tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post1629345485080313753..comments2023-11-22T04:10:49.266-05:00Comments on Dispatches from Zembla: On Competition and SuicideAlokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-42035755294647006722008-08-29T10:47:00.000-05:002008-08-29T10:47:00.000-05:00We live to compete and struggle so as to propagate...<I> We live to compete and struggle so as to propagate our genes. That is all life is all about.</I><BR/><BR/>not a very cheerful notion but probably true. I am surprised how my own views have changed over the past few years. After reading Dawkins, Pinker et al I used to feel liberated by this notion but now it feels cruel and inhumane. life as a cruel and senseless sport.<BR/><BR/>Life struggle is a little different from what I meant by competition. I was just thinking about how we agree to reduce ourselves to quantifiable criteria just to compete with others, all the while knowing that we are much more than the aggregate of any such criteria.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-36596043331467864162008-08-29T05:56:00.000-05:002008-08-29T05:56:00.000-05:00Competition and struggle are the way of life. We l...Competition and struggle are the way of life. We live to compete and struggle so as to propagate our genes. That is all life is all about.At least competition gives you a momentary joy sometimes.<BR/>Otherwise imagine a life where there is no need of any competition, how dull,boring and full of melancholy it would be. At least competition and daily struggles take our thoughts away from the sad realities of life.<BR/>I think a hard working and ignorant peasant who just knows to struggle and earn his daily bread is much more happy than "happy and rich" people whose brains are always struggling with painful realities like love,separation and existential confusions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-62036375398975498132008-08-28T14:21:00.000-05:002008-08-28T14:21:00.000-05:00I was actually wondering if it is something that c...I was actually wondering if it is something that can be thought of in <I>impersonal</I> terms, something that is independent of one's personal subjectivity or feelings... is there a way to see this impulse to die and resistance to it in a <I>objective</I> manner...? Most likely not.Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12674755.post-56255339421407388032008-08-28T14:16:00.000-05:002008-08-28T14:16:00.000-05:00Isn't everything that we lament about, every desir...Isn't everything that we lament about, every desire our own creation?<BR/>then why lament, why moan?<BR/><BR/>these words like negation, affirmation.....they sound hollow sometimes. i think if one is not physically well, then everything else is useless. even great art for if it exists after us and inspite of us, then what use?Kubla Khanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11973223751363547679noreply@blogger.com