Re: [Official!] Project Horizons Comment Crew Chat thread.

[Guest]

I can't say that I am concerned with leaving any kind of impact on the world. As long as I'm happy with what I do I could careless.

[Tytan]

I wonder what the other non-military people of this forum do to bring meaning and value to their lives? Are any of you concerned with leaving an impact after you're dead and gone?

100 billion years from now when the human race is nothing but dust, all our great monuments have rusted, eroded, and decayed and the tectonic plate have shifted so radically that the arbitrary borders we created are completely unrecognizable, do you really think the universe is going to give two shits about that one guy who spent a couple, by and large, uneventful years in the military?

[Katarn]

Hm...as for me..Hard question.
As for 'short run' I want get better job in IT, move to some place descent, help my parents with their elderly years (I think that's the right word). And yeah, in that order.
As for 'long run'...
Find a girlfriend, with whom I'd be willing to spend most/rest of my life and be good enough parent for my kid(s).
I know I'll won't achieve a lot, I know, that if half of what I want would happen - that's success. Doesn't mean I wouldn't try harder though.

As for 'impact after death'.
I don't know..never thought on this hard enough.

[Tytan]

do you really think the universe is going to give two shits about that one guy who spent a couple, by and large, uneventful years in the military?

...the universe isn't going to give anything. It's the universe. It has no opinions.

[Frost]

do you really think the universe is going to give two shits about that one guy who spent a couple, by and large, uneventful years in the military?

...the universe isn't going to give anything. It's the universe. It has no opinions.

Plus, I'm not looking into the abstractly distant future. I'm looking to how I can contribute to humanity's future as we can actually comprehend and effect it--if we can actually get our act together, we could have colonies on other worlds inside 50 years--most scholars agree on that. There are myriad factors holding us back, including people who are obsessed with bringing down civilizations for not believing in their god--and dealing with people like that is where people like me come in. 

So, no, nihilism is not an excuse for mediocrity.

[Ketchup]

I wonder what the other non-military people of this forum do to bring meaning and value to their lives? Are any of you concerned with leaving an impact after you're dead and gone?

To make an impact on other people is a big part of why I want to go to university. While anyone can make a difference regardless of education, chemistry or engineering might allow me to enter a field where I can be useful to society in general, rather than a simple labourer. I want to be able to help humanity 'proceed' in some way, as presumptuous as that is. Simply living wouldn't satisfy me.

Now I just need to maintain a high scholastic performance for the next 10 months to get the scholarships to actually get that chance. If certifiable education was more accessible, I'd imagine the world would be a better place, broadly speaking.

We're small. People latch on to prominent figures and revere them, from musicians to actors, and that gives them value over the people who don't get that appreciation. Who should care what the Kardashians are up to? Why are they in the news more often that important medical or scientific discoveries?
*Tumbles off the soapbox*

[Tytan]

do you really think the universe is going to give two shits about that one guy who spent a couple, by and large, uneventful years in the military?

...the universe isn't going to give anything. It's the universe. It has no opinions.

Plus, I'm not looking into the abstractly distant future. I'm looking to how I can contribute to humanity's future as we can actually comprehend and effect it--if we can actually get our act together, we could have colonies on other worlds inside 50 years--most scholars agree on that. There are myriad factors holding us back, including people who are obsessed with bringing down civilizations for not believing in their god--and dealing with people like that is where people like me come in. 

So, no, nihilism is not an excuse for mediocrity.

That wasn't nihilism. Nihilism is the belief that nothing outside your own head actually exists. What I posited was realism. And realistically chances are that sooner or later we're doomed.

Personally I ignore all that bullshit to the best of my abilities, and get on with my life. It's liberating knowing that I don't have to make an impact.

[Tytan]

@Swicked, That was all more or less what goes through my head when I hit one of my depressed cycles. In reality, when I'm feeling better, all I want is a job I don't hate and provides a comfortable living, a wife who doesn't hate me and will let me touch her boobs :D, kids that don't grow up to be assholes, and a peaceful death.

[Frost]

do you really think the universe is going to give two shits about that one guy who spent a couple, by and large, uneventful years in the military?

...the universe isn't going to give anything. It's the universe. It has no opinions.

Plus, I'm not looking into the abstractly distant future. I'm looking to how I can contribute to humanity's future as we can actually comprehend and effect it--if we can actually get our act together, we could have colonies on other worlds inside 50 years--most scholars agree on that. There are myriad factors holding us back, including people who are obsessed with bringing down civilizations for not believing in their god--and dealing with people like that is where people like me come in. 

So, no, nihilism is not an excuse for mediocrity.

Exactly.
I wasn't asking for something that affects the entire universe. It makes no sense to think about things on that scale.
I honestly don't really care about humanity's ability to thrive, though.
I'm mostly just interested in myself. My pursuit of wisdom, balance and understanding of myself and the world around me.
Such is the nature of my pursuit. I don't rely on others to bring meaning into my life during or after it. My meaning begins and ends with me.

...so yeah, pretty much the opposite of everything you strive for without actually being in direct conflict.

I guess it's a difference in philosophy. I'm not the kind of person who can be satisfied simply by being or knowing. I have to do. I need a goal to strive towards, an ideal to defend or fight for. 

To get a bit poetic, I can't simply look at and understand a mountain. I need to climb the mountain.

[Tytan]

That's not realism, though. It's just kinda immature.
Even if you were able to affect the entire universe, you'd complain that you wouldn't be able to affect a theoretical multiverse. If you could affect that and all of existence you'd complain that, in the grand scheme of eternity, everything would probably eventually re-arrange itself to keep on chugging.
There's no limit to how much you can undervalue your own importance.

No, that's immature. Denying that the universe is going to keep on spinning even after you're dead is childish. Believe it or not, people can be satisfied with this lot in life. And while I may never have godly powers, I don't even think I need them.

You misunderstand my point though. I don't want to find meaning in my life. Fuck that noise. I'd rather be happy.  

And if you haven't guessed yet, I have been feeling depressed. I've recently moved away from home, and let's just say it hasn't done wonders for my mood.

[Frost]

You misunderstand my point though. I don't want to find meaning in my life. Fuck that noise. I'd rather be happy.

In my experience, they're one in the same. Acting with purpose and actually accomplishing something brings a happiness that's unlike any other, while just doing stuff that makes you happy in the sort term will eventually lose meaning. Before long, you're just....doing stuff.

[Scyto Harmony]

I'd love to make an impact, good or bad, that I'll be remembered by.

But I'm a realist, so I don't expect I ever will make that impact. As hard as it is to accept as a human, in a world of 7 Billion people, in terms of remembrance I barely have a speck.

In the short term I'm just making it my goal to stay alive, and keeps those that I matter to, happy.


@Ty; I'm sorry that you're not feeling great, Tytan, If I could give you a hug through the internet I would.

[Scyto Harmony]

You misunderstand my point though. I don't want to find meaning in my life. Fuck that noise. I'd rather be happy.

In my experience, they're one in the same. Acting with purpose and actually accomplishing something brings a happiness that's unlike any other, while just doing stuff that makes you happy in the sort term will eventually lose meaning. Before long, you're just....doing stuff.

Finding purpose in their life is something most people don't find simple.

[Tytan]

You misunderstand my point though. I don't want to find meaning in my life. Fuck that noise. I'd rather be happy.

Admittedly, I do somewhat adapt your worldview when it comes to being silly, doing things for fun, and generally not worrying about consequences when the consequences are not worth worrying about.
In the words of Albert Einstein, “Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”

...it's just not a philosophy I paint with broad strokes across my entire life. :P

You're getting closer to my point, but just a bit off.

Perhaps because you lack my definition of 'happy'.

As I said I want a good job. I'm not lucky enough to come up with a million dollar idea like Gates or Jobs, so I'm gonna have to finish college and find somewhere I like. I want a wife. That's it's own set of problems right there. And I want kids that won't be assholes. That'll take some effort on my part.

I don't wanna be some bum who sits in his shitty apartment, smoking weed and writing songs no one is gonna hear. I have goals and the end results are what I think will make me happy.

[Ironmonger]

I wonder what the other non-military people of this forum do to bring meaning and value to their lives? Are any of you concerned with leaving an impact after you're dead and gone?

To bring meaning and value to my life, I do my best to help others and make people laugh, think, or just generally make them feel better. Why? Because I genuinely care for other people, and because I'm not sure there's much else I can do. For a long time, mostly when I was a kid, I wanted to be a robotics or mechanical engineer. However, my own realization of my rather horrifying limitations made me look towards more realistic and practical goals.

As for leaving an impact, I am concerned with that. That's always been a big thing for me because I generally feel worthless, and I therefore constantly strive to be a better person in as many ways as possible. When I get old, and after I die, if people can look at my picture or see my name and think "Hey, that guy made my life a lot better", or "That guy made me smile a lot", I'll be happy.

[iLateralGX]

I wonder what the other non-military people of this forum do to bring meaning and value to their lives? Are any of you concerned with leaving an impact after you're dead and gone?

Well in all likelihood pretty much everything will be meaningless in the end so I just try to live life at its fullest and ultimately make myself happy.

[iLateralGX]

I wonder what the other non-military people of this forum do to bring meaning and value to their lives? Are any of you concerned with leaving an impact after you're dead and gone?

Well in all likelihood pretty much everything will be meaningless in the end so I just try to live life at its fullest and ultimately make myself happy.

Have you ever heard the parable of the starfish?
Meaning is contextual.

Well you did ask what brought meaning to MY life. So I am just using my perception of meaning.

[Scienza]

Where were you again?

I was in the super touristy part of France.

@My Purpose in Life
I don't know. It's uncertain and terrifying as fuck, but I'm still trying to find my purpose. I've spent so many years deriving my self-worth and goals from the opinions of others that I don't really know what I want or find value in anymore. As it stands, I don't want to be forgotten but I'm too much of a fucking coward to stand out.

[Guest]

We're small. People latch on to prominent figures and revere them, from musicians to actors, and that gives them value over the people who don't get that appreciation. Who should care what the Kardashians are up to? Why are they in the news more often that important medical or scientific discoveries?
*Tumbles off the soapbox*

Laborers are much more important to society than actors or musicians. I can do without whoever the fuck's new song or their role in whatever movie. What I can't do without is that hospital being built or the plumbing in my home going to shit and having no one to fix it.

There are people that clean up the shit of other people that decide to take a dump at the grocery stores you visit. I appreciate not encountering that more than any song I've ever heard.

[Valikdu]

*strokes beard thoughtfully*

What can change the nature of a man?

[Tytan]

*strokes beard thoughtfully*

What can change the nature of a man?

booze

[O. Hinds]

Anyone here tried reading the Birthdayverse?  I was reading it, but some of the characterization late in this story sat so poorly with me that I've been put off the whole thing.  Judging by the comments, the vast majority, at least, of readers don't seem to see anything wrong with the events portrayed, and I've grown rather curious about why I do.

Summary of the Issue (somewhat ranty):

...Okay, well, that may have ended up a bit more than somewhat ranty.

[Valikdu]

booze

A lobotomy?

Those are valid answers, yes.

Anyone here tried reading the Birthdayverse?  I was reading it, but some of the characterization late in this story sat so poorly with me that I've been put off the whole thing.  Judging by the comments, the vast majority, at least, of readers don't seem to see anything wrong with the events portrayed, and I've grown rather curious about why I do.

Summary of the Issue (somewhat ranty):

...Okay, well, that may have ended up a bit more than somewhat ranty.

Oh.
To complete the picture... Is there, by chance, some kind of shitty moral that the author tries to ram down your throat, and does the author act like a high-minded asshat when called out on it?

[O. Hinds]

@Valikdu:
No, pleasantly, no both counts. They already replied to the comment I left, taking it very well and thanking me for the feedback, and the problem wasn't of a "THIS IS THE RIGHT WAY TO BEHAVE" sort. I think, though I didn't mention this over on FIMFiction, that it's of a "This is quite a nice story if you don't think about the details too much and just read the surface, but if you do think about those details, there are some pretty bad things that pop out" sort. Obviously, there wouldn't be much of a plot if Celestia and Luna had just quietly resolved the issue on their own, possibly centuries before the story took place. If you only think about the main characters and treat the burning cities in the distance as just background scenery, there's no problem; it's a happy ending.

Oh, and thanks to a joke that is also fine if you don't think about it, apparently this is a universe where deliberately not paying proper postage on your letters can get your soul bound to a skull in a skull mountain in Tartarus surrounded by shouting demons for several hundred years, with an unrepentant orphange-burner in the next skull over. If you don't think about it, it's funny. If you do think about it, it's an indicator that the cosmic justice system has some problems.

[O. Hinds]

@swicked:
Oh, definitely not. This isn't one of those authors, as far as I can tell.

Having seen how well they took my criticism, I'm wondering if I ought to have mentioned the "I imagine that it's much better if you don't think about what you're reading" thing after all… Probably not, though.

[O. Hinds]

Hm, and a thought: perhaps the reason why I find myself liking this universe's Discord so much is because he fits in a way that the Princesses and such don't seem to. He's been reformed for hundreds of years, and he does care about ponies and try to help them. I still don't remember him having nearly as many problems as the alicorns in general and Celestia and Luna in particular (I'd say that Luna was worst, since she was actively in combat (against mindcontrolled and presumably innocent civilians) without revealing herself, followed by Celestia, followed by Twilight, who at least had some sensible plans such as the evacuation bunkers and was a little mad at Celestia and Luna, followed by Cadance, who, even though she still let the others off scot-free, had at least already made it clear that she wanted pretty much no part of the government except living in the palace), but any problems he did have would make sense. Because he's a god of chaos. He is himself a reformed existential threat, though not as great a one as the machine created to stop him. So while he tries to do good and does succeed in doing a great deal of good, if he happens to forget that a few cities got burned down… well, he's Discord, they're fragile little mortals, and, anyway, nowhere in his job description (which he'd probably pull from the aether on a large scroll at this point in the conversation) does it say that he's supposed be keeping pony princesses in line. Rather the reverse, in fact.

No, no... that would be a bit rude, I think.

Yeah. I don't think it's likely that the author will be coming here, though, so I can be a bit more candid.

And it is a much better diagnosis than "Wow, you're trying to push that moral I find abhorrent pretty hard, aren't you?", at least.

[O. Hinds]

And a lot of popular entertainment is like that, of course.  Giant robots and superheroes fighting in the middle of cities are exciting and spectacular!  And tend not to show how the Smith family just worked their way up from a ghetto and spent all their money on a beautiful condominium in the city center, right next to Mr. Smith's new job that he's planning to use to support the baby on the way and his wife through college to become an engineer, and then Ultror the Big Brightly-colored bipedal robot gets shoved backwards through the condominium while the Magnificent Masked Labrador's nose beams miss an alien and cut the building with the job in half, causing the firm to go bankrupt. And then the Smiths develop lung cancer from inhaling the smoke of burning buildings. And they're just two people in the now much-more-postapocalyptic city, even if the good guys win the battle.

[Guest]

Happy birthday Guard.

[Katarn]

Happy birthday, Guard!

[Guest]

@Hinds Super heroes

I find the notion of society not adjusting to the knowledge of superheroes to be a silly one. There certainly would be officials paid to look out for superman (Or anyother masked individuals) and inform the authorities to issue some form of evacuation. You can only have large sections of city destroyed a couple times before you come up with some plan.


As for property damage insurance firms would adjust as well. Because no one would pay for coverage that doesn't cover the most common form of destruction of their property. Though they'd probably still screw you in some way. "Sorry this package only covers super strength. You needed the heat beams package."

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