Zachary_Kurtz comments on What big goals do we have? - Less Wrong

10 Post author: cousin_it 19 January 2010 04:35PM

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Comment author: Zachary_Kurtz 19 January 2010 05:56:22PM 3 points [-]

Without God there's no end game, just fleeting existence.

Comment author: arundelo 19 January 2010 08:07:43PM *  2 points [-]

Thanks for the edit to the original comment; I was unsure whether you were arguing for a view or just describing it (though I assumed the latter based on your other comments).

Without God there's no end game, just fleeting existence.

Like the statement in the original comment (and like most arguments for religion), this one is in great need of unpacking. People invoke things like "ultimate purpose" without saying what they mean. But I think a lot of people who agreed with the above would say that life is worthless if it simply ends when the body dies. To which I say:

If a life that begins and eventually ends has no "meaning" or "purpose" (whatever those words mean), then an infinitely long one doesn't either. Zero times infinity is still zero.

(Of course I know what the everyday meanings of "meaning" and "purpose" are, but those obviously aren't the meanings religionists use them with.)

Edit: nerzhin points out that Zero times infinity is not well defined. (Cold comfort, I think, to the admittedly imaginary theist making the "finite life is worthless" argument.)

I am a math amateur; I understand limit notation and "f(x)" notation, but I failed to follow the reasoning at the MathWorld link. Does nerzhin or anyone else know someplace that spells it out more? (Right now I'm studying the Wikipedia "Limit of a function" page.)

Comment author: nerzhin 19 January 2010 08:19:21PM 5 points [-]

Zero times infinity is still zero.

Strictly speaking, no.

Comment author: RobinZ 19 January 2010 06:01:33PM *  2 points [-]
Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 20 January 2010 12:05:29AM *  -1 points [-]

Edit: this comment happens to reply to an out-of-context sentence that is not endorsed by Zachary_Kurtz. Thanks to grouchymusicologist for noticing my mistake.

Without God there's no end game, just fleeting existence.

You happen to be wrong on this one. Please read the sequences, in particular the Metaethics sequence and Joy in the Merely Real.

Comment author: grouchymusicologist 20 January 2010 02:10:34AM 3 points [-]

Pretty sure ZK is not endorsing this view but instead responding to the query "Was any argument given for this claim?"

Upvoted ZK's comment for this reason.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 20 January 2010 02:44:44AM 2 points [-]

Thanks, my mistake.

Comment author: Zachary_Kurtz 20 January 2010 04:32:58PM 0 points [-]

no problem.. it happens