Existential Musings

[horndgmium]

Here's mine:

Human beings, a singular species of the billions populating our beloved planet, and one of the potentially infinite different species of the entire universe, are the only ones as we know it to experience time.

The concept of time is an entirely human creation and experience. There isn't a single other species on the entire Earth that thinks about time or is influenced by time, especially on the scale that we have created to measure it.

And it's important, too; it is more important than just day and night. We can think of time on a long-term scale of millenia, or a single life, or a single second. Humans are constantly bound by timeframes and deadlines, which kind of sucks, but hey - as the smartest organism that we know exists, our existence extends beyond simply eat, sleep, die.

I'm not hating on time or how we use it, just how uniquely human time really is.

[lajoswinkler]

No, time is as real as space. In fact, they're embedded one into another and they're relative for the observer, unlike the speed of light.

Psychological experience of time, our awareness of its flow... that's something else. I think there are other species that are at least somewhat aware of it, mainly highly developed mammals.

[Brethern]

Here's mine:

And it's important, too; it is more important than just day and night. We can think of time on a long-term scale of millenia, or a single life, or a single second. Humans are constantly bound by timeframes and deadlines, which kind of sucks, but hey - as the smartest organism that we know exists, our existence extends beyond simply eat, sleep, die.

No it doesn't even with our intelligence our existence is eat sleep and die.

If we don't drink water we die in roughly three days.

If we drink water but don't eat we die in a few weeks.

If we don't sleep a certain amount of time we get sick and die.

We have to go to school for a certain length of time and in that time learn skills so that we can survive.

Once school is done we have to work a certain length of time in order to get food and water.

All of our achievements exist for only one purpose prolonging the time till we die.

[horndgmium]

No it doesn't even with our intelligence our existence is eat sleep and die.

If we don't drink water we die in roughly three days.

If we drink water but don't eat we die in a few weeks.

If we don't sleep a certain amount of time we get sick and die.

We have to go to school for a certain length of time and in that time learn skills so that we can survive.

Once school is done we have to work a certain length of time in order to get food and water.

All of our achievements exist for only one purpose prolonging the time till we die.

No what doesn't? The way I understand your comment: how Ironic that you refuted my argument by using time.

@lajoswinkler Talking about measured time. Time as space is more of a tangible imo

[Brethern]

No what doesn't? The way I understand your comment: how Ironic that you refuted my argument by using time.

@lajoswinkler Talking about measured time. Time as space is more of a tangible imo

I was talking about this part.

but hey - as the smartest organism that we know exists, our existence extends beyond simply eat, sleep, die.

[vger]

Could this question apply to animals? Particularly ones that hibernate or migrate? They seem to be able to know whether they've stored enough food to survive a normal winter. Some bears that are normally herbivores (aside from fish) will start attacking larger game, including humans, if they sense they're running out of time.

[Superfluous J]

All of our achievements exist for only one purpose prolonging the time till we die.

So does playing Kerbal Space Program for hours a day help us drink, eat, or sleep? Or perhaps breathe, which is one of the more important things but you neglected it. Perhaps it helps our hearts beat (It does mine, but not in the literal sense you are talking about).

The existence (and importance) of leisure time tells me there is more to (capital L) Life than the simple preservation of it.