Many of us spend our lives thinking of science and philosophy. Looking for answers to the meaning of life the universe and our place in it. And then eventually we die. Have we not accomplished anything? Does our knowledge somehow live on beyond death? What is the point of seeking knowledge?
The way I see it:
Our brains like to recognise patterns, this is an evolutionary trait of ours.
Acquiring knowledge gives us the understanding to identify more patterns
This manifests as that good feeling when something new clicks and it makes sense where it didn’t before. Dopamine is the source of that good feeling and it’s part of our brains’ reward system to motivate us to do things that’ll help us survive.
Chemically, the point of life is to do stuff that triggers our reward systems, and so we seek out the good feeling that comes with figuring stuff out like we seek out other sources of it.
So basically, the meaning of life is to enjoy life, and humans just enjoy learning
It’s nice to have something to pass the time until we eventually die.
You would have died in early childhood had you not sought knowledge, but fortunately knowledge-seeking in inbuilt and needs no justification.
Edit to add: This reminds me of a poem from Cat’s Cradle:
Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly,
Man got to sit and wonder “why, why, why?”Tiger got to sleep,
Bird got to land,
Man got to tell himself he understand.
What a narcissistic set of questions.
Also:
Does our knowledge somehow live on beyond death?
… yes? Look around. Humanity is a long, collective enterprise.
Nah bruh, not buying it. Why do we do anything when we know we’re gonna die? Because it’s fun or otherwise desirable.
