We Are Enough. You Don't Need Anything Else to be Worthwhile.

I read this passage and disagree. Well, I don't disagree with the final point. It is true that nothing matters to the universe. There is no 'god' thing watching us all. Our universe, I am convinced, is one of zillions constantly popping into existence as the physics of dark energy and virtual quantum particles continue their work.

But contrary to the implied bleakness suggested by this Weinberg guy assertion that it's "pointless", this vast multiverse idea seems to me to give our lives even greater meaning. The infinite course of the multiverse might not care about us but we still exist. Our lives matter to us and to those around us.

That there is no grand external 'meaning' says to me, that our actions are the only thing that really do have meaning. It tells me that what we do is the only thing that is really important.

The reality we construct, our actions in our society and culture, our reliance and support for each other, are not pointless. With the realization that we are less than a speck in the grand reality where nothing is any more important than anything else, we become the most important thing in the universe.

All the rest is nothing, vast and empty. Only we are full of life and joy and love and hate and humor and meaning. As far as we can tell, that's all there is. That makes it infinitely more than pointless. It is everything.

It makes me think about those who say life can have no meaning without a god. In their view, their god has meaning. Our meaning is purely derivative, just as our liver cells are important to our getting an award. We just come along for the ride. Our liver cells didn't kill us by getting cancer and we didn't stop the god's glory by failing to worship it.

This reality of the universe says that our glory is not subsumed by anything else. No other meaning is greater than our own. Our meaning is all there is. For twenty thousand years, humans have been fabricating meaning from whole cloth. With luck, we will continue for twenty thousand more.

The multiverse might not care but we do and, apparently, that is everything.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/24/science/scheinert-kwan-film-multiverse.html

2 responses

It's my view that the main reason for fealty to god or religion is ignorance of the zillions of better explanations when faced with things that appeal to our fundamental brain processes. It's as if a person had a surprise orgasm without understanding that orgasms are a bodily process. That experience could only come from god. The thing is, there's no reason for people to know about those zillions of explanations. People are obligated to be kind, not beat their children and pay their taxes. There is no obligation, nor, in my opinion, should there be, to share the hobby that you and love, of learning tons of random shit. That this results in people having weird beliefs is, again in my opinion, fine. People think their children are awesome and most aren't. It makes them feel better so, good. Better is better. Leaving aside the use of religion as a political tool, what I mainly resent is that so many religious people want to me to join their fantasy. The Christian view that I am damned and that the adherent is authorized to interfere with me because of that is, I think, appalling. If I were king, I would be happy that people enjoy the opiate of the masses. I would not, however, allow them to do so in public. I think that public displays of religion are both annoying and responsible for the ruination of human culture. I emphasize that it's no the belief that's the problem, it's the assertion of that belief in public.

— TQ White II

I am completely enthusiastic about your search for comfort and happy to the extent that your religion contributes to it. I am resentful at the notion that I have scripture forced on me with the even more annoying implication that I'm flawed for not sharing belief in what is obviously a fantasy. There is no trace of evidence that there is any kind of supernatural entity of the sort you presuppose. Quite the opposite, there is clear evidence (childhood bone cancer) that there is none or if some kind of god exists, it is monstrous.