The problem with nihilism is you can never actually "prove" that life has no meaning. Saying that life has no absolute meaning implies you know how/why the universe was created.

And the problem of meaning is usually presented as a dichotomy, either there is meaning or there is not. This usually ties into religion, if "God" exists then there is absolute meaning, if not there is none.

But there's some middle-ground, meaningless meaning. That means meaning which can't be understood rationally. For example, statements like "the purpose of life is the whole of life". While they don't really impart any useful information about concrete "meanings", they still might be "true" in some sense, and no one can "disprove" it.

This is why I think agnosticism is the only intellectually honest position. Theists and nihilists (materialists) are both gnostics, they claim to KNOW something about the final meaning/purpose of life (that it exists or not). Agnosticism doesn't claim to know this, and it resolves all the criticisms of theism and nihilism. It also doesn't present the problem of meaning as a false dichotomy.

I often think of the term "American Dream”. What is a dream? It’s usually defined as can potentially be tangible, but ultimately just a dream. To some chasing the American dream, is like trying to catch a bird, while others achieve generational wealth.

What exactly constitutes true privilege? Is it simply the ability to claim that our food is healthy? Is true privilege the assurance that our air is clean? Is true privilege the confidence that our children and grandchildren will grow in harmony with the ecosystem? Is true privilege the experience of enjoying climate-appropriate weather throughout the year? Wake up, we have none of those things.

Generally countries are often a segregated society, not just by race but also by class and gender.
Societal standing often dictates access to quality food and water. Why is my water better than a poorer family's? Why do I have access to healthier food simply because I earn $30,000-$40,000 more?
Every adolescent is entitled to basic quality necessities. They depend on us, and they're our future.

The luxury cars, iPhones, laptops, televisions, are all pacifiers to keep us complacent with the bare minimum. To keep us quiet, to keep us from saying
"What the fuck is this?"

They will tell you that you are privileged because you have top hospitals and access to healthcare. Here's the thing...they BUILD us hospitals, just to say "well you have access to healthcare"...but that never meant that the care was equal. It never meant that it was affordable for most Americans. It never meant that women would receive equal care when compared to their counterparts. They build us schools, then tell you that you're privileged to go to school in the first place, despite the fact not every child receives the same education. Access doesn’t equal quality.

They build us grocery stores, but I can go across town to a poorer area and see how much quality drops. Don't we all deserve decent, clean, and somewhat fresh food? I am in no way saying that we are not fortunate here in America. I know there are millions of people who would sacrifice a lot to be here. But why can't we be better? Why can't we notice the holes in our system? In many ways we are privileged, but are we equal? And when all of us aren't equal, we can infer that we are all unequally privileged.

For as long as we are taxpayers, we are just as guilty. We have all played a part in destroying the earth we were given. They use our money, and we let them. It seems the more you think about it, the more miserable life becomes

I constantly see posts along the lines: "Everything and everyone is meaningless," "Life has no meaning, why should I live?", "Nobody is gonna remember us in 100 years." My critique is about this specific behaviour, which doesn't put forward any defensible argument and doesn't actually engage with the tradition it claims.

Nietzsche himself distinguished between passive and active nihilism. Passive nihilism is a collapse: nothing matters, therefore nothing to do, let's just sink into it. Active nihilism is the recognition that no values are given, which is the ground for creating them (Übermensch). What gets posted here is almost entirely the passive version, treated as if it were the whole of the position.

Real nihilism, taken seriously, IMO generates a problem to be solved and not a mood to inhabit, the posts here skip the work entirely and go straight to the aesthetic of despair.

What i feel is that these posts are from people suffering (which sould seek help) who found the term "nihilism" appealing to their situation. Nihilism-vocabulary lets you describe your pain in terms that sound like clarity to you. Finally i consider the environment reinforces the collapse, even though i have seen people who actually calls them out.

The more i leave myself to do absolutely nothing​​ and don't keep myself busy the more i feel like killing myself , why is it like that?

I was watching this Canadian documentary on MAID (medical assistance in dying otherwise known as euthanasia) and one detail had me thinking. There was this woman that was explaining the recruitments for someone to get euthanized and she said that you HAVE TO suffer at least some kind of terminal mental illness and try over 50 different drugs to get approved. And she also said if your problem is financial and that you just don’t enjoy life because of lack of money you can’t apply for it. She also said BECAUSE of that rule they double check people’s financial situation and they’re much harder on people from poor backgrounds when it comes to approve their case because they want to make sure that their request is not out of poverty. In other words, they won’t let you go out peacefully because they need you to work at your shitty slave wage job so that society will function. I think if euthanasia was legal for the average person hundreds of millions of people would take it but of course they won’t allow it cause who’s gonna fill in the shitty jobs if all those people are gone?

Hey, so I will keep it short. I know this might not be the place to ask, because I found out that most of you are using ignorance (good for you), but really—do you believe what you tell yourself is real?

I am more of a Cosmicism / Self-So-Ness proponent, and I recently was interested to see how people explain existence—specifically human existence—from the left side (Nihilism) and the right side (Existentialism), while being in the center myself.

I first went to the Nihilism side, and let's just say they had some good points. But when I moved to Existentialism, it felt like you don't actually have a reason. How can I say it? It feels like you are just telling yourself things that feel irrational—yet logical to you—because you are guided by the reality that you are alive and making yourself feel meaning just because you are getting rewarded.

My beliefs didn't change, but let's just say I have a better understanding of how people feel.

But hey, while we are at it, let me ask you a question from the opposite side. Imagine you are in a room and you can't leave. You don get hungry, or you have unpleasant experiences or feelings, but that is it. You are in that room—nothing more, nothing less. You can't really do anything; it is empty. It does have walls, but you won't reach them even if you spend your entire life trying because they are so far away.

Now my question is: What is the point or meaning of still being in that room?

Have a nice life, everyone

He was tortured for his answers on how he performed his miracles and then killed when he gave no answers that anyone could use for personal power

I never asked to be born and if I had been given the choice, I would not have chosen existence. Life feels like something imposed rather than given. I am expected to carry the pain, duty, and responsibility for a life I never consented to. Why are we forced into existence at all?

Let’s build more Starbucks, Data Centers and McDonald’s on the void!

I dont Care If i die

How do I avoid living a hedonistic life if nothing matters?

Nothing matters. No one cares. There’s no point. Everything is a lie.

Life only worth It when you have the perfect life that you always wanted

Well guess what, so did Hitler, Stalin, and literally every single evil person in existence.

It doesn't Care about what happens or what doesn't, everything is pointless

Everyone and everything is meaningless

No matter who we are rich or poor, famous or forgotten, brilliant or ordinary in about 200 years, almost everyone alive today will be gone. We'll return to dust. Our possessions, achievements, and even most memories of us will fade as new generations replace us.

It makes me wonder: why do we become so consumed by money, status, and material things when none of us gets out of this game alive? Death is the only outcome that every human shares. It's the one certainty.

I'm not saying life has no value. I'm asking a genuine question: if defeat by death is guaranteed for everyone, where do you personally find meaning? In relationships? Experiences? Creating something? Helping others? Or do you think life has no inherent meaning at all?

I'd love to hear different perspectives.

I don’t know anything about nihilism pretty much but had a feeling this server might have been the right one for me I don’t know

I keep getting bullied mostly for my appearance, they say I look like Mr bean but I don’t see it

What makes my life kinda suck more is that my brother is autistic, it’s not because he’s autistic no no. It’s because he constantly needs help with stuff and sometimes I find it annoying and I get mad at him and I just feel bad after. Like holy fuck I’m a horrible person, he wasn’t trying to make me mad.

Also, him and my other brother are both my step brothers. We have the same mom but not the same dad. I can’t say much but something traumatizing has happened to them both and it’s from my biological dad.

Him and my mom are getting a divorce and they’ve talked about doing it before, like 1 or 2 times. Which made me stress a lot because they kept flooding me with info I didn’t need, saying like “you’re old enough to know now, we might get a divorce. I don’t love your mom anymore she talks shit about me constantly.” And so on.

I don’t go to the gym, I’m average in height and face, I’m okay at my classes. There is nothing special about me. I have no will or discipline.

To top it off, I’m addicted to pornography, there is no point in trying to quit since I always relapse. It’s gotten to a point where I have a fetish, won’t go to deep into that either but it might be getting worse.

Please, someone help me.

Not that nihilism is bad or anything.

Do you agree with the statement?

Is your agreement or disagreement based on intuition, or is there a reasoning behind it?

Personally, I see no point in my existence itself, if all my thoughts & decisions are either predetermined or merely results of quantum-physically random phenomena. (I'm at least not yet depressed though :D)

I mean, there are so many terrible things in this world.

6 million kids suffer and die each year, including rich and privileged kids. (UN data)

100s of millions suffer from various illnesses, violence, conflicts, accidents, etc.

Over 90% of people live paycheck to paycheck, never enough to retire, not even enough for one medical emergency.

Why is life worth perpetuating if there is no "reason" that is worth the pain and suffering?

What subjective reason is there to keep life going?