Purpose and Value

To successfully dissect or construct any worldview, there must first exist a sense of self, whose eyes through which we perceive this world, and a purpose, for why those eyes exist in the first place. Worldviews, almost by definition, are products of perspective and experience, things that are only relevant to an identity that exists in a place. Without an identity, there are no senses, and so there would be nothing to experience. Without a purpose, there's no reason to be anywhere.

But we're all here, and we're all doing something. Why?

This is not a philosophical question. I mean, it is, but it's not an approach I'm interested in taking. Lots of people have come and gone and took a shot at coming up with an answer, without much success. After all, people still ask this question, and the more nihilistic people get, the more they're convinced that there is no answer. Not one that satisfies them, anyhow.

A simple answer would be to say that we're here to propagate our genes. This can be understood as a biological drive to sustain the human race, so that we don't die out. We exist so that others can keep existing. Sure, that's one way to look at it, but it isn't very satisfying, and it certainly doesn't give you a reason to wake up in the morning. Especially if you're already a parent. After all, you've done your job, why even keep living, right? But actually, parents may be the only practical answer here. Becoming a parent is "normal". It's the default thing that people do that they need a reason not to do. In a cursory online search, I was unable to find any surveys that ask people why they have kids, but there are plenty that ask why people don't have (or don't want to) have kids. This certainly lends credence to the theory above that we're just here to keep fucking. But again, that's unsatisfying.

But what if your parents had a reason? Anecdotally, people who do have kids seem to talk about the joys of parenthood, the sense of purpose that raising a kid gives them, of wanting to create a new life that they can give all their love and devotion to. Now we're getting somewhere. Forgetting the larger metaphysical question of "why we're here", the practical answer to why any one of us is here is whatever reason our parents had for getting us here. If the majority of us were born to give our parents a sense of purpose, then again, we would be done simply by existing, right? Another point in the column for "propagation of the species".

Well, alright, but what if we aren't satisfied with existing simply as a manifestation of someone else's goals? What about those that don't have and never want kids? What's their purpose? Maybe you were abandoned, or your parents died when you were young. Maybe you come from a fucked up family, and being the result of their ambitions is something you have absolutely no interest in. What do you do now?

The way I see it, if each of us are here to propagate our species, then the only way for someone unable or unwilling to do that themselves is to contribute to making it easier for everyone else. In fact, even those who have kids can help. Everybody can get in on this. And before you think I'm talking about something direct, like going into medicine to help make childbirth less risky, I'm talking about something more abstract. I'm talking about keeping society's lights on. I'm talking about paving the roads so that the ambulance can get to the hospital faster, or working in a garage to maintain the vehicle that may have to act as an impromptu delivery room. I'm talking about maintaining the electrical grid so that people can use the tools they need, about driving a garbage truck so that everybody doesn't have to go to the dump themselves, and yes, I'm talking about going into medicine to decrease the risk of childbirth. I'm talking about being an engineer who invents a new way to reduce mundane tasks, a researcher who alters genes to reduce genetic diseases, or an agriculturist who looks for ways to feed more people for less. By simply participating in the world we live in, we have a chance to fulfill our purpose of helping propagate our species, of being on Team Human. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

And here we can begin to describe value. While all that sounds optimistic and rosy, what it essentially means is that each person's value is dependent on how much they can contribute into the rest of the system. Unfortunately, in this worldview, there is no intrinsic value to an individual outside of the work they can provide. As stated before, our births were the decision of two specific people, not a collective one. Nobody lives in a society where each individual birth is voted on and agreed upon. No job is made for a baby prior to its existence. The freedom to exist as you are comes with the responsibility of giving something back. It is up to each person how and where they fit inside the machine and what they want for it. What this also means is that not all life is created equal, since not all life is created equally able. We can strive to overcome that, to make things easier for those unable in some ways to contribute to their full potential in other ways. But this is also just a nicer way of saying "how do we get more out of what someone can do to make up for what they can't do?"

Cynical view, I know. You might read this and think "wow, what an asshole". You might be (are probably) right. But I'm not describing the way I'd like the world to be, I'm describing what I think it is. And the reason I think that's important, is that in order to change anything, for better or for worse, you'd better look at it with both eyes open for what it really is. There is no improvement in a warped reality.