Author Topic: Futility?  (Read 18946 times)

rayner23

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2010, 01:49:38 PM »
Too often, we search for meaning in life in our work, but why? When did anyone ever find the meaning of life in the file room?

A conservative argument could be that it is because we don't search for meaning in our work that we lag behind much of the industrialized world in many categories: education, health care, pretty much everything except entertainment spending. Americans truly are Nietzsche's Last Men.


You fucking communist.
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ArtfulShrapnel

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2010, 02:08:54 PM »

A conservative argument could be that it is because we don't search for meaning in our work that we lag behind much of the industrialized world in many categories: education, health care, pretty much everything except entertainment spending. Americans truly are Nietzsche's Last Men.


You fucking communist.

Bwah?

Communists don't care if you find meaning in your work. They will tell you your job and you'll do it for the good of the people.

Searching for meaning in what you do is a much more libertarian way to look at the world. That you should do what you think and feel is best and be rewarded for it, and that the world will improve as a result.

My personal opinion: The reason many jobs feel meaningless today is that so many of them are. Sales, business, and finance in particular are just metagames we've invented to win enough points in the actual game of the economy, which is really intended to track the value of actual work. Building things, inventing things, etc.

I think the reason America lags behind the rest of the world is because we've all stopped playing the actual game, and are focused on winning the metagame. We've min-maxed our economy to do the most damage and get the best bonuses, but we've lost the soul and character and value that made it worth having in the first place.

ristarr

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2010, 02:19:07 PM »
Good points Artful, I think this is shown by how many people work in sectors where the only "job" is moving money from one place to the other.  No creation, no production, no inventiveness ( actually I take that back, you can be pretty inventive in ways to part people from their money ).  If the economy is a zero-sum game, then there are a lot of losers out there that are not min-maxing and metagaming, and doing something that they find satisfying or fulfilling.  Or, Economy forbid, something that might actually help other people.  They are not rewarded by the Economy for actions like this anyway.

Setherick

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #18 on: June 26, 2010, 02:44:57 PM »
Ah, analogical arguments. One of my personal favorites.
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Boyos

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #19 on: June 26, 2010, 11:49:43 PM »
Im coming in on the end of this conversation... I thought we all agreed no Political and Religious bull shit in here?

Setherick

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #20 on: June 26, 2010, 11:53:11 PM »
This is about life though man.

(I so wish I had a smiley that was giving a peace sign with one hand and holding a flower in the other right now.)
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Boyos

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #21 on: June 27, 2010, 12:03:11 AM »
GOD DAMN HIPPIES!


Lawl, Like I said I came in on the ass end of it, and realy didnt read any of page on.

iceemaker

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #22 on: June 28, 2010, 12:12:45 AM »
Thank you for reading my initial post and offering advice and encouragement, everyone. For what's it worth, I greatly appreciate being able to vent and recieve mature, practical feedback. This is the only "place" on the internet I know of that can allow me to do so. Along with you guys, and a new episode of FMA (WATCH FMA: BROTHERHOOD NOW), I have managed to trudge out of the funk I found myself in with my initial posts.

It was not my intention to drag the forums into grimdark territory. But if I have learned anything from sociology, it is that the world is hardly as black-and-white as we would like to believe: we must identify, accept and possibly alter both the positive and negative aspects of our existences.

The metaphor of economic min-maxing is brilliant. We are too preoccupied with squeezing every possible cent out of ourselves that we forget to enjoy ourselves. Like the clever DM that finds loopholes in the rules, the current economic depression is the logical result of this kind of "gameplay". Believe you me, I have no intention of joining the "powergamers". But I do not know if a certain amount of "optimization" (college degree) is required for me to enjoy life. It seems I just sink deeper into debt and become more depressed by the course content (Do you know what REALLY happened in Rwanda? I mean, what REALLY REALLY happened? Trust me, you're better off just knowing it was a terrible humanitarian crisis that the US could have easily averted.)
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clockworkjoe

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Re: Futility?
« Reply #23 on: June 28, 2010, 12:17:21 AM »
yaaaaaay

rppr is a force for good for once (because remember I am the most evil and terrible GM ever)