Why are we here?

[terrya]

I don't mean that as a flippant question.

But what is mankind's purpose in life?

Terry

[Loonman]

1. To reproduce

That's it.

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. and to piss off the cockroaches

if there's a perfect species, they are it.

[Loonman]

3. Yep, them too

Cockroachs will be the Earth's final legacy.

[BigMcLargehuge]

4. and I for one, welcome our new insect overlords

:)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. I'm outing you as a Slashdot dweller. (nt)

[BigMcLargehuge]

7. slashdot? what's that?

never heard of it.

[Bertha Venation]

17. I've failed. Now what? eom

[Loonman]

20. Take up needlepoint

:)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. As long as you can leave one achievement for the betterment of humanity

when you die, however small, you don't need to ask the question.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. to find purpose?

it's just a guess, of course.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Because we're not there. (nt)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

10. Of course, if anyone were to figure out the meaning of life, the universe

and everything, it would instantly be replaced by something even more confusing.

[Az]

12. Douglas Adams actually wrote some Dr Who scripts

Just thought you would appreciate the tie in. :)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

14. City of Death and The Pirate Planet

He was script editor for a season. It all ties in.

[BigMcLargehuge]

15. didn't he write the Genesis of the Daleks too?

I thought he did.. I know that was the season he edited

[Screaming Lord Byron]

16. That was Destiny of the Daleks.

I don't believe he wrote it, though.
Genesis of the Daleks was written by Terry Nation.

[BigMcLargehuge]

18. EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE!!!

WE ARE THE SUPERIOR BEINGS!!!



Man, those things scared the everlovin' shit out of me as a kid. And Davros too... but I always wondered why he had a "kill Davros" switch on his little tray/control panel... Seems rather short sighted.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

19. Yeah, Davros would've made a great Bond villain.

All those plans with failure built-in. I still say the Daleks are one of the greatest designs of Twentieth Century pop-culture.

[Az]

25. A pepper pot with a whisk and a plunger

Who woulda thought they had such pretensions to take over the universe.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

27. Yeah, but only flat planets. No stairs, mind.

[Az]

32. Came as quite a shock

to the last Doctor when they got hover treads and came up the stairs. Whats the world coming to....floating Daleks for crying out loud.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

36. Yeah, but you can always render them harmless through a strategically

applied hat and/or coat to the eyestalk. Bit of a weakness, there.

[Az]

42. I prefer supercharged baseball bats

for eliminating errant Daleks.

[CanuckAmok]

26. Where I grew up, in England,

there was a pier with an arcade, and in the arcade was a life-sized Dalek for kids to get inside and rotate around in(like the coin-op horses and cars they have at the supermarket).

I wonder what all the old Vets playing slots thought of all the little kids, wired on spun sugar, running around tha arcade with our right arms extended, shouting "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

[Az]

11. There is no purpose to life other than what you make of it

We are free to determine our own purpose in life. We each find our own way to balance need and desire. We determine our own best path to ward off pain and suffering. The closest thing to a purpose dropped on us by the universe is to procreat, but that is just our RNA speaking through the ages. And its directive is based simply on what it does. No desire or need. It simply is.

[Bertha Venation]

13. PLASTIC.

Gotta love George Carlin.
:loveya:

Sorry, I know I'm being flip, but I just couldn't resist.

I'm here to love others & try to make their lives better. That's the only answer I can give you.

[waldenx]

21. Art

our purpose is to experience and express irrational existence through creativity.

[TacticalPeek]

22. I prefer this formulation.

What are people for?

In the ancient days, I had a wonderful high school teacher of economics, American government, etc. who started each year's class with a provocative and tempting offer. In place of ANY test she gave, including finals, we had the option of answering that question. What are people for?

Being young and reckless, I tried it once. I do not remember much about what I wrote, except that it relied too much on symbology and reeked of adolescent angst. When she reviewed it with me, I sort of got credit for the attempt, but also got educated to the problem of the problem. Since then I carry the question in the back of my mind always. When I am reading a writer who in whatever degree starts to take this one on, I pay close attention. Not many try, and I include other arts as well. For those who do take a swing at it, by far the most common answer is the one seemingly most common here: our purpose is to make more of us, which in a sense means to continue.

Although that answer is given by some for whom I have great respect, I find it wanting, and clearly solipsistic.

If one restates the unsolved equation, moves X around a little, one gets to: What is our function in the universe? When viewed in this way, I think R. Buckminster Fuller moves the ball a little closer to the goal. He asserts that Life Itself is the only essentially anti-entropic force in Universe. I cannot refute his assertion, although I also think that not all the precincts are in yet on gravity.

And so I have refined this question for myself as human life being a subset of life in general, and hope this can eventually get farther than the "make more" circle. Why? Just for the hell of it, I guess. I figure that if I can grok what life is for, I am on the way to another crack at that teacher's omnipresent test.

[Burma Jones]

23. Why Not?

Not everything has to have a purpose.

Shakespere said it well:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.


Catch me tomorrow when the Wellbutrin kicks in.......

[TacticalPeek]

24. See ya and raise ya.

"I decline to
accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last
ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying
evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse
to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone
among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice
and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by
lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and
sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be
one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."

http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/faulkner/faulkner.html

[Burma Jones]

29. Ecclesiastes 8:15

Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

[RandomKoolzip]

28. To watch as much TV as possible, form insignificant opinions about

gratuitous things and situations, listen to shitty music on shitty systems, treat close friends and relatives indifferently, eat lots of unhealthy food, try and figure out why you're alive and reach tragic/ depressing conclusions, work some horrible job somewhere that you hate making barely enough money to survive, make plans you know you'll never keep, fail to learn from previous mistakes, pollute the air for future generations, and generally act like you don't give a shit.

The sad part is that I'm not being flippant either.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

30. What about to enrich the dull lives of us fellow internet drones?

[a_random_joel]

35. Speak for yourself...

[Loonman]

37. Let me go home and get my violin

I'll play you a little tune.

:nopity:

[TreasonousBastard]

31. We are here...

to discover what our purpose is.

[a_random_joel]

33. I thought our purpose was

to discover why we are here...

[terrya]

34. I like yours best of all. Time for Terry to end his pointless ruminating.

:-)

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

Terry

[Hand]

38. Insh'Allah... nt

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. To be ignored and get over it.

I'm certain of it. :beer:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

40. see?

I told you so!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

41. Oh shut up and get over it!

:beer: