The problem here is that there is no Cosmic Plan, which makes it difficult for you to figure out exactly what it means for it to have Chosen you. One common way to try to make this work is to decide you have been given a special Mission:https://meaningness.com/purpose
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Another approach is to heighten your uniqueness by exaggerating eccentricities and character quirks and attributing Special Meaningfulness to them. Both these approaches are harmful, although they can motivate genuine & valuable accomplishments too.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
You can't create a Cosmic Plan, because you are human, material, and about two meters in your largest dimension, and the Cosmos is divine, metaphysical, and about 10^16 meters in its physical emanation. Unfortunately, it won't accept your Plan. Partly because it doesn't exist.
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Replying to @Meaningness
Is knowledge=cosmically significant(as below) compatible with the above stance? "humans are not playthings of cosmic forces, we are users of cosmic forces. … any physical process can be controlled by such knowledge, limited only by the laws of physics."https://www.ted.com/talks/david_deutsch_after_billions_of_years_of_monotony_the_universe_is_waking_up/transcript?language=en …
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Replying to @reasonisfun
This is a great talk, thank you! I worry often that the cultures of the developed world are forgetting the extraordinary progress of the past, and losing faith in the possibility of still greater progress for the future. Inspiring reminders of this are so valuable!
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Deutsch here is explicitly invoking mythology, and sketching a mythology of the future. Mythology is an powerful tool! It's important to get the metaphysics of it as right as possible; and also not to confuse the mythic and factual modes. (Not saying he is doing that...)
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Worth asking about "humans are not playthings of cosmic forces, we are users of cosmic forces": why "cosmic" here rather than "physical"? How is "humans are not playthings of physical forces, we are users of physical forces" different?
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
If that seems less inspiring... what did "cosmic" mean there? At the factual level, was it true? (We are and always will be subject to physical forces...)
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
At the mythic level, what teleological narrative is suggested, and what does that motivate? As a call to contribute to progress, it's great. As a suggestion that this can give one's life definite meaning—it may be counterproductive, imo.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Tangential aside: a term I learnt from Neil Postman is "transcendental narrative", meaning (my interpretation) a story sufficiently powerful is it is possible to attach a life meaning, certainly individually, and perhaps even collectively.
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That’s a great term! Cf also Lyotard’s “grand metanarratives” (maybe not quite the same). That we can no longer properly believe in these is both the crisis and the opportunity of the current era. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metanarrative …pic.twitter.com/rfCUDRaz7x
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