this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
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Comic Strips

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Feom saturday morning breakfast cereal https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/meaning-8

top 34 comments
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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

And can we not consider that each of us can so arrange his own particular life so as to make it meaningful to himself and to those he influences? And in that case does not all of life and all the Universe come to have meaning to him?

Surely it is those who find their own lives essentially meaningless who most strive to impose meaning on the Universe as a way of making up for the personal lack.

--Isaac Asimov, Knock Plastic!, 1989

[–] SystemDisc@feddit.org 16 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

I’m pro optimistic nihilism. Nothing has any inherent meaning, so I have the privilege of assigning my own meaning to things.

This is called existentialism.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 4 points 11 hours ago

Kinda similar to my epiphany during the comedown from a bad shroom trip.

There is no meaning to life, but there doesn't need to be one to enjoy it.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

100% this, my friend.

And if more people could get their heads to that healthy state, the world would be a better place.

[–] affenlehrer@feddit.org 4 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago

All you need is love, love

Love is all you need

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 1 points 10 hours ago

I quit my nihilistic group when I came to this conclusion and desynched with the vibes. So many doomers get stuck in a masturbatory loop of questioning and fretting, and basically waiting for a new daddy to show up and provide top-down meaning.

But there are no daddies, not really. Only zaddies, and you get to pick yours.

[–] the_artic_one@piefed.social 5 points 13 hours ago
[–] tormeh@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

The concept of meaning is ill-defined. It's basically a feeling, and there's nothing more to it.

[–] lemmyman@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Ve believe in nossing, lebowski!

Your chonson!

[–] Quicky@piefed.social 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 hours ago

What do you mean by "mean"?

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 2 points 11 hours ago

Never seen a comic phrase something I thought only I believe in, better than I ever could. Oh my gods...

[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 20 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

The universe might not care, but we do, and that's the important part in my book

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 2 points 10 hours ago

Meaning only matters to minds, so it makes sense that minds is where meaning comes from.

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 19 points 17 hours ago

We're part of the universe and we care, therefore the universe cares through us.

"We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out." -Delenn

[–] tmyakal@infosec.pub 8 points 16 hours ago

This reminds me of my own thoughts on the peak year of cinema: 1999. We got:

  • the Matrix
  • American Beauty
  • Office Space
  • Fight Club
  • Being John Malkovich

The inciting incident to all of these movies is basically, "I'm a bored white guy feeling existential dread." They're all great films, but if late-90s cinema is any indication, a huge swathe of Americans had virtually no problems back then.

Or to put it another way: as of 2000, Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over

[–] bequirtle@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

I would think that believing things matter is much more uncomfortable than believing they don't

[–] KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 11 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

All meaning is defined from within, the fact that there's no one keeping score is what makes it matter.

If you need a diety or the concept of karmic balance in order to do what you know to be right then I'm not sure you really believe in it.

[–] xylol@leminal.space 2 points 14 hours ago

I was surprised a old coworker went to church one time he mentioned it as he seemed like not the type.

I asked him why he goes and he told me he would probably kill someone if he didn't go to church and learn what was right or wrong and it was super weird to me that some people have like no morales/empathy built in

It turns out that finding out there wasn't any meaning in the world meant a lot to some people.

[–] Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 16 hours ago

Look at a starry sky, see how many stars there are. Each one is a nearly unimaginable number of times larger than the planet you live on. Each one may potentially carry an entire history of civilizations far beyond what humans may ever achieve.

You feel irrelevant? Each star is all of that and yet if you raise your hand to the sky you can completely cover several of them from your point of view. That's how big you are.

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 4 points 17 hours ago

"The stars are matter, we're matter, but it doesn't matter."

[–] MajinBlayze@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Catching strays over here

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 14 hours ago

Fermions matter

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Matches my thoughts on the whole "what if this is all just a simulation?" thing too. Until that has some tangible effect on us, or we find a way out, so what?

And free will. We feel like we have it. That's all that really matters as far as that debate goes unless you're the kind of jackass trying to rob someone of their accomplishment or absolve yourself of terrible behavior.

[–] Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

We might not even exist - we could be a simulation or even just the imagination of some higher plane being. The absolute only thing that we can be completely sure of is that something is real somewhere, at some level.

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 hours ago

Same sort of thing. Sure, my entire existence could be the product of a delusion of some higher order being merely keeping the results of my senses consistent with what I consider "real life". All my previous experiences could be complete fabrications done convincingly enough, including previous musings on this.

So fucking what?

Until any of that becomes provable or has direct impact on the experience I have as "real life", it's nothing more than extremely boring navel gazing.

Non-falsifiable philosophical wankery dead-ends and a waste of energy to seriously consider. Better ways to spend what I pErCeIvE as time.

[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The absolute only thing that we can be completely sure of is that something is real somewhere, at some level.

is that a joke?

[–] Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

Not really, why?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

There is no ultimate purpose in a cosmic sense.
We can define one if we want to, but it will always be subjective to our own opinions.

Maybe we are an effort of the Universe to save itself from its ultimate fate that it is dying a slow heat death or ending in the terminal maximum entropy?

The intelligence of life can be determined as its ability to sustain itself. In the same way the intelligence of the universe can be determined as its ability to sustain itself.

IDK, maybe in billions of years some life form will be able to save the universe?