'Why?' A man-made question with a never-ending answer.

[Nanaboostme]

Long-story short, I'm doing research for a project on the question 'Why?'. And would love to hear people's opinions, thoughts, theories on a simple yet complex question we use everyday.
In a way its a man-made question by the Human Conscious mind with a never-ending answer.

Louis C.K. did a bit about his child consistently asking 'Why' till the point where it turns abstract like how any 'Why' question would inevitable end up. Michio Kaku or Neil Degrass Tyson has brought this up before as well.

The 'Hamlet Monkey Theorem' is also in a way related to this as the idea is that you could have an infinite amount of chimps typing gibberish on keyboards and one of them would eventually end up writing Shakepeare's Hamlet word for word, or even the bible.



So I guess my question is, what exactly is 'Why?' Why does Why exist? Is there an ultimate, final answer to it?

[Ratboy]

The final answer to the question "Why?" is simply "Because."

[chrisberb]

It's because people want to understand things.
Sure, one could continuously ask why and probably keep going, but it would eventually end with "I / we don't know".

[Fencers]

Life is completely absurd. There is no implicit or inherent point to being alive or things existing.

Matter has no purpose and no cause of Why. Living organisms are just biological engines converting kinetic energy. Everything you think and feel as an entity is a byproduct of biology- which has no point or value implicitly. All value is an invention.

[Kraenen]

So I guess my question is, what exactly is 'Why?'

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/why

Full Definition of why
for what cause, reason, or purpose <why did you do it?>

Why does Why exist?

Because we made it up as part of language to explain things (insert definition)

Is there an ultimate, final answer to it?

No, since just asking 'why' has no real content.

There, saved you a whole project.

[Deleted]

Obligatory video

[Gheld]

You have to make your own meaning in life.

[Powerogue]

So I guess my question is, what exactly is 'Why?' Why does Why exist? Is there an ultimate, final answer to it?

Because humans like to have answers, so we ask questions. We are less scared of the unknown once it's known.

Of course, throughout human history instead of that tedious process of finding the real answer, we just make up answers instead, which is much easier, but has pretty much the same effect.

What was more comforting, to early man? "Me not know why crops sometimes live sometimes die. Me and family might not live to next year because of this." or "Me know Fire God living in volcano want virgins. Me sure that making fire god happy will make crops grow. If crops not grow, must mean not given it enough virgins!"


http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1071

[Nanaboostme]

The final answer to the question "Why?" is simply "Because."

'Because' is also saying everything has a purpose or answer... which could be considered fabricated by the Conscious Mind.

- - - Updated - - -

You have to make your own meaning in life.

I agree, maybe nature is all already predetermined. now the question is does our conscious mind (Human Nature) let us influence, or is that as well pre-determined by Mother Nature?

- - - Updated - - -

Obligatory video

thanks for the share, very intriguing.

- - - Updated - - -

Why are you posting this.

Touche. /10char

[Gheld]

I agree, maybe nature is all already predetermined. now the question is does our conscious mind (Human Nature) let us influence, or is that as well pre-determined by Mother Nature?

Modern science says no to determinism. Fyi.

[Thoughtful Trolli]

The final unfalsifiable is to understand that existence is a massive shared hallucination.

Even if you consider we are one being, we're sharing the hallucination between at least two brain cells: Us, and the Other, which might be separated merely by space, so it could indeed be a single brain cell, but the fact that the thought takes too long to travel and results in an echo, creates a hallucination that there's more than just me, which is true if I endorse it, but not if I do not endorse it.

That having been said, yes, there is an answer, and no, there isn't an answer, it is whichever one you want to endorse, because you are God, and you hallucinate the truth.

[spinner981]

The ultimate chain of questions asking "Why?" must end an answer akin to "Because that's just the way it is."

The existence of existence demands an uncaused cause as Aristotle put it, or rather an existential constant, that is not the product of any happenstance or cause itself; something that just exists the way it exists just because it simply does. There must be something constant from which all other things flowed from. That's the best answer humanity can come up with in regards to the ultimate answer to this apparent unending question. Personally I believe in God. Others believe in a more natural explanation, such as whatever existed before the big bang, or perhaps an unending cycle of big bounces which are supported by some constant 'law of nature' that prevents these bounces from ceasing, or something along those lines.

[Nanaboostme]

Modern science says no to determinism. Fyi.

Is that a speculation you agree? I'm still hearing, even referenced today, whether free will exists or not. Of course, still being quite a philosophical thought.

[spinner981]

Is that a speculation you agree? I'm still hearing, even referenced today, whether free will exists or not. Of course, still being quite a philosophical thought.

Ultimately we can't know whether or not free will exists, nor can we know that we know. Just like we can't really know that we know the truth of anything really. We can only take our best guesses. That said, I do believe it is possible to be correct in these best guesses (or even just poor thoughtless guesses for that matter, I guess).

[Thoughtful Trolli]

Let me address questions in this thread. I don't know how to manipulate the reply system correctly, so I'm going to copy and paste questions.

The final answer to the question "Why?" is simply "Because."
------ This is true when you believe it is true, as long as you believe it is true. If you believed it is true a very long time, then when you stop believing it, its truth may persist beyond your will, making you wrong, until reality finally shifts and makes your disbelief true.

It's because people want to understand things.
Sure, one could continuously ask why and probably keep going, but it would eventually end with "I / we don't know".
------ This is true or not true as long as you believe it is true or not true. The eventuality would close though, so this is often not true. That makes this false.


Of course, throughout human history instead of that tedious process of finding the real answer, we just make up answers instead, which is much easier, but has pretty much the same effect.
------This is not true, because the made up answers eventually become the actual answers. It's like that one Nazi Propagandist said: If I lie long enough, it becomes the truth.

'Because' is also saying everything has a purpose or answer... which could be considered fabricated by the Conscious Mind.
I agree, maybe nature is all already predetermined. now the question is does our conscious mind (Human Nature) let us influence, or is that as well pre-determined by Mother Nature?
------ It does if you want it to, it doesn't if you don't want it to do so. It is also determinism if you want it to be, and not if you don't want it to be.

Modern science says no to determinism. Fyi.
----- This is false right now. It's going to remain false for a very long time, but it can become true.

Unless we find a way to peer into (potential) alternate universes, the whole "prophecy" question ("Was this action all predetermined? If I take an action to prevent it, was THAT predetermined?") might just literally be the most useless question that could possibly be asked.
------ I can answer this by rephrasing it. This is saying, essentially, "If we create a new truth in alternate universes, that would also determinism useless." It would if you believed both those things. In comparison/contrast, you could have said "A new alternate universe would PROVE determinism." And that result would occur somehow to satisfy your truth, since you're hallucinating and in control but not in control. (Unless of course you want to hallucinate that you are not in control to begin with, and deny this is a hallucination which has lead to our current stagnation as this "reality" on planet "Earth.")

The ultimate chain of questions asking "Why?" must end an answer akin to "Because that's just the way it is."
------ Nope. It ends however you want it to end, in your hallucination... Including ending with this answer. Your failure here is to recognize that even if you were right, you were only right because you insisted you were right, and by saying "It has to be this way" you are denying the truth to the first person who asked the question, even if you didn't know it, so we must agree this statement isn't true, or we'd lose our rights to you.

[Gheld]

Ultimately we can't know whether or not free will exists, nor can we know that we know. Just like we can't really know that we know the truth of anything really. We can only take our best guesses. That said, I do believe it is possible to be correct in these best guesses (or even just poor thoughtless guesses for that matter, I guess).

The debate is upon whether or not life is counter-active to the second law of thermodynamics. This debate is based entirely upon stupid misunderstanding of the second law of thermodynamics wherein a bunch of hipsters suggest that life becoming more complex defies the increasing entropy of the universe which completely ignores the fact that isolated pockets of more or less energy can manifest within a closed system that is not currently at equilibrium.

aka. there's no real scientific basis upon which to question free will. And it's pretty fucking self evident. If it's not self evident to you, I'm sorry to hear that.

[spinner981]

Let me address questions in this thread. I don't know how to manipulate the reply system correctly, so I'm going to copy and paste questions.

The final answer to the question "Why?" is simply "Because."
------ This is true when you believe it is true, as long as you believe it is true. If you believed it is true a very long time, then when you stop believing it, its truth may persist beyond your will, making you wrong, until reality finally shifts and makes your disbelief true.

It's because people want to understand things.
Sure, one could continuously ask why and probably keep going, but it would eventually end with "I / we don't know".
------ This is true or not true as long as you believe it is true or not true. The eventuality would close though, so this is often not true. That makes this false.


Of course, throughout human history instead of that tedious process of finding the real answer, we just make up answers instead, which is much easier, but has pretty much the same effect.
------This is not true, because the made up answers eventually become the actual answers. It's like that one Nazi Propagandist said: If I lie long enough, it becomes the truth.

'Because' is also saying everything has a purpose or answer... which could be considered fabricated by the Conscious Mind.
I agree, maybe nature is all already predetermined. now the question is does our conscious mind (Human Nature) let us influence, or is that as well pre-determined by Mother Nature?
------ It does if you want it to, it doesn't if you don't want it to do so. It is also determinism if you want it to be, and not if you don't want it to be.

Modern science says no to determinism. Fyi.
----- This is false right now. It's going to remain false for a very long time, but it can become true.

Unless we find a way to peer into (potential) alternate universes, the whole "prophecy" question ("Was this action all predetermined? If I take an action to prevent it, was THAT predetermined?") might just literally be the most useless question that could possibly be asked.
------ I can answer this by rephrasing it. This is saying, essentially, "If we create a new truth in alternate universes, that would also determinism useless." It would if you believed both those things. In comparison/contrast, you could have said "A new alternate universe would PROVE determinism." And that result would occur somehow to satisfy your truth, since you're hallucinating and in control but not in control. (Unless of course you want to hallucinate that you are not in control to begin with, and deny this is a hallucination which has lead to our current stagnation as this "reality" on planet "Earth.")

The ultimate chain of questions asking "Why?" must end an answer akin to "Because that's just the way it is."
------ Nope. It ends however you want it to end, in your hallucination... Including ending with this answer. Your failure here is to recognize that even if you were right, you were only right because you insisted you were right, and by saying "It has to be this way" you are denying the truth to the first person who asked the question, even if you didn't know it, so we must agree this statement isn't true, or we'd lose our rights to you.

So what if you constantly believe that everything you believe is false?

The debate is upon whether or not life is counter-active to the second law of thermodynamics. This debate is based entirely upon stupid misunderstanding of the second law of thermodynamics wherein a bunch of hipsters suggest that life becoming more complex defies the increasing entropy of the universe which completely ignores the fact that isolated pockets of more or less energy can manifest within a closed system that is not currently at equilibrium.

aka. there's no real scientific basis upon which to question free will. And it's pretty fucking self evident. If it's not self evident to you, I'm sorry to hear that.

Oh, I believe in free will, but I am playing the devil's advocate. If I do something, it's either because I did so out of free will, or because since the beginning of the existence of the universe events unfolded in such a way that the events following said events would eventually lead to me performing that action, like a chain of REALLY long and complex dominoes.

Even if we are taking quantum events into consideration, there is no reason to assume that they are truly perfectly random or guided by a force that wouldn't be influenced by determinism.

[Thoughtful Trolli]

The debate is upon whether or not life is counter-active to the second law of thermodynamics. This debate is based entirely upon stupid misunderstanding of the second law of thermodynamics wherein a bunch of hipsters suggest that life becoming more complex defies the increasing entropy of the universe which completely ignores the fact that isolated pockets of more or less energy can manifest within a closed system that is not currently at equilibrium.

aka. there's no real scientific basis upon which to question free will. And it's pretty fucking self evident. If it's not self evident to you, I'm sorry to hear that.

This is pretty brutal and bad, and terrible. The truth is sentience is a lie. That truth was easier to obtain than an understanding of the ultimate unfalsifiable, frankly. At this point, we have to presume people who continue to say dogma that's bullshit like this, including anyone who wants to say the answer is "Because." Are people who are trying to take away our understanding that existence is simply a massive shared hallucination, and thereby try to wrestle power from us.

Not cool.

So what if you constantly believe that everything you believe is false?
------ This would be exactly like a stoner getting caught in a bad trip after using cannabis, and trying to fight his way out of the trip. The more he fights, the harder it is to get out and back to the mellow. He could spiral up or down based on anything, the slightest thought, the slightest hallucination.

In the case of most sober people though, this is also happening, but drawn out to a magnificently longer time span, so its not very easy to witness or understand this. Imagine having to think positive thoughts for at least a year to finally get out of the spin, instead of a mere 10 minutes for someone under the influence. The fact we exist is heavily due to a stagnation. Which might have been what we asked for during our initial hallucinations. Its only logical we'd ask for the higgs boson particle to assign mass to reality so that we stopped dying instantly for thinking about death. The delay between desire and reward had to be lengthened, even though now its so long we no longer notice, and stop wishing for things when wishing is literally the creation of reality.

You're just having a bad trip if you constantly believe everything is false. Don't worry, the rest of us have the power too, or so most believe, so we'll stay together as a pack wherever we go, probably, and sorry if that's unpleasant for you.

[spinner981]

This is pretty brutal and bad, and terrible. The truth is sentience is a lie. That truth was easier to obtain than an understanding of the ultimate unfalsifiable, frankly. At this point, we have to presume people who continue to say dogma that's bullshit like this, including anyone who wants to say the answer is "Because." Are people who are trying to take away our understanding that existence is simply a massive shared hallucination, and thereby try to wrestle power from us.

Not cool.

Against my better judgement, I will respond and ask you where you get the reasoning as to why you think that existence if a massive shared hallucination?

[spinner981]

------ This would be exactly like a stoner getting caught in a bad trip after using cannabis, and trying to fight his way out of the trip. The more he fights, the harder it is to get out and back to the mellow. He could spiral up or down based on anything, the slightest thought, the slightest hallucination.

In the case of most sober people though, this is also happening, but drawn out to a magnificently longer time span, so its not very easy to witness or understand this. Imagine having to think positive thoughts for at least a year to finally get out of the spin, instead of a mere 10 minutes for someone under the influence. The fact we exist is heavily due to a stagnation. Which might have been what we asked for during our initial hallucinations. Its only logical we'd ask for the higgs boson particle to assign mass to reality so that we stopped dying instantly for thinking about death. The delay between desire and reward had to be lengthened, even though now its so long we no longer notice, and stop wishing for things when wishing is literally the creation of reality.

You're just having a bad trip if you constantly believe everything is false. Don't worry, the rest of us have the power too, or so most believe, so we'll stay together as a pack wherever we go, probably, and sorry if that's unpleasant for you.

Really? Because I thought it would produce a paradox given your reasoning so far. If thinking something eventually makes it the truth, then therefore thinking that everything you think is wrong would eventually produce a paradox, where everything you think is wrong because you think it to be so. If that isn't the case, then merely thinking something has no influence on truth, apart from the truth of merely what you are thinking.

Oh, ya really stepped in it, mate.

Hey, the best places to find intellectual inspiration is within either the presence of complete contrariety or complete insanity. Maybe.