Meaning of Life | Sheldon Solomon and Lex Fridman

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Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist, a philosopher, co-developer of Terror Management Theory, co-author of The Worm at the Core.
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[@brettcameratraveler]

The meaning of life, as far as I can tell, is to fall in love with life and then to share that love with others.

[@aarnbee1693]

Sounds good 🙂

[@coolcolt2611]

That bring together my idea of what the meaning was: 1. Love of existence (for the art and nature of it)2. Emotions of other people. So well put sir

[@babycat5001]

I agree, well said :)

[@mathematicalninja2756]

It’s pretty hard to fall in love with life when you see chaos around

[@erichvonmolder9310]

Maybe it is the "process" of falling in love, but most will never achieve that. It is the attempt or journey not love itself.

[@AJScraps]

As a 4th year Psych major, I find it very fascinating how essential motivation is to having a happy life. Having something to strive for, which pushes you to grow. Something to take care of, curiosity to follow, etc. The meaning of life is different for all of us.

[@PanoramicPhilosopher]

I've always valued truth and understanding. Eternal pursuits. I find that being fairly "Zen" in thought, by nature, facilitates that pursuit.

[@Wearenotwell]

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” ~ Nietzsche

[@AJScraps]

I just got cued to remember Self-Determination Theory, which has a lot of application for the meaning of life. 😊 Having connections or “Psychological relatedness” was one of 3 traits (competence, connection & autonomy) proposed to have a positive effect on one’s motivation, and I would connect that to one’s “meaning of life”. Conversely, anomie, or alienation, might be one of the determining factors in losing a meaning of life as well. (Competence: People need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills. Connection or Relatedness: People need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people. Autonomy: People need to feel in control of their own behaviors and goals.)

[@PanoramicPhilosopher]

Connectedness, Synergy, Synthesis, Understanding

[@AJScraps]

Have you heard of Self-Determination Theory? If not you should look in to it 👌

[@PanoramicPhilosopher]

@@AJScraps I'll take a look, I'm a self-determined fellow.

[@AJScraps]

The Panoramic Philosopher 🤣👌

[@gene3344]

Intelligence is vastly overrated? Agreed. Ability is overvalued and values are grossly undervalued. Really appreciate you guys for going beyond academics and really caring about humanity.

[@GodofStories]

Like Sheldon said, this was a great question to preface the meaning of life. Lex you should bring this question back, I would have loved to know the "soul" of all the people you interviewed in the last couple years, from their perspective. It really is a humbling question.

[@GodofStories]

What is your soul, or the essence of "Guest's name"? And what or how do you hope people remember you? These two along with the meaning of life, either before or after it would be sooo good. I know he prob won't see this comment.

[@GodofStories]

Also interesting to see how Lex has evolved even from just 2 years ago. He was a bit unsure at his framing of 'the meaning of life' question, which he asks straightforwardly in his podcasts since.

[@taylorj9000]

Thought it was Tony Hawk

[@grindPracticeBLESSED]

It's gratifying to see Sheldon at 4:44; indeed, a lot of our parents make mistakes, in that moment - held off making any negative comment or excuse. That's hard to learn. As for the meaning of life, I think he's spot on with loving yourself first and spreading that to others.

[@landotter]

Sheldon seems fun😅🤙

[@nicholasroosa]

The likes are at exactly 42, subsequently, the meaning of life. To like or not to like.

[@AJScraps]

i liked

[@weaponx5697]

the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, I love that quote.

[@zacharychristy8928]

I don't think it's a bad question, but I think the way this question is always phrased makes it hard to answer. Life is like music, the playing and listening is itself the point. You could ask what the 'meaning' of a song is, but no answer would be that satisfying, because even the writer might not have an answer. But you could easily answer the question "What does this song mean to you?" Maybe the better question is "What does this life mean to you?"

[@Yameen200]

Perhaps you should read this essay which highlights the absurdity of subjective meaning docs.google.com/document/d/1sSHF65-9xPamOWXj-0j6_iyowkTppKODkO0jBORtUsI/edit?usp=sharing

[@soccerrocks900]

I think the meaning of life is simply consciousness itself. We are functions of the universe experiencing itself. Maybe we among other conscious life forms are the observers that reinforces/verifies the universes existence. Kinda like the whole “if a tree falls in the Forrest and nobody is there does it make a noise?” Maybe we are the symptom of a conscious universe.

[@iamTrylux]

Do you mean pre set meaning or meaning that has yet to be determined yet? The more you live the more meaning that comes into your life. As to pre set meaning, we don't have the knowledge to answer that question

[@yirin906]

God used only to describe our helplessness of the vast universe. we do not use God to have faith in life. As Einstein once said, life and death are one, there is no meaning at all, just simply live. Live the way you feel most meaningful in your own way

[@goldschool9050]

The meaning of life is to just live

[@onlyechadtherebellious2467]

but why is no transcendent standard exists?

[@is-ness]

It's to discover your identity is not real and you are awareness itself experientially. This is the only game there is. The rest illusion.

[@is-ness]

@rohanheaton showed me this ancient truth of truths.

[@GodofStories]

Ray Dalio with long hair??

[@carltonhamilton316]

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but inherit Eternal Life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come into the light, for fear that their evil deeds will be exposed. But he who does the truth comes into the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done through God.” John 3: 16-21

[@seligseligabc123]

‘Meaning’ of life is the wrong word, ‘process’ is more accurate. Without being Great Ape Human-centric, there is only ‘pure energy’ fuelled atomic based ‘Atomic motion’ & radioactive decay. ‘Life’ - AKA (DNA/RNA) emerged by a purely & most unlikely successful quantum probability sequence, gained by the motion of the expanding Universe on it’s way to likely Cosmic ‘heat death’. ‘Life’ is but a beautiful and unlikely atomic manifestation of Entropy or ‘heat death’ of ordinary matter in the Universe. Consciousness & sentience is nothing more than an Evolved biological mechanism of successful DNA mutations in the adverse environment over immense space-time scales, aiding the process of the DNA any particular organism is made up from, to thence pass more process based DNA lineage into the space-time future, which ordinary matter is subject to. :-)

[@cawfeedawg]

the purpose of life is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide. The meaning of life is up to you.

[@numbolokenshindo1727]

3

[@lanceweeda1147]

1