Originally Posted by
m0o
Quantifiable via chemical changes in the brain and observable in other species. Elephants, for example mourn the dead.
Happiness can be demonstrated through chemical changes in the brain, as can love (with a similar chemical change, although differing physiological responses).
Technology and war.
See "lifeforms", "within our scope".
You're still mistaking chemical changes for human emotion. Just because an endorphin rush makes us feel "happy" it is no more than a series of reactions and myelinated nerves transmitting electrical signals to the brain.
And technology and war will affect the universe in what sense? If we're killing extraterrestrials, that's one thing, but otherwise it's still an internalized conflict- and it is mathematically and physically impossible for any race to colonize the entire universe, even if given billions and billions of years-- and given humanity's tendencies towards self-destruction, I seriously doubt we'll last anywhere near that long, especially with the possibility of adverse cosmic phenomena wiping us out at some point in time.
Originally Posted by
Deprived
bwamp believes that the only thing to human life is human life, because he believes that purpose is an objective abstract, which is directly caused by the western system of beliefs, which holds, even in none-religious circles, that purpose is objective due to the judeo-christain skywizard saying so.
may he never realize that there is seldom difference between the subjective and the objective, amen.
btw if you really didn't value your life, you would just say "whatever" when someone puts a dagger to your throat and threatens to slice it
Awesome argument ad hominem that accomplished absolutely nothing, bro.
Objective abstract is an oxymoron. Who are you to say that my beliefs come from Westernization? Very few of my peers agree with my beliefs. And there is "seldom a difference between subjective and the objective"? Yet another contradictory statement, excellent work, Sherlock. You've got a real future in debate.
And if someone put a dagger to my throat and threatened to slice it, I would act on self-preservation and attempt to SURVIVE, which is what I have clearly stated over and over again is the only objective in the life of any organism, which you have failed to note, as have Odlov and a handful of others. Unlike Odlov, however, your argument relies entirely on your false presumptions, whereas his tend to revolve around objective and quantifiable facts and verifiable resources.
And by the way, I achieve gratification through sex and violence, so that's yet another reason for me to yank the dagger out of my would-be attacker's hands and stab him to death with it.
Originally Posted by
Clbck
Uh, considering reality as we see it is based upon our perceptions, if I "feel" love for my girlfriend, the emotional support and empathy from sex is pretty important to me. And I do, so it is. Try being in a relationship before commenting on how love doesn't exist.
Perhaps this may be so, but reality is not based around
your perceptions. And I've been in plenty of relationships- it's quite easy to pretend you care about the other when using them for gratification. Humans are animals, no less, no more, and while people like you like to think that silly things like meaning and love exist, they are human concepts and do not apply to deer or plants. Plants have "sex" too, you know, but you don't see redwoods and ferns swooning over each other.
No, the two feelings are distinct, as anyone who has felt them will tell you. It's not arousal, it's pure appreciation, acceptance, happiness, whatever. Arousal is more primal, love is more tender.
Again, you're using human emotion and relativistic terms like "tender" and "happiness" to describe something that HUMANS invented to apply value to themselves. Everything related to human "emotion" can be explained chemically or otherwise objectively.
The rest of your post is just so nihilistic 16 year old that it's pretty much futile to bicker over it. You're upset that there is no objective meaning to the world. Get over it, make your own meaning like everyone else.
I'm not upset at all that life has no objective meaning. I embrace it, as a matter of fact, enjoy it. It means that I can do whatever I want without pithy emotions like guilt or "love" into my thought processes. And on the futility of bickering note, the same applies to you. I waste my time arguing objectivity to someone who relies on love to explain his need for human companionship because I have nothing better to do, though. What's your reason?
Last edited by Bwamp; Feb 14, 2010 at 07:10 PM.