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Friday, May 12, 2006

Chapter 77: Pragmatism and the End of the World, cont.

Sam's brain just crapped out an existential turd (burn!). He talks about mankind's stupidity and the ultimate pointlessness of it all. It concluded with this thought:
Requiring no effort on my part, I’ve found a single thing that suddenly brings back meaning to my life.

A smile from a girl.

Pathetic? Maybe. Monumental? Yes. The fields of cosmology and politics don’t seem as important compared to a passing look from a girl on the street.

I think Sam missed an important point, or rather didn't take his point far enough. He implies that the feelings associated with positive attention from the fairer sex give life meaning and purpose. Love, perhaps, is our greatest purpose. But love is as much a biological and social construct as it is a holy experience. (I'd probably go as far as to say it's more biological and social than anything else. These parenthesis indicate that this isn't a critical step in the my argument.) You feel warm and fuzzy when attractive people give you attention because they emit the right kind of pheromone, look like your favorite TV stars, or own the only stone axe in the village.

Since Pandora opened her box (I hope that the symbolism becomes pretty obvious when placed in that context), pretty girls have been a source of chaos. Many men fall in love with them; they fight and posture for their attention. Wars are fought. Bombs are detonated. Potential energy is released. Entropy increases. The universe moves one step closer to its death.

So, unless you want to hasten the destruction of the universe, don't fall in love.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.taoofsam.com/blog/...16

5:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

amen, amen, and AMEN

7:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like boobies.

3:33 PM  
Blogger Radrik said...

Maynard's hardly a nihlist. That quote's out of context.

2:09 PM  

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