During the summer of 2020 riots, my best friend was still teaching college at least a little bit. The whole question of "black lives matter" or "all lives matter" was bouncing around the campus. He asked his students whether their lives mattered, and they all felt that they did. He argued, "No, your lives don't matter and neither does mine."
His idea was that most of us don't do anything in life that really matters. Few people make a huge impact on the world, and most of them make a negative impact. He wanted to argue against the whole self-esteem mindset that all of us are unique and precious. He's a Baptist deacon, and he believes that all people are loved by God, but he also wanted to argue against what he sees as a self-centered, conceited view that society often has.
I argued with him that I believe that my life matters and his life matters. My point is not that every life matters but that every life matters for those who make their lives matter. We can make our lives matter by doing the right things. We can produce more than we consume. We can act justly towards one another. We can support real justice within our society. We can show kindness and generosity without enabling self-destruction or manipulation. One of my big messages to people at the time was that if they wanted their lives to matter, they needed to get off their asses and make their lives matter. Most of us won't make major impacts on the world, but most societies function because many regular people work to make things work. The big impacts would never happen if regular people making small, positive impacts didn't spend their lives working to keep society functioning.
While "mattering" isn't exactly the question that you asked, I believe that mattering is related to the question of "meaning of life." In some respects, the meaning of life may be a more spiritual question than the question of mattering. When I hear someone say "meaning of life," I get the impression of a much fuzzier concept than just mattering. I'm generally better at the less fuzzy concepts.
I believe that the strongest, healthiest, most stable societies are built on the traditional family. By that, I mean man and woman as husband and wife. They are raising their own biological children or children that they have adopted from outside themselves. They stay together until one of them passes. This ideal makes the happiest, healthiest societies and individuals.
Plenty of people don't achieve this ideal. Plenty of people make stupid marriages that don't last. Plenty of people end up not providing the most stable homes for their children. I don't say these things to attack these people. I've also failed to build that life for myself. I understand that some people aren't made for marriage. They are better off single. I wasn't one of those people. My being a lifelong bachelor is a failure on my part. Other people aren't a fit for this life because they aren't heterosexual. I don't know whether some of them should be heterosexual. That's a complicated question. I don't say these things to attack these people. I'm just aware of more deviations today from what is healthiest for any society.
We tend to celebrate people who find occupations that are a great fit for them. For everyone to find an occupation that is a great fit and will bring them fulfillment is wonderful. I'm just skeptical of whether that situation is really common for the human condition. I suspect that many people today and throughout the millennia have done work that wasn't at all fulfilling. They did what they did to put food on the table, clothes on their backs, and roofs over their heads. That doesn't mean that they lived lives that didn't matter or lives that didn't have a meaning.
When I was in church, the cliche answer to the meaning of life was in serving Jesus. I'm happy for people who find all the meaning that they need in that idea. From a purely theological point of view based on The Bible, I intellectually accept that answer. I've met people who are completely sincere in that answer. On a more practical level, I was never able to make that work for me. Many people who talk the most about finding meaning in Jesus seem to be more fixated on themselves and seem to see Jesus as an extension of themselves. I was in church long enough to know that the Bible says that they are supposed to be extensions of Jesus instead of the other way around.
I appreciate the simplicity in the mindset of "take care of your needs; have a good time; don't be an asshole." I haven't been able to make that idea work for me either.
You make an excellent point that a person can matter without being acknowledged. We wouldn't have great novels if a fair number of people hadn't contributed to the technology needed to invent the printing press.
Another point you touch on is relationships. In my marriage, we mattered to each other. Cathy will always be relevant and matter to me, she had a huge impact on my life and I'll miss her until the day I also pass away.
Do we need to be relevant to the entire world? Or just to one other person? Or just to ourselves?
Going back to your professor and the attempt to claim that none of us matter. Well, that's relative. We are insignificant to the entire universe or the sun, but those aren't conscious entities. They don't "care".
This gets to an important aspect of AI. AI has no consciousness, an implementation can't care whether you do great things or nothing.
But I'll bet that the ancient human that gathered berries to sustain their partner mattered while their partner helped ensure the survival of homo sapiens.
Thus I come around to the thought that love matters. And love comes in many, many different flavors. To use Robert's crude terminology: love gives a f***. Sure, ignore all the criminal tyrants playing at being important, but care that the table leg you craft is made with love and quality. Care that the photograph you take is composed well and captures imagery that inspires another person to appreciate the beauty in the world.
I've dabbled in writing books. One of the books that I wrote is about the Kennedy assassination. My same professor friend says that what I've written would be an important contribution to the body of work on the topic. I just need to get it published. In many ways, I like the idea of having contributed to the literature in an important way.
On the other hand, finding and agent and getting a book published is a big effort. Self-publishing will never have the same impact, but persuading a publisher is difficult. Today, a writer needs and agent. The big agents have plenty of clients. The upcoming agents are all looking for LGBTQ+ content, not a serious discussion of the Kennedy assassination. I just don't have the energy to go through all of that rejection. My friend has tried a little bit to find someone, but his health is worse than mine, and he's still trying to teach classes.
In case you are wondering, the point of my book is not to promote any specific hypothesis about the assassination. In fact, the subtitle in my head through the whole writing process was "I don't know who did it, and neither do you." My point is not to push a particular narrative but to make people understand the strengths and weaknesses of every hypothesis. What I want is to point to the ideas that are out there and show how some analysis is good and other analysis isn't so good. Not all of the bad analysis is necessarily wrong, but the bad analysis is still bad analysis. I want to walk people through the process of breaking down the narratives that so many have put forward. I want to point out the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of evidence.
Yes, to get "fame" you need one of the big publishing houses to print and promote a book. However, as you mention, that isn't worth the grief! More and more people do seem to be going the "self publishing" route. That means a smaller audience and a more expensive book, unless you only publish an electronic book.
I'm addicted to hardcover books.
Your book sounds like it might be interesting. Too many people assert that they "know" things or push "truths" when in reality 99.9% of our world is simply viewpoints. Some viewpoints may be well established theories, while others are little more than unsubstantiated opinions.
Hopefully I will have inspired a few to gaze , at least occasionally, at their novels and stop giving a fuck about the perpetual silliness that's always present. 😝
The problem with gazing at your navel is that you might not like what you see there! 😇
In my opinion, the key is to enjoy the silliness (instead of giving a f*** about it), is to let it be your entertainment while you are busy filling your life with productive, good activities.
Occasionally, you HAVE to be a bit of an asshole. 🤣 There are those in the world who are deserving of such ire.
Similar to you, I strive to avoid being part of the chaos in the world. I like the saying, "live simply so others can simply live."
I would LIKE to think that I will/do make at least a small positive impact upon the tiny portion of the world that I inhabit. Even if that impact is limited to just my small circle of friends. I can at least "rest" easy with the knowledge that I wasn't a COMPLETE asshole. ( I have no idea what PART of an asshole I would be. Just so long as I'm not a meat donut or the ENTIRE thing. )
And, I would like to think that I have contributed to laughter. Not many get or can tolerate my sense of humor. But, I know of at least a handful of people who share my twisted version of funny.
During the summer of 2020 riots, my best friend was still teaching college at least a little bit. The whole question of "black lives matter" or "all lives matter" was bouncing around the campus. He asked his students whether their lives mattered, and they all felt that they did. He argued, "No, your lives don't matter and neither does mine."
His idea was that most of us don't do anything in life that really matters. Few people make a huge impact on the world, and most of them make a negative impact. He wanted to argue against the whole self-esteem mindset that all of us are unique and precious. He's a Baptist deacon, and he believes that all people are loved by God, but he also wanted to argue against what he sees as a self-centered, conceited view that society often has.
I argued with him that I believe that my life matters and his life matters. My point is not that every life matters but that every life matters for those who make their lives matter. We can make our lives matter by doing the right things. We can produce more than we consume. We can act justly towards one another. We can support real justice within our society. We can show kindness and generosity without enabling self-destruction or manipulation. One of my big messages to people at the time was that if they wanted their lives to matter, they needed to get off their asses and make their lives matter. Most of us won't make major impacts on the world, but most societies function because many regular people work to make things work. The big impacts would never happen if regular people making small, positive impacts didn't spend their lives working to keep society functioning.
While "mattering" isn't exactly the question that you asked, I believe that mattering is related to the question of "meaning of life." In some respects, the meaning of life may be a more spiritual question than the question of mattering. When I hear someone say "meaning of life," I get the impression of a much fuzzier concept than just mattering. I'm generally better at the less fuzzy concepts.
I believe that the strongest, healthiest, most stable societies are built on the traditional family. By that, I mean man and woman as husband and wife. They are raising their own biological children or children that they have adopted from outside themselves. They stay together until one of them passes. This ideal makes the happiest, healthiest societies and individuals.
Plenty of people don't achieve this ideal. Plenty of people make stupid marriages that don't last. Plenty of people end up not providing the most stable homes for their children. I don't say these things to attack these people. I've also failed to build that life for myself. I understand that some people aren't made for marriage. They are better off single. I wasn't one of those people. My being a lifelong bachelor is a failure on my part. Other people aren't a fit for this life because they aren't heterosexual. I don't know whether some of them should be heterosexual. That's a complicated question. I don't say these things to attack these people. I'm just aware of more deviations today from what is healthiest for any society.
We tend to celebrate people who find occupations that are a great fit for them. For everyone to find an occupation that is a great fit and will bring them fulfillment is wonderful. I'm just skeptical of whether that situation is really common for the human condition. I suspect that many people today and throughout the millennia have done work that wasn't at all fulfilling. They did what they did to put food on the table, clothes on their backs, and roofs over their heads. That doesn't mean that they lived lives that didn't matter or lives that didn't have a meaning.
When I was in church, the cliche answer to the meaning of life was in serving Jesus. I'm happy for people who find all the meaning that they need in that idea. From a purely theological point of view based on The Bible, I intellectually accept that answer. I've met people who are completely sincere in that answer. On a more practical level, I was never able to make that work for me. Many people who talk the most about finding meaning in Jesus seem to be more fixated on themselves and seem to see Jesus as an extension of themselves. I was in church long enough to know that the Bible says that they are supposed to be extensions of Jesus instead of the other way around.
I appreciate the simplicity in the mindset of "take care of your needs; have a good time; don't be an asshole." I haven't been able to make that idea work for me either.
You make an excellent point that a person can matter without being acknowledged. We wouldn't have great novels if a fair number of people hadn't contributed to the technology needed to invent the printing press.
Another point you touch on is relationships. In my marriage, we mattered to each other. Cathy will always be relevant and matter to me, she had a huge impact on my life and I'll miss her until the day I also pass away.
Do we need to be relevant to the entire world? Or just to one other person? Or just to ourselves?
Going back to your professor and the attempt to claim that none of us matter. Well, that's relative. We are insignificant to the entire universe or the sun, but those aren't conscious entities. They don't "care".
This gets to an important aspect of AI. AI has no consciousness, an implementation can't care whether you do great things or nothing.
But I'll bet that the ancient human that gathered berries to sustain their partner mattered while their partner helped ensure the survival of homo sapiens.
Thus I come around to the thought that love matters. And love comes in many, many different flavors. To use Robert's crude terminology: love gives a f***. Sure, ignore all the criminal tyrants playing at being important, but care that the table leg you craft is made with love and quality. Care that the photograph you take is composed well and captures imagery that inspires another person to appreciate the beauty in the world.
You mentioned writing worthwhile books.
I've dabbled in writing books. One of the books that I wrote is about the Kennedy assassination. My same professor friend says that what I've written would be an important contribution to the body of work on the topic. I just need to get it published. In many ways, I like the idea of having contributed to the literature in an important way.
On the other hand, finding and agent and getting a book published is a big effort. Self-publishing will never have the same impact, but persuading a publisher is difficult. Today, a writer needs and agent. The big agents have plenty of clients. The upcoming agents are all looking for LGBTQ+ content, not a serious discussion of the Kennedy assassination. I just don't have the energy to go through all of that rejection. My friend has tried a little bit to find someone, but his health is worse than mine, and he's still trying to teach classes.
In case you are wondering, the point of my book is not to promote any specific hypothesis about the assassination. In fact, the subtitle in my head through the whole writing process was "I don't know who did it, and neither do you." My point is not to push a particular narrative but to make people understand the strengths and weaknesses of every hypothesis. What I want is to point to the ideas that are out there and show how some analysis is good and other analysis isn't so good. Not all of the bad analysis is necessarily wrong, but the bad analysis is still bad analysis. I want to walk people through the process of breaking down the narratives that so many have put forward. I want to point out the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of evidence.
Yes, to get "fame" you need one of the big publishing houses to print and promote a book. However, as you mention, that isn't worth the grief! More and more people do seem to be going the "self publishing" route. That means a smaller audience and a more expensive book, unless you only publish an electronic book.
I'm addicted to hardcover books.
Your book sounds like it might be interesting. Too many people assert that they "know" things or push "truths" when in reality 99.9% of our world is simply viewpoints. Some viewpoints may be well established theories, while others are little more than unsubstantiated opinions.
Hopefully I will have inspired a few to gaze , at least occasionally, at their novels and stop giving a fuck about the perpetual silliness that's always present. 😝
The problem with gazing at your navel is that you might not like what you see there! 😇
In my opinion, the key is to enjoy the silliness (instead of giving a f*** about it), is to let it be your entertainment while you are busy filling your life with productive, good activities.
Occasionally, you HAVE to be a bit of an asshole. 🤣 There are those in the world who are deserving of such ire.
Similar to you, I strive to avoid being part of the chaos in the world. I like the saying, "live simply so others can simply live."
I would LIKE to think that I will/do make at least a small positive impact upon the tiny portion of the world that I inhabit. Even if that impact is limited to just my small circle of friends. I can at least "rest" easy with the knowledge that I wasn't a COMPLETE asshole. ( I have no idea what PART of an asshole I would be. Just so long as I'm not a meat donut or the ENTIRE thing. )
And, I would like to think that I have contributed to laughter. Not many get or can tolerate my sense of humor. But, I know of at least a handful of people who share my twisted version of funny.
Ah... the old "do unto others as they have done unto you". Yes, I'm guilty of that too. 😇
Laughter! Now that is an excellent contribution to the world!