
Ask HN: What's your philosophy? - jmtame
Just curious, what drives you?  Why exist?
======
DanielBMarkham
I'm toying with being an Anti-Solipsist, which basically states that everybody
exists but me. I am completely imaginary and just a figment of real people's
perceptions.

Since you exist, you should find this interesting, except that it came from
me, an entity that is just a figment of your imagination.

Then again maybe not.

As you can see, I'm still working out some bugs with this worldview.

(grin)

I joke because I find the question slightly inane: people are who they are.
It's not like they choose a philosophy and suddenly become something besides
the emotional, reasoning hominids they've been all their lives. Philosophies
can be bent, and people are really good at bending them to suit their
predisposed character traits. In my opinion, of course.

~~~
a-priori
A friend of mine used to joke about anti-solipsism. He calls it being "the
hole in the cosmic doughnut". :)

~~~
DanielBMarkham
If you think about the ephemeral nature of being alive, anti-solipsism has a
lot going for it.

The question "why exist" is a non-starter, however, since the question can
only be posed (and answered) by some part of something that _does_ exist.
Existence IS, there is no why. Why is non-material.

God I love philosophy.

~~~
yters
You could rephrase it as "why continue to exist?"

I think that's what the original meant.

~~~
sgibat
Well, it's two different things, obviously. "Why continue to exist?" is
personal but "Why does anything exist?" is much more interesting. Except, I'm
starting to think it's a loaded question, as your parent, I think, was
implying. Due to our innate perception of things coming into and out of
existence.

------
run4yourlives
My Son. (and his soon to be bother/sister)

Sounds hokey, and it's a relatively new feeling for me, but everything I do
these days is all about enabling him.

~~~
DaniFong
_his soon to be bother/sister,_

Ah. To be a bother; the sacred duty of little sisters everywhere...

~~~
run4yourlives
lol... good catch. Perhaps that's my own personal foreshadowing!

------
pg
It feels good to make something that didn't exist before.

~~~
Herring
There's also profiting when someone else makes something that didn't exist
before. That also feels good.

------
sanj
Always taking the fork in the road that'll result in the best story.

------
ekpyrotic
I live for the moments when I forget I exist. Can happen when doing math,
physics, philosophy, or listening to music; being able to transcend my
existence.

~~~
meqif
That's called flow. I've been reading a book by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly on that
( [http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-
Csik...](http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-
Csikszentmihalyi/dp/0060920432) ).

That's what drives me, too.

------
shaunxcode
I would like to think that java programmers adhere to objectivism thus I must
be into functionalism which I feel is an analog to utility? Making
proceduralism futility?

------
dill_day
To become united and in line with the beauty and vitality of Nature, and to
become united with those we love - what other ultimate object in life _is_
there? Surely all these other things, these games and examinations, these
churches and chapels, these district councils and money markets, these top-
hats and telephones and even the general necessity of earning one's living -
if they are not ultimately for that, _what are they for_?

(Edward Carpenter)

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comatose_kid
I follow the philosophy of the Divine Porcine. Briefly stated, followers of
this philosophy believe there must be a divine being, since how else could you
explain that bacon, ham, and pork chops all come from the same wonderful
animal?

------
marcocampos
I'll die anyway so why not make the most of the time I got?

~~~
abstractbill
I'll die anyway so why worry?

------
iloveyouocean
Don't experience life through the filter of a philosophy.

~~~
jmtame
Isn't that a philosophy?

~~~
gills
I think you both just disappeared in a poof of logic...

------
javert
The only metaphysical purpose of a human being is to survive.

The only moral purpose of a human being is to pursue happiness.

~~~
dhimes
But, as the Dalai Lama said, it's easy to confuse happiness with pleasure, and
it's not always easy to understand the difference.

------
flashgordon
well trying to prevent a midlife crisis. By the time I hit mid to late 30s I
want to be spending a lot more time on things that I am passionate about - my
family, kids (hopefully when I have them), my violin and entrepreneurship, and
lot less at a job that sucks out my life!

------
rms
Entropism

The goal of human civilization is to conquer entropy. Also see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale>

~~~
Eliezer
You can't conquer entropy, you can only use up negentropy on interesting
projects.

~~~
rms
You could conquer entropy in this universe by harnessing energy from other
universes.

------
pavelludiq
Not knowing everything. I don't know exactly what drives me, but i have an
enormous need to find out. The same with all sorts of other questions, if most
people were me, and asked themselves the same stuff as i do, and got similar
answers, they would be either mad, or really weird, I've managed to stay
slightly mad and moderately weird, but i don't know for how long, and I'm
eager to find out.

~~~
DavidPP
Well, it's hard to tell from just a few lines, but I would guess that your are
an INTP personality.

------
ice_man
The existence of nothing is equivalent to the existence of everything; neither
can exist without the other since their respective definitions can only be
expressed in relation (as a negation) of the other.

Both existence and a lack thereof are a part of the one same entity.

This entity mirrors itself infinitely both in "space" and in "time".

It mirrors itself in "time" by alternating between the states of existence and
a lack thereof.

It mirrors itself in "space" exponentially by necessarily drawing a border
around itself because the very existence of both existence and a lack thereof
must give rise to a lack of existence and a lack thereof, if and only if it is
to adhere to its own rule, to which it must by its own definition, which
itself must exist by definition in the first paragraph.

This process of progressively expanding the "borders" of existence continues
ad infinitum and gives rise to what we know as reality.

As depicted in the following moving picture:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH45ffITujI>

------
ninjaa
It's asking myself your question that drives me. I do whatever I do because I
_believe_ (taken on faith) that it gives my existence meaning, and that
ultimately, by doing enough of what I do, I hope to glean some insight into
why I exist.

I dislike doing anything based solely on faith, but in this case I regard my
"belief" as certain as my "belief" in mathematics describing the truth, i.e. I
consider both pretty much absolute.

Here's a related commentary I found helpful, 2nd para lists (in a relatively
archaic style, you have to parse it a bunch of times - 3 different religious
answers to a similar existential question):
[http://www.hinduwebsite.com/divinelife/auro/auro_fateandfree...](http://www.hinduwebsite.com/divinelife/auro/auro_fateandfreewilll.asp)

(note: I don't advocate Hinduism, Sri Aurobindo or promote belief in God, am
merely searching the answer to the question - "why am I not a fatalist?")

------
cperciva
Strive for excellence.

------
petercooper
If I continue to contribute small pieces of knowledge, technology or such to
the world, hopefully someone will be inspired by all those collective bits and
pieces (in combination with those of others) to eventually answer the big
questions and promote the well-being of our species.

------
sundeep
Determinism.

~~~
jmatt
<flips coin>

I flipped a coin to decide whether I should up mod or down mod this. Was the
coin flip pre-determined by my previous actions? Did I actually up mod or down
mod this? :)

~~~
noonespecial
By reading it, you caused it to collapse into a modded state. :)

------
KevBurnsJr
To experience the beauty of existence.

------
jgrahamc
Be excellent to one another

------
rms
and for those that haven't read it:
<http://www.paulgraham.com/philosophy.html>

------
zitterbewegung
Thought that can be changed due to experiment (bayesian thought).
Deconstructuralism applied to society and preconceived notions of truth (or
even if truth exists). Nondeterminism and how that applies to free will. Thats
what makes me get up in the morning.

~~~
KevBurnsJr
truth = beauty

~~~
dbooher
objective truth may be objective beauty, but objective truth may not be
subjectively beautiful--hence little white lies.

------
mihasya
Testosterone.

------
swombat
It's fun.

------
rw
Working to make self-actualization more likely for myself and others.

------
a-priori
Humanism.

------
endtwist
I want to _live_ my life, not just exist within it.

------
Prrometheus
Seems to be the thing to do.

------
cmos
To make something from nothing that has an impact, hopefully for the better,
in how people live.

Hitting payroll, though, in the more short term. :)

------
noodle
i ain't got nothin' better to do

------
arakyd
I exist because of a certain chain of historical events. I continue to exist
because I am programmed to maintain my existence and because my environment
makes doing so with high probability (at least in the short and medium term)
remarkably easy. Everything else is post-hoc storytelling.

------
lallysingh
Ugh, really?

Here's a simple one that usually works: care about other people, contribute to
the world around you. After that, the rest of life figures itself out pretty
easily.

If you want some sort of logic or math proof on why this is, remove head from
rectum.

------
rnc000
secular-humanist-singularitarian-objectivist

------
Eliezer
I am here to debug an unstable, confusing, and feature-poor universe.

------
bayareaguy
I'm on the Nietzsche 3-step program.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=v5DFOleeTeAC&pg=PA13...](http://books.google.com/books?id=v5DFOleeTeAC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13)

------
ntoll
> Why exist? Just ask yourself why you don't commit suicide...

------
helveticaman
I abide by game theory.

------
callmeed
I believe I was created in the image of my creator–I think that's why I have
an innate desire to create myself (and why we all do). And part of the reason
I exist.

------
streblo
I might die tomorrow.

------
rodrigo
Its great to be in movement; dont know for people in other ages, but in our
time, things seems to be acceleratin and that makes it a great time to live.

------
unalone
Things are better every year. You can do anything you want to, and your
actions inspire others to do the same. There is a joy in masterful creation.

------
jderick
I like the fact that there is such a 'long tail' here.

------
zupatol
I listen to my conscience. I can really tell when I'm going in the wrong
direction.

I am surprised no one else has mentioned anything of the sort in this thread.

------
rokhayakebe
Life starts at the end of my comfort zone. (that has been my philosophy for
the past few weeks. I usually change it every other week.)

------
illumen
Great to see that no one sees themselves as a Hacker... on 'Hacker News'. I
guess it's more 'Self Help News' these days anyway.

------
dmpayton
Curiosity, and for the pure enjoyment of it.

------
vorador
it's übermenschism : i'm a nietzsche fanboy

------
programnature
Almost all processes that are not obviously simple can be viewed as
computations of equivalent sophistication.

------
sammyo
Why should one have 'a' philosophy? There are many fine mutually contradictory
philosophies, I choose all.

------
bootload
_"... What's your philosophy? ..."_

Sum ergo cogito

------
SapphireSun
The pursuit of truth mixed with novelty drives me. I honestly cannot answer
why I exist though ;-)

------
noblethrasher
To discover truth and beauty and then then share them through empathy in
design and argument.

------
jmtame
To put a ding in the universe.

------
awt
Understand as much as possible. Especially about how we came to be who we are.

------
orionlogic
will your philosophy change by anti-aging discoveries?

So you might ask: will you live the same life as if you would come back again
after you die?

if yes,then you live well now...(so in short, this is my philosophy)

------
jobeirne
I cannot prove the existence of anything, except for myself.

------
kirubakaran
Screw philosophy.

Is that a philosophy?

~~~
jsmcgd
You or may not be interested in the book "Fuck it: The Ultimate Spiritual
Way". (probably not)

[http://www.amazon.com/Fuck-Ultimate-Spiritual-John-
Parkin/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Fuck-Ultimate-Spiritual-John-
Parkin/dp/1848500130)

------
ryan-allen
It doesn't really matter, the Universe will prevail!!!

------
jsmcgd
I don't think I have a philosophy. Do you need one?

------
gills
To create.

To leave this place just a little better than I found it.

------
biohacker42
Cheerful nihilism.

~~~
blender
Ever read Max Stirner's: "The Ego and Its Own"?

I sing as the bird sings That on the bough alights; The song that from me
springs Is pay that well requites

Cheers

------
charlesju
Buddah; I don't want to reincarnate into a bug.

------
steveplace
Work like an Arminianist, sleep like a Calvinist.

;)

------
travisjeffery
Objectivism.

------
icey
I'm firmly Dadaist. Also: Spoon.

------
jonallanharper
Objectivism

------
rkowalick
Be Happy

------
abijlani
I just live in the moment

------
paraschopra
I exist to kill boredom

------
gibsonf1
The quest for happiness

~~~
drwh0
you have nine holes. if you can control what goes into them, and what goes out
of them, you will be fine

~~~
kirubakaran
10 if you are a girl.

------
anamax
Minimize dependencies.

------
bokonist
to figure out a philosophy ( and have fun trying)

~~~
KevBurnsJr
I see philosophies as more fluid than atomic.

------
jcapote
why not?

------
noodle
existentialism.

because i want to.

------
mantas
There's no tomorrow.

------
diN0bot
To do good better.

------
pstinnett
be here now

------
partoa
what?

------
geoffb
meh

------
drwh0
do unto others then run like hell

------
sarvesh
I exist to misbehave, it's fun.

------
qqq
Karl Popper.

