah, why is life worth living, what with stars being all big and shit?!"
I think you have an idealistic personality. You perceive flaws much more easily than you perceive merits; and 10 flaws will always outweigh 10 merits. You can imagine society being more ideal. You may imagine political interactions and role plays with ideal outcomes, and wonder why society isn't like that, because it seems so simple in your imagination.
I feel that your dissatisfaction with life is due to the fact, that in your view of the world, there are many flaws your see and hear in the news everyday, while human merits are seldom seen, so it is rare that you feel proud of humanity.
I think that you need to find a channel of expression for your idealism. Don't focus on the bigger picture so much. Focus on yourself, because that is the principal domain of anybodies mind.
What I mean is, if you have ideals, then become your own ideals. Consider ways of adapting your own behaviour to become more compatible with your own idealism. Then you will be able to feel greater pride in yourself, and you can consider yourself to be an example for others to follow. That could become your new attitude to life: not a moral guardian, but a moral example.
If others are able to see and feel the light you show them, they may choose to walk with you.
Here's a smiley face to get you started --->
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