A Depressing Thought That Just Occurred to Me

[Seydaman]

i think there are some remote island where there is no humanity.

 

[The_Deleted]

I've always had this quirk. I collected a lot of pictures of various scenery, woodland, seas and such, but if there was even a small boat tucked away in the horizon I was instantly put off.
The idea of being on your own surrounded by nature is not uncommon in this day and age.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I disagree, as I am grateful for that.

Think about it, would you prefer that the war/famine/disease happened in your home? I'm guessing "No".

You cannot stop any of these "tragic" occurrences, they will happen, just be glad they don't happen to you. I see where you are coming from but it's fools work to stop what cannot be stopped. The plague is gone, but now we have cancer(not all the same but the point is reached). Which if cured, it will only be replaced(by pieces or libra, I never liked those two). If you end one war, a new conflict shall arise.

Regardless war and disease and the like can help the world immensely, they just do it in unpleasant ways.

I'm not sure what I'm saying, but this at least makes some sense to me.

Whoops, should have worded my post better. What I meant is that I find it depressing that it's only because we are lucky that we do not have to suffer things like that.

What depressed me more than anything else is the knowledge that in this modern era where we can instantly communicate with people across the globe, have invented robots the size of human cells, have simulated the fusion reaction of our sun within a laboratory, and have gone so far as to set foot on another celestial body, there are still people in this world who believe a benevolent, sentient being created the world in seven days.

-Dread_Reaper

Then again, the main alternative view to "some omnipotent being(s) created the world" is that the universe was created by a random explosion. It all boils down to believing that "there's a meaning/purpose to the creation of the universe" vs. "everything is just a result of some random circumstance." The former seems to be a much more comforting view.

 

[Dread_Reaper]

Then again, the main alternative view to "some omnipotent being(s) created the world" is that the universe was created by a random explosion. It all boils down to believing that "there's a meaning/purpose to the creation of the universe" vs. "everything is just a result of some random circumstance." The former seems to be a much more comforting view.

If you really need the comfort of thinking there is some omnipotent watching over you to get you through the day, whatever, that's your problem. I prefer reality.

-Dread_Reaper

 

[Dread_Reaper]

Can't blame them for wanting them to believe that. If this life is all there is. That's pretty depressing.

Wrong. Knowing that one day your body will die and your remains will be eaten by worms is not a depressing thought. Rather, it gives you all the more reason to make the absolute most of out every day. If you live forever, what is there to live for?

-Dread_Reaper

 

[iseko]

Can't blame them for wanting them to believe that. If this life is all there is. That's pretty depressing.

Wrong. Knowing that one day your body will die and your remains will be eaten by worms is not a depressing thought. Rather, it gives you all the more reason to make the absolute most of out every day. If you live forever, what is there to live for?

-Dread_Reaper

sex, druggs and rock'n roll is probably too obvious?

 

[Akas]

I'm not trying to be mean, but like others have said, for that to be your most depressing thought shows how fortunate your life has been.

I could worry about the effects of humanity on nature, but there are more depressing things for me to worry about that face me every day. The economy's tanking, people are starving or dying, and then there's my own situation: I have a very sharp memory, to the point of almost being photographic. I get to see people age and decay each time I see them, and I can't simply forget. There's nothing quite like seeing your parents slowly passing away before your eyes each day they come home.

And besides, humanity's influences aren't necessarily bad. People tend to glorify the past, because that's what the media does. There's a quote said in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that covers this well (even though I don't remember it exactly): "[wu xia, or martial arts novels] wouldn't sell as well if they told the truth. Sleeping in dirt, struggling to find your next meal, etc."

To anyone that thinks the past would be better, I have three words for them: Medicine, Minorities, and Freedom. In a time before humanity touched greater parts of the world, people died from simple wounds, minorities were enslaved/thought inferior/etc., and your freedoms were restricted by your area/social class/name/occupation/etc.

So before you go lamenting about the state of the world today, get a small cut and see if there's anyone can treat you in a third-world, backwards village. Or see if they'll even accept you into their lands instead of persecuting you as some sort of devil.

 

[Vivvav]

I'm not trying to be mean, but like others have said, for that to be your most depressing thought shows how fortunate your life has been.

I could worry about the effects of humanity on nature, but there are more depressing things for me to worry about that face me every day. The economy's tanking, people are starving or dying, and then there's my own situation: I have a very sharp memory, to the point of almost being photographic. I get to see people age and decay each time I see them, and I can't simply forget. There's nothing quite like seeing your parents slowly passing away before your eyes each day they come home.

And besides, humanity's influences aren't necessarily bad. People tend to glorify the past, because that's what the media does. There's a quote said in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that covers this well (even though I don't remember it exactly): "[wu xia, or martial arts novels] wouldn't sell as well if they told the truth. Sleeping in dirt, struggling to find your next meal, etc."

To anyone that thinks the past would be better, I have three words for them: Medicine, Minorities, and Freedom. In a time before humanity touched greater parts of the world, people died from simple wounds, minorities were enslaved/thought inferior/etc., and your freedoms were restricted by your area/social class/name/occupation/etc.

So before you go lamenting about the state of the world today, get a small cut and see if there's anyone can treat you in a third-world, backwards village. Or see if they'll even accept you into their lands instead of persecuting you as some sort of devil.

Amen to that. Though if you want no humanity, drop by my neighborhood sometime. My backyard is the woods.

You want a really depressing thought that just occurred? I have ADHD. Recently I realized that because of that, I technically have a neurological disorder. That's depressing.

 

[theklng]

you know, in a million years none of this will matter. nature doesn't care if we destroy the planet, nature will adapt. sure we might extinct a species, but nature's law is survival of the fittest.

take the example if a full blown nuclear war happened. humans would die, animals would die, plants and in general organisms would die. but nature will still be the same. new organisms will take over and become dominant species. life will go on, with or without us, or with or without any other species.

i have always laughed at the hubris that man has thought he could destroy nature. nature will adapt; it can never be destroyed by man. we might change the environment on our planet, sure, but our planet will thrive regardless. even in space there is bacterial life.

 

[LewsTherin]

For every decent human being there is 1000 more who don't give a flying shit about anything beyond what they see everyday, and some not even that.

Apathy sucks.

 

[Johninator712]

sex, druggs and rock'n roll is probably too obvious?

Amen to that! Haha that's all I live for! Go 60s man!

 

[Duck Sandwich]

If you really need the comfort of thinking there is some omnipotent watching over you to get you through the day, whatever, that's your problem. I prefer reality.

-Dread_Reaper

Never said I believed in it myself (agnosticism, yo.). Just that a lot of people are into the religion thing for various reasons (rewarding good/punishing evil, purpose, immortality, etc., are attractive concepts to a lot of people). Personally, I don't like the idea that because I don't attend weekly meetings to sing and drink "blood" and eat "flesh," I deserve to suffer untold sadistic torture for an unspecified amount of time.

I just prefer not to take a side in the eternally overdone conflict of Invisible Dude In The Sky VS Explosion.

Wrong. Knowing that one day your body will die and your remains will be eaten by worms is not a depressing thought. Rather, it gives you all the more reason to make the absolute most of out every day. If you live forever, what is there to live for?

-Dread_Reaper

Say I live my life to the fullest. Accomplish all my goals, have the job of my dreams, a sweet, caring, beautiful wife, and children whom I've raised well and can be proud of. Knowing that all of that will eventually mean absolutely nothing? That can be kind of depressing. That, and you can't experience everything life has to offer in one runthrough. Come to think of it, I'm becoming rather fond of the concept of reincarnation.

Also, the movie Waking Life brings up an interesting point. The brain continues to live on for a few minutes after a person's death. During that time, the person/brain's sense of time becomes distorted, and since it's deprived of any external stimuli, it begins to create its own (hallucination). So for those who believe in Heaven/Hell, it could very well become true once they've died - except it will only exist in their minds.

 

[theklng]

Say I live my life to the fullest. Accomplish all my goals, have the job of my dreams, a sweet, caring, beautiful wife, and children whom I've raised well and can be proud of. Knowing that all of that will eventually mean absolutely nothing? That can be kind of depressing. That, and you can't experience everything life has to offer in one runthrough. Come to think of it, I'm becoming rather fond of the concept of reincarnation.

to know everything you must first realize you know nothing. you will no doubt find out during your life that you will die, when is irrelevant. you might become depressed that all of what you have made will go to waste and you will start to become frustrated. but i ask, why stop there? why go and be miserable? why not instead try and conquer this newly acquired fear instead of sobbing about what will happen eventually?

you don't cry over spilled milk either, you clean it up. deal with the problem at hand instead of just hitting yourself on the head with a hammer and saying, "it hurts". trust me, you'll end up as a better person on the other side.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

to know everything you must first realize you know nothing. you will no doubt find out during your life that you will die, when is irrelevant. you might become depressed that all of what you have made will go to waste and you will start to become frustrated. but i ask, why stop there? why go and be miserable? why not instead try and conquer this newly acquired fear instead of sobbing about what will happen eventually?

you don't cry over spilled milk either, you clean it up. deal with the problem at hand instead of just hitting yourself on the head with a hammer and saying, "it hurts". trust me, you'll end up as a better person on the other side.

Well it's not like I spend hours every day brooding on the subject or something like that. Hell, my fear of death has motivated me to prolong my life through exercise, healthy eating, etc. And this is a thread about discussing depressing thoughts, so I thought it was appropriate. Now that I think about it, what good is it to discuss depressing thoughts? Perhaps, in an ironic way, something good will come of this. Perhaps someone will come across this thread, look upon someone's post and think "Hmm. That's an interesting perspective. I never really thought about that."

 

[Ronwue]

Look beyond the sky mate, you'll see something untouched by man. It's man's duty to touch it.

 

[EnzoHonda]

It's called northern Canada.

Oh, one guy tried this. They made a movie of it called "Into The Wild." Spoiler Alert: He got eaten by a bear.

 

[theklng]

to know everything you must first realize you know nothing. you will no doubt find out during your life that you will die, when is irrelevant. you might become depressed that all of what you have made will go to waste and you will start to become frustrated. but i ask, why stop there? why go and be miserable? why not instead try and conquer this newly acquired fear instead of sobbing about what will happen eventually?

you don't cry over spilled milk either, you clean it up. deal with the problem at hand instead of just hitting yourself on the head with a hammer and saying, "it hurts". trust me, you'll end up as a better person on the other side.

Well it's not like I spend hours every day brooding on the subject or something like that. Hell, my fear of death has motivated me to prolong my life through exercise, healthy eating, etc. And this is a thread about discussing depressing thoughts, so I thought it was appropriate. Now that I think about it, what good is it to discuss depressing thoughts? Perhaps, in an ironic way, something good will come of this. Perhaps someone will come across this thread, look upon someone's post and think "Hmm. That's an interesting perspective. I never really thought about that."

consider the analogy of indians letting their children be stung by young scorpions so that they later would become immune to the toxins. by eliminating your fears you make yourself a stronger person.

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

Yeah there is like thousands and thousands of square miles of untouched forest here in the Northwest. Including places where no man may have ever stood. ever.