Hacker News Reader

Comment by fleddr | Hacker News Reader

A great way to spontaneously trigger a midlife crisis, no matter your age, is to watch Youtube videos about the universe, the origin of life, etc.

You'll get this inspirational rush of how amazing everything is, how vast the universe, how incredibly unusual for life to exist and for us specifically as a species to exist. And the advanced state we're in, able to do almost anything.

And then you realize that you're using this incredible and very temporary opportunity to sit in a chair for most of your waking hours, for decades in a row.

You're not exploring anything, you're not celebrating life, not producing any meaning. You just sit there, like a robot, pissing it all away. Not depressing enough? Your existence is actually the top 10% of humanity.

Anyway, have a great day.

View on HN

And then you realize that you're using this incredible and very temporary opportunity to sit in a chair for most of your waking hours, for decades in a row.

Beats the hell out of scratching out a subsistence living. That ain't gonna afford me much of any opportunity other than scratching at the ground and hoping the locusts don't eat it. Anything beyond that, and we're just arguing about the degree of technology that we're comfortable with. That doesn't sound nearly as noble, I suppose, but I always thought Thoreau was kinda full of it anyway.

So you do you, but I'm smack in the middle of midlife, and I'm having no crisis at all.

Could be worse is not that much of a comeback. But I'm happy that you're happy.

I'm not unhappy, and I was exaggerating, but I do believe there's quite a gap between how amazing our existence is and how unamazing we tend to spent it.

But i have issue with your 'unamazing': the mere fact of existence is a miracle, and what you do with it is up to you. The amazingness is an entirely made up and subjective judgement.

In this case, you just seem to be going around saying 'you are spending your life mediocrely' because that's your measure. From my perspective, you have no business declaring that to be a universal value.

I personally think there are billions of different ways to spend this life, and billions of different ways to value it.

We might try to establish some external measurement, as you appear to be doing, but what is that actually worth, besides making you feel like you have some company in mediocrity?

You seem upset. Try to be more happy.

> You're not exploring anything, you're not celebrating life, not producing any meaning. You just sit there, like a robot, pissing it all away.

I would suggest that meaning can be found, even if you are unable to transcend our human limitations in this insanely large universe. But I can tell that you are on a path of reflection of what a meaningful human life means for you, and that's exciting! I wish you the best!

(Don't read this as if I have it all figured out, because I most certainly do not)

And then you realize that you're using this incredible and very temporary opportunity to sit in a chair for most of your waking hours, for decades in a row.

"All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone." --Blaise Pascal

Part of being human is embracing both of these realities though. We can get satisfaction from spending 4 hours perfecting some small nuance in code to make it run smoothly and we can feel awe pondering the vastness of the universe.

> You're not exploring anything, you're not celebrating life, not producing any meaning. You just sit there, like a robot, pissing it all away.

Part of the journey is finding the path. Have fun :)

I sometimes feel that way about spending time on HN. :)

> how incredibly unusual for life to exist

very debatable :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com