our purpose

[The_Giver]

I recently remembered this quote from the book Hugo Cabret and felt like I should share.

"You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

And I think we all forget this lesson that we are all one in the same world. Sometimes we can get lost but the ultimate goal should be to work together. Humanity often starts to trail off that path and think about themselves but I belive that is why we have feelings like guilt and pain to warn us when we start breaking.

We all have a purpose and don't you ever forget it .

 

[Architect]

I recently remembered this quote from the book Hugo Cabret and felt like I should share.

Great quote, I didn't read the book but the movie used that exact quote. I started a thread about that movie here that's worth reading, it's about an INTP (Hugo) and the characters all serve as Archetypes of his psyche (all eight functions too)

"You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

And I think we all forget this lesson that we are all one in the same world. Sometimes we can get lost but the ultimate goal should be to work together. Humanity often starts to trail off that path and think about themselves but I belive that is why we have feelings like guilt and pain to warn us when we start breaking.

We all have a purpose and don't you ever forget it .

My variation on that is that the purpose of life is to serve life both for yourself and others. Live it in your full capacity and on your own terms - this is the part for yourself. Then and give back to it in your full capacity and your own terms, this is for others.

For INTP's that means don't shirk your desire and duty to be a philosophical innovator, architect, designer and logician. The world can use your talents, and you want to exercise them.

 

[Rook]

Purpose is self-defined.

In the grand scheme of things, if the universe is random and not per-determined, we probably do not have an objective, intangible purpose.
Simply the subjective purpose we apply to ourselves to stave of depression, uncertainty and suicide.

Thus spawns religion, morality, ideologies etc: Humans need a purpose, were none is observationally apparent (except of course mere survival), we create one.
In the end, this illusion keeps us alive and relatively content.

 

[Absurdity]

"You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too."

I think this is a comforting but inaccurate analogy.

Organic life is full of redundancies: two kidneys, an appendix that seemingly does nothing, genetic code full of noise from aeons of trial and error. The world is no different. Plenty of infants are born hideously disfigured, with crippling mental handicaps, or have terminal illnesses lying in wait that detonate while they're still in the dawn of their lives. Other young people die of freak accidents they have no control over. I suppose all machines have friction - grit that gets stuck in the gears.

However I think the truth is that the world is chaotic and, on a scale of any significance, totally unpredictable. There is likely an order of some kind, but it is beyond our powers thus far to understand. It's certainly possible to have a grand destiny as an agent in this system, but it is exceedingly unlikely and requires a greatness of spirit and mind that one would probably already be aware of if one had had it.

 

[Yellow]

I think this is a comforting but inaccurate analogy.

Organic life is full of redundancies: two kidneys, an appendix that seemingly does nothing, genetic code full of noise from aeons of trial and error. The world is no different. Plenty of infants are born hideously disfigured, with crippling mental handicaps, or have terminal illnesses lying in wait that detonate while they're still in the dawn of their lives. Other young people die of freak accidents they have no control over. I suppose all machines have friction - grit that gets stuck in the gears.

This was my first thought as well.

It really is nice to think of ourselves as having a purpose. But our only tangible purpose is to breed. Beyond that, any meaning you glean from your experiences, any purpose you find in your life is yours to define.

Personally, I think my/our purpose in life is to pass on information. I think humans have made their mark in this world by finding ways to communicate knowledge, ideas, and observations to future generations. If we were to have any purpose as a species and as individuals, I think it is summarized in Dr. Tyson's quote:

"We are not simply in the universe, we are part of it. We are born from it. One might even say we have been empowered by the universe to figure itself out — and we have only just begun."
​

 

[Analyzer]

I like what Newton had to say:

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me"

 

[onesteptwostep]

I used to think purpose in life was to experience the iconoclastic until I had my scizophreniform. Didn't really feel to have new experiences after that, it kinda screws your head up when you have them one after another for hours on end.

My philosophy right now is to love. And to love to me is this: to liberate, to console, and to yield.

And I think this entails that for the future, there will be peace, although there will be conflicts along the way. If you look at the whole of humanity through the lenses of history I think there is a definate purpose in life. We always strive for unity, as a whole. And to achieve this unity, we also strive for truth. There's a historical trend, a real narrative, which reflects this.

I also think that if you imagine humanity through the lenses of your own life, I think there is a definate purpose there too. I always thought what my worldview would be like if I were to be stranded on a deserted island by myself, for the entirity of my life. Would I go insane? Would I survive? What happens if I were to create a system in which all my worries for shelter and hunger were satisfied? What if I knew all the knowledge in understanding the beauties of nature- its dynamic and cyclic phenonemas? What if I understood reality and made peace with it? Then what? Does reality exist just so that we can experience and understand new things, one after another? To experience iconoclasm? No.. I don't think life's purpose is to experience the iconoclastic. I think the beauty of new knowledge dies with the passing of time. They are objective and eternal, after all, if they are to be discovered. It doesn't matter whether you think they're neat or not, they existed before you knew about them and were merely discovered.

I think ultimately we're meant to serve. I think it's the only vanguard against the human tendencies we have in ourselves. Knowledge brings sorrow, power brings corruption, love brings hatred. But I think with purpose- a universal, objective purpose- these things change. Knowledge brings joy. Power brings responsibility. Love brings unity. And so, I think it comes to this: to extert knowledge I think is to liberate. To extert power is to console. To love is to yield, to understand. And I think through all this, when thought in its totality, I think the purpose in life is to love, or something that is definately related to love. To liberate, console and yield. Something to do with that.

It's a bit of a loner/romantist approach, but.. I think you can get to the same conclusions with just philosophy, history, or sociology. The 'ultimate good', 'the ultimate trend', and the 'need to belong', respectively. etc etc. There are objective principles which guides these things. I don't think they are subjective or constructs of society, like things that arose because of necessity or something. I believe they exist in some form, objectively.

 

[gilliatt]

It is what properties and character are involved and how are they related to being that kind of thing? So, the properties to 'being a being'. What is it? A machine is just what it is. A being might could grow two more arms and hands. A being might become half being, half machine. Lots of possibilities with a being. But a man has the power of nous, of perceiving universals. That machine has no emotions, pains, no mental, no imagination, just physical.

 

[Polaris]

I think we have potential purpose. It's just whether we rise to the challenge, which is part of my next point.

I doubt there's inherent purpose as the word itself is merely a human concept. Personally I do think the world would be better off with more cooperation and with everyone in some sort of functional role - however, being non-functional also serves a function for others wherein they can act as catalysts for the improvement of society. The non-functional serve as reminders of our curious tendency for philanthropy; there is intended or unintended philanthropy driving the human machine as we work to serve others in our primary function of supporting ourselves. There will be broken parts, and it is a natural tendency for some individuals to care for the broken.

Whether the ultimate goals are economic or social improvement they are both part of this process. Destruction is a catalyst for new innovation and progress - however we would be wise to take stock whenever destruction tends towards the self-defeating. The world is in a constant cycle of destruction and repair - this will not change as they are both necessary processes.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

My purpose is to help use up as many resources as I can and make the world a shittier place. I mean, think of the kids. Those fuckers can't have it better off than us.

 

[silver_writer]

I love that quote so much! Although I feel that working together isn't always necessary. I think it's more that everything that everyone does is connected to something that someone else does. Eventually, as you keep going along, your small decisions affect larger world issues, and in that way everyone is connected and has a purpose. We don't necessarily have to all work together.

 

[SpaceYeti]

The world's not a machine. I'm a waste of flesh.

 

[Vicissitude]

To say that the world is a machine is to imply that it was designed, which is something im positive not all of us are here are inclined to agree with.

That is a pretty analogy though, ill have to save it for a rainy day when someone needs cheering up.

 

[Neckbeard]

My purpose is to make the world a little less boring. If I knew how to trigger a nuclear war I would.