Meaninglessness.

[zajac]

As something that we touched on in nightschool, and I, being the only non-pothead there, was one of the 25 kids that actually had something intelectual to say about this...

But here it is... What is 'meaningless' to you? Is there anything that is 'meaningless'? Etc etc...

Many kids said that "horses are meaningless" or "picking up a blade of grass is meaningless"...

This is where I went on the topic, and this is just a summary of what I had touched on...

If you are nice to someone... Nice to someone that is always and constantly mean to you... Say you are Polish and some Nazi hates your guts... No matter how nice you are to that person, their opinion of you will not change no matter what... Being nice to someone that will not change can be meaningless... Doing things in vain is meaningless... What I'm trying to get at is that doing things for certain reasons, having certain motives behind your actions, is what I think the definition of meaningless is... I can't quite explain it that well, but I hope you get my point... Anne Frank is a good example to use... I'm not saying that you shouldn't be nice to people because it is in vain, but that depending on what your motives are, then that is meaningless...

One other kid took this a whole other direction and said that there is no possible definition for 'meaninglessness' and that to come up with a definition for meaninglessness, there in itself is creating meaning for the word. An example that can be used is love. Love is different to many people and can have a different definition to different people. Another side of this is the idea of 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' and that different things can be defined differently depending on the person and the viewpoint. So in this sense, what may seem meaningless to one person, may have a different meaning to another person...

I hope you get what I'm trying to say... What is meaningless to you? Is anything meaningless?

Elaborate.

[suicidalmuskrat]

RE: Meaninglessness.

nothing is meaningless. In my opinion. Absolutely everything that happens to someone has some sort of effect, no matter how minute, there is still an effect. Say you're the Polish person being nice to the Nazi, maybe there's a 1/1,000,000 chance that you'll change his mind and he'll start being nice to the Polish, but even more likely is that you talking, and delaying his movement, keeps him from catching the train he was supposed. That in turn makes it so he misses he reconcilliation dinner with his girlfriend, which in turn makes her hate him, and as an act of rebellion moves to Poland and denounces all traces of Nazi-ism...obviously that's not likely, but there are a million different things which could stem from some simple action, making nothing meaningless. I could give many other little story examples like that, seeing as they're fun as all get out to create.

[SpookG]

RE: Meaninglessness.

You can only determine whether something was important or not in retrospect, and if you look at events in a different light you can potentially argue away meaning and purpose to anything. It feels like a construct to justify a certain viewpoint since it is so subjective, or as way to protect yourself from feeling guilt, loss, etc.

[Cenright]

Re: Meaninglessness.

No matter how nice you are to that person, their opinion of you will not change no matter what... Being nice to someone that will not change can be meaningless... Doing things in vain is meaningless...

But you felt that you did the honorable thing by being nice, you didn't hate them for what they do, knowing that in time there will be a judgement of conscience, and you will have already cleared YOUR mind of any guilt in that area. So that niceness is actually not meaningless. No matter what you do, it affects someone, even if that someone is yourself.

[Jehoshephat]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

well i think pragmatists would say meaninglessness is an abstract concept that is inconsequential to motive and action, i agree with the buddy from class

zajac, hold the door open for your father, it's not your fault

it's not your fault, say it, it's not your fault
IT's NOT YOUR FAULT

[alainbryden]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

Many kids said that "horses are meaningless"

They are damn ignorant! You just called me out with that one didn't you.


I would define meaning as something that has significance to someone. Not necessarily definition, but it induces a recollection or mental reaction.

I believe in meaninglessness. It's something that's subjective. An example of something that is meaningless and subjective is an inside joke. Art of some genres can be considered meaningless to you if you aren't interested learning how to interpret them. It's hard to think of something that would be objectively meaningless. For something to be objectively meaningless, it would have to be something incoherent by any interpretation.

I think if anything were ever to be found objectively meaningless, someone would immediately find some way to attatch meaning to it.

[User6773]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

It's impossible to define meaningless objectively, because objectively (assuming that nothing or no one is more important than anything else; that is, I'm no more important than this can of Coke sitting here), absolutely everything has meaning. For this can of Coke, for example, being consumed by me is the most meaningful event in its existance, but I'll have forgotten about it in a couple of hours.

On a more dramatic scale: Let's say that the entire population of a planet in the Andromeda galaxy destroys itself today in a nuclear war. To us, it's meaningless. But to an entire world, it's extremely meaningful.

[alainbryden]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

Let's Just say that meaninlessness does exist. If it didn't, then the word 'meaningless' would be meaningless

[Cenright]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

The word itself gives people their own exaggerative feelings. How often to people use the word 'love'?

People love:
that pepsi.
their family.
their spouse.
their pet.
that outfit.
sex.

And yet, none of those mean the same kind of love, and some of them are exaggerations anyway. But since humans are biased creatures, the thought of something being meaningless still exists, because they aren't realizing what effects it is actually having, because the effects are so miniskewl.

[gardyloo]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

meaningless could apply to drunken slurs of speach, or slamming on the keyboard, asdkjhlaskdfhaklsdjf

[deltro300111]

RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

I agree... "asdkjhlaskdfhaklsdjf" is quite meaning less.

[jewpinthethird]

Re: RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

Many kids said that "horses are meaningless"

They are damn ignorant! You just called me out with that one didn't you.

I have to agree with whoever said that. Horses are meaningless. You cant even eat them.

But seriously, meaningless does exist.

Experiment (well, pretend that this ultimately meaningful action is not a part of an experiment):

Right now, I am holding James Clavell's 1210 page novel Shougun in my left hand.

I extend my arm out to my side, and drop it.

It drops.

I look at the book, now lying on the floor, the cover opened facing the floor.

I pick it up with my left hand. I notice the title page has been folded over due to my having dropped it.

I place the book back where I found it (which is on the right side my desk).

Why did I drop it (remember, we are ignoring that fact that this is an experiment)? No reason. It was a meaningless action. Wasted energy.

I would like everyone to conduct the same experiment at home. Only dont tell the results to anyone (unless the object happens to not fall...then that would be worth telling someone). Even if you dont want to conduct the experiment, do it anyways (it'll just re-enforce the idea of meaninglessness). In fact, do it more than once. If anyone happens to see what you are doing and questions you respond "I am not doing anything."

[aprun]

RE: Re: RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

That is not true, everything is meaningful. I mean, I know this sounds childish, but meaningless is the opposite of meaningful. If one exists, another opposite also must. Third law of Newton guys. However, I believe that everything has meaning. Everything affects the world. Example: The butterfy effect. A beat of a butterfy's wings can cause a storm somewhere else. A simple glance, a slight nodd affects everything we are and do. Also, There is no such thing as wasted energy, rather transferred energy. Therefore, there is no true aspect of meaningless, only a word to fill in the position of opposite of Meaningful. And if you don't agree with me, well prove me wrong.

[jewpinthethird]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

That is not true, everything is meaningful. I mean, I know this sounds childish, but meaningless is the opposite of meaningful. If one exists, another opposite also must. Third law of Newton guys. However, I believe that everything has meaning. Everything affects the world. Example: The butterfy effect. A beat of a butterfy's wings can cause a storm somewhere else. A simple glance, a slight nodd affects everything we are and do. Also, There is no such thing as wasted energy, rather transferred energy. Therefore, there is no true aspect of meaningless, only a word to fill in the position of opposite of Meaningful. And if you don't agree with me, well prove me wrong.

Makes sense.

[alainbryden]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: Meaninglessness.

Jewpin wants to be Douglas Adams.