After the sun swallows our planet, what will the point have been?

[UnclePhil]

We are born, we live, we grow old, we die. The solace in our inevitable deaths is that after we are gone we will have made some impact, big or small, for better or worse, on the world we left behind.

But assuming we haven't colonized deep space by the time an asteroid smashes into Earth, a supervolcano erupts or we vaporize ourselves via nuclear war, eventually the sun will absorb our planet and burn it into nonexistence. All evidence that we ever existed in this universe, all monuments to our history and culture, every good or ill deed we ever did will be erased. Any future civilizations will never know there was ever a human race.

How will any mark we make on the flow of things matter when there's literally nothing left to show for it?

 

[DangerousGas]

How will any mark we make on the flow of things matter when there's literally nothing left to show for it?

The recorded screams of pinned-down autists will endure beyond the heat death of the universe.

 

[Positron]

No matter what end-time scenario you believe in -- big rip, big crunch, proton decay -- all information in this universe will be lost anyway. Given this universe is believed to have sprung from literally nothing (i.e. no information), it makes poetic justice.

 

[RG 448]

I think we launched a rocket containing all kinds of cultural shit a while back, so that’ll be something.

 

[Viridian]

How will any mark we make on the flow of things matter when there's literally nothing left to show for it?

It won't.

 

[Cheeseman]

maybe its because im comfortable with what i have in life and accept that its okay to not have widespread acknowledgement but this is something that doesnt really haunt me.

 

[D. Sweatshirt]

We can only hope that if another society emerges in the millions of years to come that they might act less exceptional- but who am I kidding, they'll probably be even more than we are now.

Edit: It's far enough away that it's not something I've given enough thought about.

 

[ICametoLurk]

I think we launched a rocket containing all kinds of cultural shit a while back, so that’ll be something.

We launched a rocket that contained @Cowlick's thread so billions of years from now Aliens will find it.

 

[Mariposa Electrique]

We are born, we live, we grow old, we die. The solace in our inevitable deaths is that after we are gone we will have made some impact, big or small, for better or worse, on the world we left behind.

But assuming we haven't colonized deep space by the time an asteroid smashes into Earth, a supervolcano erupts or we vaporize ourselves via nuclear war, eventually the sun will absorb our planet and burn it into nonexistence. All evidence that we ever existed in this universe, all monuments to our history and culture, every good or ill deed we ever did will be erased. Any future civilizations will never know there was ever a human race.

How will any mark we make on the flow of things matter when there's literally nothing left to show for it?

I know this is a purely existential question, but I am going to try this a bit more literally.
Everything that has a beginning has an end. We're merely sensory organs for some weird macrocosmic entity that probably lost sentience countless universes before but still yearns for it.

 

[RG 448]

We launched a rocket that contained @Cowlick's thread so billions of years from now Aliens will find it.

Maybe they’ll learn what we could not.

 

[Doug_Hitzel]

We are born, we live, we grow old, we die. The solace in our inevitable deaths is that after we are gone we will have made some impact, big or small, for better or worse, on the world we left behind.

But assuming we haven't colonized deep space by the time an asteroid smashes into Earth, a supervolcano erupts or we vaporize ourselves via nuclear war, eventually the sun will absorb our planet and burn it into nonexistence. All evidence that we ever existed in this universe, all monuments to our history and culture, every good or ill deed we ever did will be erased. Any future civilizations will never know there was ever a human race.

How will any mark we make on the flow of things matter when there's literally nothing left to show for it?

How do you know that what you’ve written is true?
We could be reincarnated in another dimension or Mormon Jesus might give us a planet and 72 wives.
If everything is meaningless, then everything has meaning.

 

[DangerousGas]

If everything is meaningless, then everything has meaning.

How can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real?

 

[Doug_Hitzel]

How can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real?

\

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

The solace in our inevitable deaths is that after we are gone we will have made some impact, big or small, for better or worse, on the world we left behind.

Maybe for you, fag.

 

[heymate]

I’m not worried about the sun turning into a red giant and consuming our planet. I mean, that’s not supposed to happen for ages!

 

[LogicBeetch]

I'm not entirely convinced there is a point to life or that it has any meaning other than the meaning we create while we're here. Our experiences and impact only live on in the sense that someone else remembers us or builds on our experiences...but the cruel reality is that some people die without ever meeting or speaking to another human and some die soon after drawing their first breath. Some live to a ripe old age and do absolutely nothing for the world. Now, someone pass the spliff to the next Kiwi...

 

[heymate]

I'm not entirely convinced there is a point to life or that it has any meaning other than the meaning we create while we're here.

It’s 42, bozo.

 

[Gus]

I'm not entirely convinced there is a point to life or that it has any meaning other than the meaning we create while we're here.

I suppose that if there were any objective meaning to life, then to be and to have meaning would be of the same. Otherwise yes, I'd agree it's all relative to each individual what meaning they find in life.

 

[c-no]

No matter what end-time scenario you believe in -- big rip, big crunch, proton decay -- all information in this universe will be lost anyway. Given this universe is believed to have sprung from literally nothing (i.e. no information), it makes poetic justice.

What ever one does believe in how all came to be, everything is bound to be forgotten, partially or entirely. Granted, that could span from a few decades to maybe a few hundred years if not more. Even if remains of our monuments were found, they'd give an archaeologist only a partial image and even then, those remains will eventually be lost along with whatever knowledge was made from it.

 

[Wraith]

If you don't believe in a certain deity making a new heaven and new earth and such, then there is only ONE PURPOSE FOR THE UNIVERSE.
PLASTIC.
Thus spoke Guru Wraith.