strvgglecity t1_jcg6gmn wrote on March 16, 2023 at 4:28 PM

Reply to comment by Mickeymousse1 in Discussion: the goal of human existence should be avoiding the heat death of the universe by Mickeymousse1

Your reasoning is completely devoid of logic. We solve problems today so we are alive tomorrow, or 10 years from now. Not 10 trillion years from now lolol. Why would anyone ever care about such a thing?

fieryflamingfire t1_jcgd0t2 wrote on March 16, 2023 at 5:09 PM

It's not unreasonable (or "illogical") to ask whether this type of long-term awareness would be valuable.

You ask, "Why would anyone ever care about such a thing?", here's two reasons:

If it serves as a cultural motivator / unified goal (like the OP is suggesting), then it's valuable even if you don't give a shit about what happens 10 trillion years from now
Many of us already feel a built-in sense of obligation to future generations of humans. Why not just extrapolate that as far as it can go? (as long as it doesn't disrupt our ability to focus on present problems, and as long as we appropriately weight the needs of humans today)

Mickeymousse1 OP t1_jcghi6k wrote on March 16, 2023 at 5:37 PM

Now this guy gets the point☝️☝️☝️

It's exactly that, extrapolating the obligation to future generations to it's maximum potencial

strvgglecity t1_jcgliar wrote on March 16, 2023 at 6:02 PM

This is hilarious nonsense. I don't think either of you understand what billions or trillions truly mean. Based on how evolution and life works as we know it, there is zero chance we would still be the same species in billions of years. We won't even be humans. We might all be conscious robots in 100 or 200 years. There is no reason to ever consider how present actions will affect the far future. It has no value and is not productive in any way. It's like making a plan in case the gravitational constant changes, or the speed of light stops being constant.

fieryflamingfire t1_jch85vj wrote on March 16, 2023 at 8:26 PM

No reason ever? Beyond being an engaging philosophical topic, it can have the benefits that have already been mentioned.

You point out that there life will be very different that far into the future, which I'd agree with. But our passage of time might be very different as well.

Again, not saying we dump all our grant money (or any) studying this question. But I also don't think it's useless to think about.