15

Is life worth living?

Posted by $ jbrenner 3 years, 4 months ago to Philosophy
83 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

In the past decade, but particularly in 2021, I have seen growing despondency amongst Gulchers. In response to a recent discussion, I was moved to write: "Who is John Galt?" implies a "Why bother?" attitude. Did Ayn Rand make a premise that life is worth living without even realizing it?


All Comments


Previous comments...   You are currently on page 2.
  • Posted by $ blarman 3 years, 3 months ago
    At the heart of this query lies the values one builds his/her life on. And they are future-looking. If one has no future of promise and betterment to look forward to, then one loses motivation to do anything other than what they have always done. Malaise sets in. Despondency. Apathy. What drove the Producers in Atlas Shrugged? The desire to do better - to find new metals, to improve processes, to solve problems. If we give up on that, we become despondent, apathetic, and uncaring.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ Abaco 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wouldn't be surprised one bit. We've had some really wild weather here lately. Snow drifts...whiteouts with 50+mph winds. Wild... I'm getting better at driving in such conditions very quickly.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ WhoAmI 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    As to your first sentence, j, referring to public dissemination of new knowledge, I believe I am given access to any "new knowledge" I require, through certain journal publications.

    And now I must retract at least parts of my statements referring to lack of proper experimentation in today's scientific milieu, as I have found good experimental results in some of the papers I have read.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ WhoAmI 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Which cells are you talking about? The simple somatic cells of he host body, or the actual leucocytes that are the participants in the immune response? It is the white blood cells and phagocytes that I need to review, as I said above, my memory is short, and information may have advanced. Though I strongly suspect that perhaps it hasn't after all.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ Abaco 3 years, 3 months ago
    Very interesting, buddy. What I've been feeling lately is "OMG, I'm getting older faster! I need to really start having more fun!" That aside...I will think on this more and try to contribute here later. No doubt we are in some darker times. I feel so fortunate to have read Atlas Shrugged. Just this morning I was looking at Interstate 80 road conditions to see if a loved one can make the drive back to Commiefornia. Caltrans apparently is too understaffed to open roads anymore - roads that would normally get plowed and opened back up in these conditions. Imagine how tough that is for somebody who didn't read Atlas Shrugged. I see it and just go "oh...sure", and chuckle. Those roads are already in such bad shape they are just becoming more and more punishing on the undercarriage as each year goes by, in the best conditions. This is the way...as alluded to by the famous trader, Seykota. Rather than be bothered by such things I just look at them as the natural progression - like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I am a chemical, materials, and biomedical engineering professor, and have had to self-teach myself biochemistry.

    Semen is indeed a safe environment for viruses. There is at least one other "safe space from immune cells". I am forgetting it off the top of my head, but I think it is part of the digestive system.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ WhoAmI 3 years, 3 months ago
    There may be many other causes for the problems we are seeing in the health of Americans today. It could be the rampant sexuality prevalent in today's immoral or amoral climate. Birth defects could be caused by the same amorality as well.

    After all, to date it has been found that 27 types of viruses have been found lurking in human semen. I believe, that is, it is my hypothesis, that semen provides a safe environment from the leucocytes and other phagocytes that are involved in attacking and eliminating external life forms, because semen must provide a certain "safe space", if you will, for the more fragile haploid cells of the male of the species. And the immune system might judge these haploid cells an alien antigenic life form, had they no "safe space".

    I also think the state of science, insofar as it relates to immune processes, is somewhat confused. I find that in this comment of yours, but please don't take that personally. You are not a biochemist, I am presuming.

    By the way, the answer to the question I asked you concerning the number of biochemical reactions taking place in any one cell at any one time, is, according to a few of the sources on the Internet, about half a billion: 500,000,000 simultaneous biochemical reactions. What could go wrong?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ allosaur 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Life is short. Of course, there are times to mourn a loss. Overall, strive to keep your chin up.
    The life expectancy of a corrections officer is 59. You can look that up.
    Me dino was known for cracking jokes during the 21 years I worked at a maximum security prison.
    Though being in extreme danger during a short riot that my rescuing coworkers put down, I'm now I'm age 74 going on 75 in March.
    Of course, I may drop dead today. Life is short. So do what I do. Blow your nose at that.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Augmentation to what already is = incremental innovation. This is entrepreneurial without being "great". To be great (in my mind), your invention or innovation must make such a mark in a field that people in the field can't list the greats without including that person.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Stormi 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Research by microbiologist in Texas showed the vaccine affects the nuclei of the cells and makes it impossible for the body ro repair its DNA. That is beyone the erasure of the immune system as announded by the head of the covid19 taskforce, unive of Mich. and European stuides, which nailed the rate at 5% per month from first jbab.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 3 years, 3 months ago
    Ayn Rand thought it was, even after living through situations that were far worse than most of us have experienced or even imagined.

    She went on to document her experiences, through her novels, which of the ones that I've read, had happy endings.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Stormi 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Happiness and hope are infectious! Your find it in homor, I find it watching a squirrel eat or a deer pass through the yard. Either way it is invigoration to the soul and sends hope and encouragement.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Stormi 3 years, 3 months ago
    Life is worth living, else why would we fight so hard to keep individualism. If I start to head toward throwing up my hands, I get out in nature, watch the animals, who do not ask for "Fair" nor do they have a world gov. They enjoy life, as should we. Maybe it was early exposure to Wordsworth's "Ode on the Intimation of Immortalit yFrom Recollections of EarlyChildhood." The pointing of ouf of being ever close to our original self and the original awe in God's creations. The call to avoid too much sophistication which puts layers of unreality unon each other, blinding us to reality and ourselfves. Maybe it was my Dad teaching me objectiviisn before i knew its name, a basic belifef in the self and making my own decisions, consequences and all. It is hard to accept woke, as it is the concept of dumb people wanting to conrol you. Stay close to your original self and your values, do not hive up. The fight is part of the reward.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ allosaur 3 years, 3 months ago
    Y'all may have noticed me dino doesn't let all the despotic libtarded Schiff get me down.
    Have you noticed that one very important thing Progressive Marxists just can't can't stand is being made light of and laughed at?
    Or Trump supporters calling themselves Deplorables after Cackles Clinton The Evil Hag call us a "basket full" of those.
    The latest turn-about they can't stand is "Let's Go Brandon."
    I'll continue to post a Babylon Bee I think is funny, though someone apparently works hard striving to be first in line to tack a 0 on it. Guess we all need a purpose in life.
    I'd rather pursue my happiness.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 3 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "To be "great", you must have a contrarian point of view." I have to contemplate this for a while. Thinking out loud... Contrarian like Galileo or Copernicus in their time, sure, but contrarian like Marx at any time, no way. Entrepreneurship need not be contrarian as it can be augmentation of what already is.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ 3 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    To be "great", you must have a contrarian point of view. This critical element of the curiosity component of entrepreneurship is under unrelenting attack. What is different in the last few years is that the contrarian point of view is now limited by non-governmental entities.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "...no longer "great". " Agreed in many respects. It seems from the beginning of the Constitutional Republic there has been many improvements making a realization of the "American Dream" obtainable for more and more citizens right up to the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s. A backward step was income taxes and a few other things at the beginning of the 20th century, but improvements were still being made. Then something happened in the '70s and a "creeping crud" started to ooze from the woodworks. Call it Marxism or some other name, but not the "American Dream" for sure. Edit add: I still think we have a great civilization, but it isn't as healthy as recently before. It's being bled out.

    The separate note: Yes. Some I miss (excellor sp?), others not (e-- sp?). I enjoy the company of those that are still here and those that breeze in and out.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ 3 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The civilization in which we are living is no longer "great". Individual Gulchers will remain great as long as they maintain their purpose.

    On a somewhat separate note, have you noticed how few of the Gulchers from a decade ago are still here?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by mccannon01 3 years, 4 months ago
    I'm not so sure Gulchers are becoming more despondent for themselves personally, but are showing a despondency for the great civilization in which we are living. I think Gulchers have a confidence in their own ability to weather oncoming storms and see their lives as worth living.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ 3 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ayn Rand keenly recognized the internal battle between a producer's intrinsic desire to produce and the extrinsic assignment by others (or lack thereof) of the value that a producer has created.
    Reply | Permalink  

  • Comment hidden. Undo