Boilerplate Definitions #
To Parse Something: Identifying key characteristics or functions.
To Abstract: Forming relationships between objects, for example, identifying similarities in purpose.
Life: Human life.
Provisional Definition of Meaning #
Meaning is the relationship between an object and its purpose.
Defining Purpose #
Purpose is a relative property of any (non)living thing, determined by its function or role relative to other (non)living things. It can be considered purposeful or not, depending on context.
Examples:
- A knife is purposeful for a variety of uses, such as cutting food or opening packages.
- Animals are purposeful for various reasons, such as contributing to an ecosystem or providing companionship.
Key Points:
- Purpose is not a predefined template but a context-aware property.
- Multiple objects can have similar purposes, meaning purpose is not always an exclusive property.
Defining Meaning #
Suppose you are unfamiliar with the word “car” and the purpose of a car. Upon first encountering a car, your brain might create a mapping like this:
- Object: Car
- Purpose: Takes a user from point A to point B
Similarly, if you do not know the word “train” and its purpose, your initial mapping might be:
- Object: Train
- Purpose: Takes a user from point A to point B
At first, both car and train seem to serve the same purpose. To differentiate between them, additional attributes and contexts need to be considered. For instance:
- Car: Typically used for personal travel, has varying speeds and capacities, suitable for shorter trips.
- Train: Used for mass transit, generally faster over long distances, has a fixed route and higher capacity.
By parsing more data and examining different contexts, we develop a more nuanced understanding of each object’s purpose. This refined mapping allows us to differentiate between objects with similar functions.
Meaning is also dynamic and contextual, for example, the meaning of a smartphone has changed from 2010 to 2024. Notice how meaning changes with purpose.
Conclusion: Meaning is created through the processes of parsing and abstracting data. It involves identifying specific attributes and understanding how they relate to broader categories or purposes.
Now, time, for the million dollar question.
Does life have meaning? #
This is a hard question to answer. For example, I might declare my own life meaningless for the sake of argument, but to my loved ones, my life might not be meaningless at all. Perhaps, what I am trying to say is that, our lives are not just our own. The weight of our existence is shared amongst our loved ones. If I were to look at meaning in our lives, from an axiomatic standpoint, I’d be robbing everyone of the joy that we communicate, silently through our shared existence.Life, as I have known it, is a collective experience, not an individual one. I can’t really define the beauty of experiencing a sunrise on a rainy November dawn axiomatically, I can only share that experience with you and hope that you find the same sense of beauty I did. Life is a collective experience, meaning is a communal phenomenon.