End of the World?

[Xordan]

So, from my position, there are two possible solutions to ending the sick, cruel reality we live in.

There's also a #3. Fly off to Mars and set up a corruption free socialist state with a very strict immigration policy.
Then show Earth the finger. That's the only way the rich-poor gap will ever be closed, by starting again.

[Prolix]

Hey wait, I thought this was about science gone amok, not religio-philosophical angst.

Time for a musical interlude!

By the way anyone know where I can scavenge a used spaceship with planet busting capability? I'll be sure to shut out the lights on my way out of here.

[Mythryndel]

Wow... you are really full of yourself there verden and Eliseth... what gives you the right to determine if millions are better off dead? Talk about an ego. I have to agree I am glad you don't have nukes at your disposal.

[Gaian]

Eliseth and verden: 
Let's see who and how I'll misunderstand....
Anyways:
take care while you're pushing buttons! 
While waste all these things? Why do it first than when it should be? In any way, the world (the WORLD, not only humans) will end. Why should we torture ourself about how will it die, how many will die and when we'll die? When we'll die we'll die. Isn't this so sweetly simple? While we are alive just have to do the possible, make our life, don't throw it away and try to control ourselves. Don't worry about things that aren't yours... just like other people lives....
And, hey! Five years?! Shall we try to do the better we can and try to live more and better our last years, to make them better than how we think?
 and...Did I misunderstood?

Ah, and Prolix:
... Thanks for the musical interlude, I feel "happy and less worried" 

 

[verden]

If that button exists. And if Eliseth or I are near that button, and we press it and everything ends. Then that is how it was supposed to happen.

[Mythryndel]

I don't mean to sound terrible... but if things are that bad for you, and you feel that humanity is a lost cause... um... why are you still here?

[EDIT] This is to say... you don't seem to value human life, if you would exterminate it without so much as a second thought. What keeps you going? Why bother with any of it? You say one thing, but are obviously living something completely different.

Or is it just a chance to get a rise out of people... which you've obviously done?

[verden]

Hypothetical removal of an entire species and associated objects based upon some imaginary doomsday device is simply a hypothetical discussion. Neither Eliseth or myself have such a power, and if we did, we certainly would not be discussing it here. Treating as though it were a serious consideration is about the same as getting frantic over the experiments that were the original topic of this thread. Philosophy allows us to understand different viewpoints, but cannot force us to understand them.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus

[Under the moon]

Humanity is no different than the rest of nature. Existence and life are violent things. Life feeds on death. Nature is life. Nature is death. We are just better at both. You don't cure the problem by eliminating life.

I have little doubt that humans (the future version, not what we are today) will be one of the last living things on this little planet when our sun consumes it in a few billion years.

On the point of destroying it all, what is the point? To end suffering by creating suffering? To destroy the planet before we destroy it? To end the chance of a better future because things are bad now in your view? Would you stop at just Earth? Why not destroy the entire universe, as I am sure there are other places out there that have 'suffering' just as bad or worse than Earth. But then, what -would- be the point?

In the end, suffering does not matter in the bigger picture of existence. There will always be suffering and unhappiness. There will always be joy. To destroy them both is simply pointless, as nothing is left but an empty vacuum of nothing. Honestly, is a complete void better than having suffering?

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If there is no suffering in a completely empty void, is there anyone to observe it? Is there any benefit at all? In the end, the suffering of billions, trillions, or countless things is better than nothing at all.

[Mythryndel]

UTM... i agree... life is certainly better than the alternative, at least in my opinion.

verden... you are "hypothetically" willing to annihilate an entire planet, because you feel it is too sad to exist. This isn't just a whim, but is based on you belief system. I obviously don't share the same belief system you do. I am therefore going to call you out for it. This is not sensationalist, or extreme in any way.

I have much more right to continue living, than you do to extinguish all life, regardless of your reasons.

[Prolix]

So, any luck in finding me that spaceship? I wanna blow up the Earth on my way out to make me the ultimate winner of the human race, outliving all the rest of you losers 

[Rayken]

So, any luck in finding me that spaceship? I wanna blow up the Earth on my way out to make me the ultimate winner of the human race, outliving all the rest of you losers 

Just make sure the Dentrassi sneak you onto one of the Vogon Constructor Fleet ships.

[Colinb]

Let me write my will first Prolix 

sneaks on a spaceship and escapes before anyone notices

[Kieve]

Hey! We're not dead yet!

[Duraza]

So, any luck in finding me that spaceship? I wanna blow up the Earth on my way out to make me the ultimate winner of the human race, outliving all the rest of you losers 

Silly, you already lost. I actually blew up the world a million years ago. You, everyone in the planeshift forums, and the rest of the world is actually just the result of my over active imagination and my loneliness on the surface of Mars. Don't worry though, when I stop thinking your life will end. Everyone wins! 

[Eliseth]

I just happen to have a spaceship here in my possession that you might find useful, but better come get it quick before I decide to go with the suggested option #3. 

Contrary to what has been suggested, I do value human life, in fact all life, above all things, it is the reason I do what I do in life. My hypothetical button is the quick and easy way to starting over, passing the buck onto some other civilization that will more than like form somewhere, because any developing species will most likely go through what we're going through. Yes, life feeds on death, which would be fine if it stopped at death. In fact I'm quite comfortable with the concept of death. I don't want to stop people from dying, I want to stop people from suffering.

I don't mean to sound terrible... but if things are that bad for you, and you feel that humanity is a lost cause... um... why are you still here?

Aha, but here's the trick, I don't think humanity is a lost cause, in fact I firmly believe that we will all eventually rise above the need for conflict and war. I realise however that the road to that point is loong, and not easily traveled. Pushing a button to end the world would be a purely selfish act, and if I were given the opportunity, I would push it, since I am human, and humans are selfish beings. Kinda like when a child steals a cookie from the cookie jar, even though he knows he'll more than likely be given a cookie later, and he knows stealing is wrong... but he knows he won't be caught, so, why not?

* Eliseth hands Prolix the keys to the spaceship. "You go ahead, I'll stick with option #2"