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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3986 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 12, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So this is the opposite of a small-scale question, but similar to what I posted below, I’ve been going through somewhat of an existential crisis about mortality and the purpose of human life.

I want to hear all of your beliefs about the big mysterious questions. For my entire life until now I have been the hardest of hard materialist/physicalist atheists. Surprise surprise that at 32 that doesn’t fill the god-shaped hole in my heart anymore.

I’m currently just thinking about how weird all of this is. Is the universe an eternal thing? Is it a simulation? How do you actually handle the hard problem of consciousness? The Fermi paradox?

Something that has been tempting me is Michael Huemer’s argument about infinite reincarnation, very similar to nietzsche’s eternal recurrence. Essentially the bastardized argument is that if the universe is infinite in both temporal directions and you already were plucked from nothingness and given consciousness once, it will happen again even if the probability is infinitesimally small (because if time is infinite it’s bound to happen).

So what do you all think? What gives you comfort when pondering mortality?

Take a look into quantum mechanics and accept the many worlds interpretation as probably correct.

Take a hard Look into evolution and realise that natural selection is not enough to explain how we (humans) came to be in our current form.

Practice "pure" semen retention for 6-12 months and note down all the stuff that happens to you that's atypical. Check out /r/semenretention.

I'm not asking you to believe anything you read there I'm just asking you to self experiment. Use that sub to have an idea on what to look for.

You are kind of trapped in a materialist/physicalist box. So it's hard to break you out of it. I've given you stuff that you can research yourself that doesn't seem too outlandish from a materialist point of view.

There is a lot of discussion about the universe that is not materialist but it's happening in spaces, YouTube channels and websites that you probably don't respect.

All I can say is if you're truly after the truth you must question if you have any biases. You must question every single belief that you have. You must ask yourself "How do I know this to be true?". "Do I believe this because I did the research myself or am I just parroting something I heard from someone with higher status than me?"

GL

Take a hard Look into evolution and realise that natural selection is not enough to explain how we (humans) came to be in our current form. I'm curious. Do you have specific problems, questions in mind?

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