Chapter 668 Communication

There are ten full professors in the Institute of Advanced Law of Midgard University. Joan wrote a letter to each of them. The content is exactly the same. Except for the routine greetings and self-introduction, the key point is actually only one sentence:

What is the meaning of life in this world?

This question has troubled Joan for a long time, and with his intelligence attribute as high as 29, he couldn't think of an answer that would make him feel at ease.

When he decided to leave his alma mater, Leiden College, and apply for the Advanced Law Research Institute of Midgard University, a very important purpose was to enter a higher-level institution, seek help from more knowledgeable professors, and answer his confusion.

In a very reverent manner, Joann raised this issue with the professors in her letter. However, the most difficult thing between people is to understand each other. The question he raised in the letter seems to have nothing to do with academics, which made many professors feel offended and even annoyed by his outrageous behavior.

Due to the school's regulations, the professors are not good at not replying. Most of the replies to Joan have only one sentence:

"I am not interested in this question."

The subtext is obvious: professors are not interested in students asking such naive questions.

Another professor said in a sarcastic tone in his reply: Mr. Vida who is good at thinking, you should apply for a seminary or a philosophy school, those places are more suitable for you to seek the meaning of life.

That's not even the worst attitude.

A young professor even publicly took his letter as a laughingstock in the office, asserting in front of his colleagues that "Joan Vida is a complete nerd", "negative thinking, childish and ridiculous", "what he needs is psychological A doctor, not an arcane instructor."

Fortunately, not all professors took Joan's letter as a joke, and three professors replied to him with a more sincere attitude, and tried to answer his questions in the letter.

Dean Franklin was one of the three professors who answered the letter earnestly. In the letter, he talked about a lot of life philosophies, encouraged Joan to treat life positively and optimistically, and said that the value of a person depends on his social contribution, even if it is difficult After escaping to death, future generations will also remember his contribution to promoting social development and civilization progress.

Dean Franklin's positive and optimistic attitude and lofty sense of mission in his reply letter are exactly commensurate with his status as an "enlightenment thinker".

In fact, Joan understood all the truths Mr. Dean said, but he felt that Mr. Franklin misunderstood the question he raised.

The focus of Joan's attention is not whether a person will be famous forever, be infamous for thousands of years, or be ignored after death. These are all evaluations from others. For a deceased person, he has no way of knowing whether he is praised, criticized, or forgotten after death. , what's the point?

The key is how to convince yourself to live strong when you are alive, especially when you suffer setbacks, shocks and pains, when you realize that life is more suffering than happiness, and when you realize that the individual and even the universe are doomed to be destroyed , It is inevitable that there will be an inexplicable sense of absurdity and emptiness. At this time, how to prove that one's existence is meaningful, instead of decisively choosing to end one's life.

One needs to face many problems in life, the most serious of all problems is "suicide".

The answer to this question determines whether a person needs to think about other issues.

If the "pain" and "happiness" experienced in a person's life are respectively assigned to utility values ​​and weighted statistics are carried out, then for most people, the total utility of pain is actually far greater than the total utility of happiness. Net worth is all pain.

From the perspective of mathematical statistics, except for a very few lucky ones, the vast majority of people in the world work hard to live their lives just to suffer.

If people have the right to choose whether to be born or not, according to the rational principle of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, most people should not be born at all, or should choose to destroy their own bodies at the moment of awakening their free will, so as not to continue to accumulate the net value of pain.

Obviously, Joan's rational conclusion is a very pessimistic nihilistic thought.

He himself was unable to find the logical loopholes in the above derivation process, but he had a vague intuition, or sensibility, telling him that this way of reasoning was wrong, otherwise intelligent creatures, including humans, would have chosen to commit mass suicide How can we develop an increasingly civilized and progressive society?

So what is the problem?

Is it possible that the imagination of the human community has a function similar to self-deception, which can temporarily free people from the shackles of reason, and believe that tomorrow will be better and better, and that there are still more and more good people in the world? , so as to gain a positive and optimistic life motivation?

In fact, another professor who seriously wrote back to Jo Ann did put forward the above theory.

The professor spent 2,000 words explaining to Joan why "imagination" is so important. Without this ability, human beings would not be able to evolve into intelligent modern people, nor would they be full of optimistic visions for the future, nor would they It is impossible to form a broad and constantly updated social consensus and legal order.

Joan admitted that the professor's exposition was wonderful and inspiring.

But between the lines of the other party also exposed a cold reality: the vast majority of us are actually living in a beautiful fantasy of the future.

But historical data can prove that most of the hopes of the vast majority of people will not be realized in the end, and all living beings are nothing but cannon fodder for a few successful people to promote the progress of civilization.

Can this kind of survival drive based on "imagination" - which is actually statistical self-deception - really last forever?

Joan looked out the window at the lights of thousands of houses on the streets of the city, and his rationality once again prompted him to have an ominous premonition.

This city seems to be thriving. People living here, no matter how difficult the situation, at least still have hope in their hearts that "the future will be better".

This is because the whole society is still on the rise, people come to the colonies to seek wealth, and the vast and fertile land is enough to bear their dreams.

However, as time goes by, the population of the colony increases, the cities become more and more crowded, and the land and mineral resources available for development become less and less, and it will become more and more difficult for people to realize their dreams. .

Once people realize that there is a high probability that their efforts will not receive the expected returns, the self-motivation based on imagination will be irretrievably shattered, forming a positive feedback of "breaking the pot and smashing it".

If that day really comes, people will choose to treat work and life negatively. Anyway, hard work is useless. If you can't make a lot of money after working hard, it's better to hang around and wait for death.

Next, people will gradually abandon traditional morality and family concepts, and lose interest in getting married and having children. Anyway, children will still suffer after birth, so it is better not to let them be born to avoid suffering this crime.