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Everything is meaningless.

Debate Information

Everything:
The Universe and all events that occur within the Universe. 

In the absence of conclusive evidence to confirm otherwise. I find it very difficult not to support the proposition. 

Can anyone convince me that everything has meaning.



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    Arguments


  • agsragsr 881 Pts   -  
    @Fredsnephew, "meaningless" is a matter of perspective.  Long term everthing ceases to exist, and will likely not be part of any memories.  However, our experience is really about the journey itself and it would be unfair to say that it's meaningless.
    Live Long and Prosper
  • PoguePogue 584 Pts   -  
    It is true that the universe will die out and so will all life, but, and this is a big one, your experiences now have meaning and the eventual death of the universe do not take away from the emotions and feelings you experience. Like death does not give happiness meaning, happiness is meaning full in itself. 
    agsr
    I could either have the future pass me or l could create it. 

    “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain .” - Benjamin Franklin  So flat Earthers, man-made climate change deniers, and just science deniers.

    I friended myself! 
  • EvidenceEvidence 814 Pts   -  
    Everything:
    The Universe and all events that occur within the Universe. 

    In the absence of conclusive evidence to confirm otherwise. I find it very difficult not to support the proposition. 

    Can anyone convince me that everything has meaning.


    You're a Big-Bang Evolutionist, correct?
    In that case you are correct, nothing has meaning. You thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your pains and your joys are just hallucinations caused by your environment and the banana you ate. Plainly put, you're screwed, and you last thought on this earth as you take those few last breaths will be of fear and confusion.
    I seen this. And seen atheists in those last days struggle for answers, as a little girl struggles to find her lost favorite doll.
    Only in the case of the Evolutionists, they don't know what that doll even looked like? All they know is that they lost something very precious and now they have to find it.

    The ONLY way everything has a meaning, .. not everything, but ANYTHING has a meaning is if you take responsibility for them, acknowledge the value in them;

    Like your car, your house, your wife and kids, those have meaning because you put a lot of work in them. In other words, everything has a meaning if you acknowledge that they were created, meticulously designed and acknowledge how wonderfully they were put together. But better yet, when you actually meet the One who did all this work, .. especially when you find out that it wasn't that He needed anything, but for the sheer joy of watching his creation, His children enjoy it all.

    I have seen a father of a poverty stricken family of six starving children living in rich peoples cemeteries, in the tiny houses they built for their dead loved ones, .. come home from picking in the garbage, and his wife washing and seasoning the bones with the packet of soy sauce he found, he gathered the kids in a circle and put the food in the middle of them so they can eat. Then he sat back and watched in excitement as his children dug in.
    When asked if he ate yet, he smiling signaled a no with his head.
    It's this kind of love God has for us, only enjoyment He gets is watching us be happy.
  • EvidenceEvidence 814 Pts   -  
    Pogue said:
    It is true that the universe will die out and so will all life, but, and this is a big one, your experiences now have meaning and the eventual death of the universe do not take away from the emotions and feelings you experience. Like death does not give happiness meaning, happiness is meaning full in itself. 

    Happiness is meaning full in itself, .. lol, you are a cosmological accident buddy, .. so what the hell that supposed to mean to an animal, and evolving ape who is a result of the cold unfriendly dark vacuum of an infinite space? Didn't you see where you are? @Erfisflat shown you that picture of millions and billions of stars, and the "you are here" pointing to that one tiny speck of light in the cold vacuum of an infinite unfriendly dark post-explosion.
    You think that your emotions had anything to do with the chaotic Big Bang? That when the cold dark space expanded and all them meteors were smashing together to create your inferno molten lava earth, you think it had you or your emotions and feeling in mind? LOL

    Buddy, you are a chaotic accident, your hopes and dreams are nothing but delusions. You walk and work because of the spasms your environment is causing on your brain.

    I love how atheists try to put some meaning into life, and I'm not going to stand by and watch this. If you believe in BB-Evolution, stick with it, don't try to give some "meaning, and happiness" to your hopeless existence, that is for us who were created in our Creators own image. We know what is happiness and joy, and best of all "hope".
    Erfisflat
  • FredsnephewFredsnephew 361 Pts   -  
    I accept the big bang only as a theory, just as I accept god as a theory.

    I accept material evolution as a recognised process.

    I regard life and life's memories with varying emotional responses, just as we probably all do.

    I was really questioning the significance of "everything", not just the significance of humanity and life on Earth.

    If everything is meaningless, then obviously so am I and so are we all.
    Evidence
  • GrenacheGrenache 65 Pts   -  
    Only you can convince you that your life has meaning.  

    Any evidence anyone would present only holds weight if you want to believe it is evidence, and odds are you came to this debate ready to counterargue those major points.

    Any belief people present (like a religious belief) will merely be dismissed as just a belief.

    It's like if a suicidal person concludes they have nothing to live for even after you point out the aspects of life which would make you yourself want to keep living.

    In comparison, there are people who are the opposite.  There are people who face impossible odds and ridiculous suffering and will likely die and vanish without anyone ever noticing yet they find deep meaning and purpose in life and carry on.

    You may say this isn't actually an argument.  But I would say this is informing you that your argument is with yourself, and if you yourself conclude it has no meaning then that's your loss.  @Fredsnephew
    EvidenceErfisflat
  • EvidenceEvidence 814 Pts   -  
    I accept the big bang only as a theory, just as I accept god as a theory.

    I accept material evolution as a recognised process.

    I regard life and life's memories with varying emotional responses, just as we probably all do.

    I was really questioning the significance of "everything", not just the significance of humanity and life on Earth.

    If everything is meaningless, then obviously so am I and so are we all.

    Fredsnephew- I accept the big bang only as a theory, just as I accept god as a theory.

    Those are two completely different realities, one; the big-bang is a story based on star-gazing gone bad that evolved to star worship. Just like all the other man-made gods, the stars were immortalized, given a story much like Odin and Thor, only in this case it's Venus, Jupiter and Mars. There is no theory here, it's a story made up of deified stars. The Bible teaches on this.
    What is really interesting is that this goes way back to, .. well, from all the crazy things that Flat Earthers have noticed and pointed out, this may go back before Genesis 1:2, .. Gap theory, but not from a religious, or preconceived perspective, but from a fresh new look perspective (if that makes sense to you?)

    But God on the other hand, again looking at it from a fresh new perspective, not what religion made of our Creator (the tens of thousands of gods, .. actually, I Googled; how many gods in Hinduism, and I found this:
    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gadadhara-pandit-dasa/the-33-million-demigods-o_b_1737207.html

    - The 33 Million Gods of Hinduism. Why Hindus worship so many gods and goddesses is a real mystery for most people. In the West, where the mass majority of people are part of the Abrahamic faith tradition with one God, the concept of polytheism is nothing more than fantasy or mythology worthy of comic book material.

    Now I can understand to accept these gods as a theory! Why would men even come up with so many gods? Is there a need to fill a void, this expanding vacuum they believe they are in?
    But our Creator is self explanatory, obvious, simple yet absolute:

    God is "Infinite", in another word, "Infinite IS God" .. and Infinite is conscious. Think about this for a moment, this explains EVERYTHING, it is that "Big Picture" philosophers have been searching and philosophizing about.

    Fredsnephew - I was really questioning the significance of "everything", not just the significance of humanity and life on Earth.

    What is your definition of "everything"? .. do you believe there is more than the physical universe? I do.

    Fredsnephew - If everything is meaningless, then obviously so am I and so are we all.

    If you mean "everything" as in the physical universe/creation, because that is meaningless from an evolutionary perspective. But once you know who your Creator is, well then this here creation has purpose. Where you are no longer the victim of your environment "Mother Nature and Father Time", but there is great plans for us humans, awesome plans, all we have to do is be a part of it.

    What's beautiful about this is that we don't have to know it all, the One who is doing the planning will do it for us. And He is asking us to take part in it with Him, through His son Word.
    So seek God, then everything will have meaning and purpose.
  • someone234someone234 647 Pts   -  
    One of the hugest errors people make with nihilism is they assume that the meaning of your life must be the meaning of a bee's life etc.

    The wheel of a car has a very different meaning of existence to the car-seat. You make you meaning as you go along. One's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. One's annoyingly strict teacher is another's one of few smart and fair teachers. It's all about perspective.

    The idea that you are even alive and that you are in the present tense is an illusion. You've already died, you are in the past of the future and the future of the past. Time is a cycle and you are trapped in it.
    anonymousdebaterPogue
  • jcm2214jcm2214 2 Pts   -   edited February 2018
    Life is a book in that the entire substance of it is what gives it meaning, not individual parts of it. Whether one believes in a God or not one must create one, unconsciously or consciously, in order to create meaning. Some  lives consist of stories intent on discovering all meaning within the epilogue. In these lives everything is meaningless.
  • JulesKorngoldJulesKorngold 809 Pts   -  
    Argument Topic: Meaningless

    @Fredsnephew
    Your debate topic is meaningless.
  • RickeyHoltsclawRickeyHoltsclaw 140 Pts   -  
    @Fredsnephew ; I find my family to have meaning and purpose in my life. I find love to have meaning and purpose in my life. Most of all, I find my relationship with my Creator to be replete with meaning and purpose in my life and in the life to come; therefore, nihilism is not a "fact of life" for those who see beauty, love, intimacy, reciprocal relationships based on love - trust - fidelity - dignity and personally know the One who makes these things tangible and reality.



     
  • BarnardotBarnardot 519 Pts   -  
    @Fredsnephew ;Can anyone convince me that everything has meaning.

    May be they can if you’re dum enough and get easily sucked in because in realty nothing has meaning at all. Just think about it because when you analize it in the end it is up to you to put what ever meaning you want to put on some thing.

    If your ever herd of one mans meet is another mans poison then you will get it. What meens some thing to me might meen totally nothing to you.

    For example a good example would be a stick to me would have no real meaning to me but for a cripple it would meen a lot as being a walking stick.

    Like the old proverb says. Give a man a match and he can be warm for a minute. But poor some gas over him and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

  • FactfinderFactfinder 613 Pts   -  
    Evidence said:
    Everything:
    The Universe and all events that occur within the Universe. 

    In the absence of conclusive evidence to confirm otherwise. I find it very difficult not to support the proposition. 

    Can anyone convince me that everything has meaning.


    You're a Big-Bang Evolutionist, correct?
    In that case you are correct, nothing has meaning. You thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your pains and your joys are just hallucinations caused by your environment and the banana you ate. Plainly put, you're screwed, and you last thought on this earth as you take those few last breaths will be of fear and confusion.
    I seen this. And seen atheists in those last days struggle for answers, as a little girl struggles to find her lost favorite doll.
    Only in the case of the Evolutionists, they don't know what that doll even looked like? All they know is that they lost something very precious and now they have to find it.

    The ONLY way everything has a meaning, .. not everything, but ANYTHING has a meaning is if you take responsibility for them, acknowledge the value in them;

    Like your car, your house, your wife and kids, those have meaning because you put a lot of work in them. In other words, everything has a meaning if you acknowledge that they were created, meticulously designed and acknowledge how wonderfully they were put together. But better yet, when you actually meet the One who did all this work, .. especially when you find out that it wasn't that He needed anything, but for the sheer joy of watching his creation, His children enjoy it all.

    I have seen a father of a poverty stricken family of six starving children living in rich peoples cemeteries, in the tiny houses they built for their dead loved ones, .. come home from picking in the garbage, and his wife washing and seasoning the bones with the packet of soy sauce he found, he gathered the kids in a circle and put the food in the middle of them so they can eat. Then he sat back and watched in excitement as his children dug in.
    When asked if he ate yet, he smiling signaled a no with his head.
    It's this kind of love God has for us, only enjoyment He gets is watching us be happy.
    How happy can gods children in hell be? It created them knowing it would doom them forever. The excuse, my children must know the difference between good and evil to truly reciprocate my love doesn't fly. God claims people must know suffering to appreciate good times, it didn't however, and it appreciates good times. Why must we experience evil when it never did? It created evil. Your book says so. The only thing it wants is unquestionable praise and worship. What would you call me if that's all I wanted in a wife? 
  • MayCaesarMayCaesar 5965 Pts   -  
    There are two modes in which humans look at the reality around them. The first is that of obedience: their environment, their peers, their parents, their government, their favorite philosophers dictate how they should live their life, and they respond accordingly. The second is that of agency: they look inside, think about what they want their life to be, and take steps towards making it this way.

    In the obedience mode the human finds meaning in following the instructions of someone or something: "I exist as a cog in the machine, and just like all other cogs, I should know my place and strive to be the most exemplary cog there is". In the agency mode he finds meaning in his own goals: "I exist as an individual seeking happiness, and it is up to me to determine what path is best to take. Searching and then following that path is what I live for". 
    In the obedience mode the meaning is external; in the agency mode it is internal. In the obedience mode it is "I am supposed to..."; in the agency mode it is "I want to...".

    The obedience mode is a safer option: if you just play your role, if you just follow what others told you you should follow, then your life will likely be very stable - not a lot of excitement, but you can always be sure that tomorrow you will wake up and the world around you will still make a lot of sense. The agency mode, however, is where the juice of life is: you take risks, do things that expose you to the elements and judgement (and sometimes retribution) of others - but in exchange you get to live the life on your terms, and the happiness that you achieve will not be some second-rate copy of someone else's plan for you, but authentic happiness that your heart is attuned to.

    When people say that everything is meaningless, they mean that, in the absence of the authority telling one that they have been created for something intentionally, there is nowhere to go, hence nihilism emerges. But nihilism is a trap, a blunder. Seeking external validation, you forget about the most obvious and, in fact, the only true source of validation: yourself. Another human cannot give you validation, cannot ascribe you a meaning any more than a lion or a tree can: they are not you. Nor can a community, or a nation, or a god, or the nature. Only you.

    So no, there is plenty of meaning to be found in life. Meaning that you have to discover by yourself. What is your life about? What are your core values, preferences, goals, desires, dreams? Maybe what makes you truly happy is making wooden figurines and selling them to children - great, do that! Set the goal to become the best wooden figurine maker in human history, produce a true masterpiece that you will be able to look at and say, "Wow, I really did something in this life, didn't I?"

    And if you do not trust yourself to find the meaning... Then become someone who you can trust with that. Work on yourself, try different things, determine your strengths and weaknesses and put both to good use. You are not an actualized human being until you can look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Hey, this guy/gal is awesome. He/she will always have my back". And then the question of "meaning" will not exist: you will know intuitively what life is about for you.

    So, to summarize: everything is not meaningless, nor does anything have internal meaning. You find what the meaning of everything is to you.
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