So what exactly is the point of it all then?

Well the point is they would die out now wouldn’t they. Since they couldn’t reproduce. Tho fertility treatment fixes that for lesbians and surrogates fixes that for gays.

Though previously gay men and lesbians would just fake being straight get married have children and then have their person in secret.

If we are here to reproduce them why are some people gay or lesbian? Sexually attracted to people they cannot reproduce with?

To love and be loved.
This isn't as easy as it sounds.
Loving people and being lovable yourself is hard.

I used to feel that way too.

Are we really?

We just got lucky evolutionally. Right place, right time, right food sources, right opposable thumbs. There could have been a million other species that could have been the dominant species on the planet, if an asteroid or two had missed us. Could have been crabs, could still be octopi if we all manage to nuke ourselves into oblivion.

There's no "point" to life, because life wasn't designed. It just happened. The closest thing to a point is reproduction, but thats not because of any design, it's just because without reproduction, you don't get more life.

For myself, the point is to enjoy myself. So I work, because money lets me do more fun things, and I had a kid, because being a parent brings me joy (well actually because I like sex and contraception can be shit, but luckily parenthood does bring me joy), and I don't screw people over, because evolution has made us a social species, and that brings guilt if you screw people over, and guilt does not bring me joy.

I'm a lot younger, but feel much the same.
Does 'life' count as a terminal illness?!

I was commenting on a thread the other day, and it transpired that others manage to find some enjoyment in the process of 'just living" but I never have done, and really can't think of anything that makes the daily grind worthwhile.
It really is a pointless slog, and for no discernible reason. Just waiting around, until such time as we can shuffle off this mortal coil.

Yes often in cases of infertility or not being able to carry further than 12 weeks, where it’s unexplained it’s just that his sperm and your eggs are a huge no no.

Different sperm or a different egg and boom no problem.

god must be insecure as fuck if he created a planet full of people to bow down before him.
If I was able to create universes I think I'd have enough confidence in myself to not need worshipers.

Objectively? we're here because of evolution. There's no more meaning to our existence than there is to bacteria.

There's the meaning of life (none, well, the purpose if there is one is just to live long enough to reproduce)

And there's the meaning of your life. Or mine. Or anyone's. And that's whatever each person thinks the meaning of their life is. If anything.

Me? I don't think there is a meaning. two people had sex and I was born. then I was just stuck with it and went through all the stages of life and now I'm in my 50s and it still doesn't mean anything. It just is. I just am. There's really no point or purpose to it and the world wouldn't be any different with or without me in it.

I knew someone once who couldn’t conceive because she was incompatible with her husband’s sperm. I didn’t know that was a thing before.

This

That just doesn’t sound appealing to me. I don’t want to glorify anything.

Well do you think every animal etc has a purpose too? I don’t think we’re special.

The way I see it there is no actual meaning or purpose on a higher level. We are here because biology deemed we be here and that’s it.

I mean that’s it’s isn’t it. We are here to reproduce and live and then die. We teach the offspring new things and we evolve.

Infertility as harsh as it sounds is nature weeding out those who should not reproduce, this can also be evidenced partly in the huge increase in sen since things like IVF and being able to keep 24weekers alive.

Yes I get the argument but broken bones, but antibiotics, but they just keep someone alive they don’t create people that nature never wanted to exist.

Though also sometimes infertility isn’t actually infertility, it’s two incompatible people. Get a new partner and sometimes the infertile are sometimes actually very fertile. Nature doesn’t care for love or feelings.

There's no evidence whatsoever that there's a purpose or point to life, which is why it's easy to believe there isn't. I was a Christian years ago but started reading more about the origins of life on earth and the evolution of species. That's when I realised there didn't need to be a god to create it all and my faith went up in smoke.

I also read more about the history of religions and spirituality, which is how I came to understand some people's desire for comforting fantasies more than the stark reality that we're not special. We're just apes with no guardian angels, no personal relationship with a god or divine prophet and there are no ancestors 'looking down' on us.

The world is amazing enough and amongst the horror there is beauty, love, joy, laughter and awe. We make our own purpose in the tiny amount of time we have before we die and become what we were before we were born. I'm certainly not going to waste it worshipping a man-made god or living by the creed of some ancient, uneducated men.

Could be helpful (good price too); https://www.amazon.co.uk/There-More-Life-Than-Questions/dp/1907950117

Reminds me of the Moby song (I think) called "We Are All Made of Stars" 🌟✨️❤️

To be loved and known by God my creator through the Holy Spirit his tangible presence, to love others and him. Relationship not religion .Alpha course is a great place to explore the purpose of life.

Genes are mechanisms that govern our bodies, they're not tiny little puppeteers controlling us, like mini ratatouilles under the chef hats of our souls.

As much as this sentence tickles me, I just wanted to point out that the rat was called Remy, not Ratatouille.

It's funnier written your way though!

I find it strangely contradictory in how I feel about this in many ways... my supposed surpise birth was obviously an accident and I was 3 months premature, on the brink of survival being weaned off heroin, then adopted into a wonderful family.

Given then that I nearly didn't survive, I find it that I feel an obligation in some ways to be more grateful for having a life, seeing that I literally almost didn't. OTOH, as PP said, none of us asked to be born.

So, in the days where I'm feeling quite down about my health, circumstances, things I can't control etc, I try just to get pleasure from the small things, and my family. This in some ways is where the contradicting feelings lie: when I feel depressed etc about life, it makes me feel guilty too that I'm.sitting there feeling down (which creates a vicious cycle at times!)

In short: enjoy your life, be kind, get meaning from the small things, love deeply, and live mindfully ❤️

Life is meaningless and everything dies.

That's the thing though, Dawkins has certainly popularised the view that the purpose of life is reproduction through our "selfish genes", but the idea that we can derive claims about meaning from claims about genes is just no good. We can't.

All that gene science tells us is the mechanics behind how generic selection and reproduction works. That's the scientific claim. It's terrible science to try and infer some claim about the wider meaning of life from claims about genes. You can't conduct a scientific study to test what the meaning of life is, it just isn't a scientific question in the way that "under what conditions do creatures successfully pass their genes on to the next generation" is.

There is also no good reason to reduce human behaviour, experience and value entirely to their genes, gene science doesn't license reductionism either. All gene science tells us is how genes work. Compatibly with this, we can think of genetic reproduction as just one of the many factors that explain the complex systems that animates our behaviour. Gene reproduction isn't "our" purpose, anymore than circulating blood around our bodies is "our" purpose. Genes are mechanisms that govern our bodies, they're not tiny little puppeteers controlling us, like mini ratatouilles under the chef hats of our souls.

I don’t feel I have to justify my existence. I didn’t ask to be born.

There isn't any prescribed meaning.

But I also don't think that it's helpful to talk about purpose and meaning. Maybe we are "small tiny specks in a deep uncaring world" or whatever, maybe there is a designer, maybe there is a functionalist explanation in terms of passing on genes. It actually doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter because there isn't an origin story that can give your life meaning. Your life has the meaning that it has to you, and to the other people who live life with you. There isn't an inbuilt meaning, and there isn't an origin story that could give you the meaning you're looking for. You've got to make it for yourself.