In The Interest of Discussion...

[Skyylya]

10ft is a rush when you don't know how deep it is... >.> And I'm just doing it for science, not to hit the water from 50ft above >.>

when i was in jamaica, i saw this tour guide dude jump off a bridge that was like 15ft at least and do a headfirst dive into the water below....then he stood up and the water was at his waist.

I was speechless.

[Octavious]

Jesus....thats some sick diving skill....but back on topic. lol

So, 'the rush' ...hmm...Anyone like Roller Coasters? Nothing like going 300-400ft in the air at 90-100mph to make you think twice about your life, lol! <3 Cedar Point

[Skyylya]

Jesus....thats some sick diving skill....but back on topic. lol

So, 'the rush' ...hmm...Anyone like Roller Coasters? Nothing like going 300-400ft in the air at 90-100mph to make you think twice about your life, lol! <3 Cedar Point

Dueling dragons at universal orlando is the best roller coaster ever. The new one the mummy is pretty sweet too.

[Norelco]

Don't tell me that, I'd much rather fear death then the future bills i'll have, my college / masters loans, and the fact that I still have to meet and hopefully marry someone before I turn 25 >.> or that kind of thing usually doesn't appen post 25. Statistically anyway... ( -_- )

One option is to enter the workforce immediately after graduation so your employer will foot the bill for your Master's.

[Ddz]

Desire to be successful and responsible with the time I have here on earth keeps me going every day. I want to make the best of my time here but I realize there are things I must to do fulfill my dreams, like work-to make money for the things I want later. Right now I'm just building the foundation for my life later (I'm 24). It sucks but it must be done. I enjoy what I do though. I get to be creative and social, and I can work from where ever I want. I do maintain a part-time boring desk job that isn't too fun or challenging, but I'm willing to sacrifice that time for the extra $1000 a month I make from it.

There are probably tons of reasons and psychological issues as to why people stay in dead-end jobs - lack of motivation, senses of inadequacy, hopelessness, sticking with what's familiar due to fear of failure...it's easy to say "get off your ass and get your shit done" but for some people it's taking that first step toward something that is the hardest. I've always pretty much been a self-motivator but I can see how a lot of people aren't.

[Jefe]

This may or may not give you the answer you desperately seek.

[MF Perm]

It's because down to it's very core we are animals with the inherent will to survive. Just because of a perception of sentience it doesn't imply there is also grain of real control we have over ourselves.

I mean go back 3-4,000 years where it mostly roaming tribes who had to really fucking work for their meals. That was the entire purpose of life, just like animals today. And I'm sure that's the question that was the basis of all religious thought - Why do we do this? The hardest answer is that we do it because we have no real choice in the matter. It is just a will to live and procreate. The easy answer is we do this because ________________ waits for us.


But today, in this day and age I'd say what it is that keeps us going day to day is the evolution of art, abstract thinking, and imagination. Even people in the most dire situations cling to something to keep going. We here, in our civilization worry about a shit job and what we're going to do to live our dream. But we can dream about it, and for some people if that's all they ever do - that's all it takes.


Imagine that question asked by refugees in Darfur? They aren't killing themselves, they just running and suffering and surviving. Why would anyone go through that and just not end it? Why does the word hope even exist?


All it is is millions of years of trying to survive imprinted on every species on this planet. It's just unfortunate that for our society happiness is measured by what materials we have ( I'm guilty of this ), and not the profoundness of the impact we could create for everything.


I don't think anyone should measure their worth based on what career they have, or how much money they make - they should measure their career and wealth based on who they are.

There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement.

Eric Hoffer was a brilliant philosopher, some of the stuff he wrote is just amazingly accurate about the human condition and society. I recommend reading lots of his stuff.

[Lbelle]

Money, and that's it. I hate working, I don't really like my job, but the fact is I like money, and that's why I go. I also like the people that I work with, but if they left I'd still go because I'd still need the money.

[Ivve]

Money, and that's it. I hate working, I don't really like my job, but the fact is I like money, and that's why I go. I also like the people that I work with, but if they left I'd still go because I'd still need the money.

Pretty much sums up how I feel too.

[Ddz]

[quote=MF Perm]It's because down to it's very core we are animals with the inherent will to survive. Just because of a perception of sentience it doesn't imply there is also grain of real control we have over ourselves.

I mean go back 3-4,000 years where it mostly roaming tribes who had to really fucking work for their meals. That was the entire purpose of life, just like animals today. And I'm sure that's the question that was the basis of all religious thought - Why do we do this? The hardest answer is that we do it because we have no real choice in the matter. It is just a will to live and procreate. The easy answer is we do this because ________________ waits for us.


But today, in this day and age I'd say what it is that keeps us going day to day is the evolution of art, abstract thinking, and imagination. Even people in the most dire situations cling to something to keep going. We here, in our civilization worry about a shit job and what we're going to do to live our dream. But we can dream about it, and for some people if that's all they ever do - that's all it takes.


Imagine that question asked by refugees in Darfur? They aren't killing themselves, they just running and suffering and surviving. Why would anyone go through that and just not end it? Why does the word hope even exist?


All it is is millions of years of trying to survive imprinted on every species on this planet. It's just unfortunate that for our society happiness is measured by what materials we have ( I'm guilty of this ), and not the profoundness of the impact we could create for everything.


I don't think anyone should measure their worth based on what career they have, or how much money they make - they should measure their career and wealth based on who they are.

There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement.

Eric Hoffer was a brilliant philosopher, some of the stuff he wrote is just amazingly accurate about the human condition and society. I recommend reading lots of his stuff.[/quote:d9685]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to pick up The True Believer next time I go to the bookstore.

[Devek]

Prostitution pays well.

[Intense]

And all the hickeys you coulld ever want!

[Talus]

If you really want to make money with CS or any engineering degree, get practical experience (2-3 years) then rack up $100K+ in debt and go to law school and specialize in intellectual property. Starting salaries in most major cities for a new associate (example, D.C. market since the USPTO is in Alexandria) are upwards of six figures and you bill maybe 1600-1900 hours a year, compared to 2200 in biglaw). The salary matrix for an associate 8 years out of school at this point is north of $250k/year. Not bad. At least you can get those loans paid off.

As far as why we keep going, day after day, that's harder to answer. What's the alternative?

[Raggedstar]

Back to the philosophy...
Last Man

....who has no great passion or commitment, who is unable to dream, who merely earns his living and keeps warm....
....clings to tradition and morality to comfort himself because he is afraid to embrace the reality of change, and exhibiting above all else not a will to power, but a will to preservation.

Although, I admit, I didn't read all or most of the posts here, just throwing in a perspective that I didn't see mentioned.
A growing trend is one towards what could be argued as nihilism/existentialism/whatever. Either way, certainly the will to not die can keep a person living; but, in order to truly live, one must find something to live for. I'd say for most people, they live for someone else, money, feelings (happy, etc etc--don't want to get too deep into this one), achievements, and of course: religion.
Honestly speaking, I think religion is the "easiest" one to live on. Religion promises great things for those after they die as long as they are basically "good." While the others... not so much, unless religion is entwined.

[Maguspk]

I don't like to think we live just for the sake of living like an animal does.

That's both insulting to our intelligence and depressing to an uneccessary level.

I find it much more positive to think we live for the hope of what might come tomorrow. Before finding your mate it's simply to find that mate/procreate, and then after that it's to raise and see how your offspring turn out. All the while you can find pleasure in other things like hobbies and social interaction. But to simply say we do it because we have to/survive is an understatement.

[Kaelan]

I don't like to think we live just for the sake of living like an animal does.

I don't see why it would be any different. No matter how different we may think we are on the surface, almost all, if not all our basic instincs are the same and come from the exact same places. The only difference is that we can think in a lot more complex ways, so what we actually do with those instincts is different. But we're still basically the same. I'm bad with comparisons, but I guess you could say it's like...how we may see a brilliant work of art in the Monalisa, but in the end it's just a bunch of paint, not really any different than your wallpaper in any way except in the ordering of the actual paint. That doesn't make the Monalisa any less of a work of art - in fact, it just makes it all the more impressive, to see what has been achieved using almost the exact same stating point.

I don't think it's terribly complicated, really.

The people who had the will to live for the most part, lived; the ones who didn't, for the most part, died. If you didn't have a strong enough will to live you wouldn't last long enough to breed and would most likely be someone (or more appropriatly, something) else's lunch by midday. Fast-forward several thousands of years and that subconcious will to live is just imprinted in practically everything that's still alive, and that's the long and short of it. Broadly speaking, it's the same reason we walk on two legs instead of four, or use tools rather than our own bodies.

Speaking more in a specific case deal, like "why do people do things they hate?", I think everybody pretty much already answered that. It's a cost-benefit thing, go to school now so you can get a job later, work in a shitty job now so you have something to eat later. It's hardly ever more complicated than that - you have a handful of options to consider and you pick which one seems better in the end. The only reason different people pick different options is because to some people, doing A is easier than B and to others, doing B is easier than A.

You could sum up answer to the question "why do we keep going?" in a single sentence: because living is better than the alternative, so we just keep doing it.

That's depressing to an uneccessary level.

It usually is. That's why we as a species are so obssessed with fiction

[Ddz]

I don't like to think we live just for the sake of living like an animal does.

I don't see why it would be any different. No matter how different we may think we are on the surface, almost all, if not all our basic instincs are the same and come from the exact same places. The only difference is that we can think in a lot more complex ways, so what we actually do with those instincts is different. But we're still basically the same. I'm bad with comparisons, but I guess you could say it's like...how we may see a brilliant work of art in the Monalisa, but in the end it's just a bunch of paint, not really any different than your wallpaper in any way except in the ordering of the actual paint. That doesn't make the Monalisa any less of a work of art - in fact, it just makes it all the more impressive, to see what has been achieved using almost the exact same stating point.

I don't think it's terribly complicated, really.

The people who had the will to live for the most part, lived; the ones who didn't, for the most part, died. If you didn't have a strong enough will to live you wouldn't last long enough to breed and would most likely be someone (or more appropriatly, something) else's lunch by midday. Fast-forward several thousands of years and that subconcious will to live is just imprinted in practically everything that's still alive, and that's the long and short of it. Broadly speaking, it's the same reason we walk on two legs instead of four, or use tools rather than our own bodies.

Speaking more in a specific case deal, like "why do people do things they hate?", I think everybody pretty much already answered that. It's a cost-benefit thing, go to school now so you can get a job later, work in a shitty job now so you have something to eat later. It's hardly ever more complicated than that - you have a handful of options to consider and you pick which one seems better in the end. The only reason different people pick different options is because to some people, doing A is easier than B and to others, doing B is easier than A.

You could sum up answer to the question "why do we keep going?" in a single sentence: because living is better than the alternative, so we just keep doing it.

[quote:fecf0]That's depressing to an uneccessary level.

It usually is. That's why we as a species are so obssessed with fiction[/quote:fecf0]

=D> agree 100%

[MF Perm]

I don't like to think we live just for the sake of living like an animal does.

I don't see why it would be any different. No matter how different we may think we are on the surface, almost all, if not all our basic instincs are the same and come from the exact same places. The only difference is that we can think in a lot more complex ways, so what we actually do with those instincts is different. But we're still basically the same. I'm bad with comparisons, but I guess you could say it's like...how we may see a brilliant work of art in the Monalisa, but in the end it's just a bunch of paint, not really any different than your wallpaper in any way except in the ordering of the actual paint. That doesn't make the Monalisa any less of a work of art - in fact, it just makes it all the more impressive, to see what has been achieved using almost the exact same stating point.

I don't think it's terribly complicated, really.

The people who had the will to live for the most part, lived; the ones who didn't, for the most part, died. If you didn't have a strong enough will to live you wouldn't last long enough to breed and would most likely be someone (or more appropriatly, something) else's lunch by midday. Fast-forward several thousands of years and that subconcious will to live is just imprinted in practically everything that's still alive, and that's the long and short of it. Broadly speaking, it's the same reason we walk on two legs instead of four, or use tools rather than our own bodies.

Speaking more in a specific case deal, like "why do people do things they hate?", I think everybody pretty much already answered that. It's a cost-benefit thing, go to school now so you can get a job later, work in a shitty job now so you have something to eat later. It's hardly ever more complicated than that - you have a handful of options to consider and you pick which one seems better in the end. The only reason different people pick different options is because to some people, doing A is easier than B and to others, doing B is easier than A.

You could sum up answer to the question "why do we keep going?" in a single sentence: because living is better than the alternative, so we just keep doing it.

[quote:9033a]That's depressing to an uneccessary level.

It usually is. That's why we as a species are so obssessed with fiction

=D> agree 100%[/quote:9033a]


Me three!