Wow.. I’m so grateful that this came across my feed today. You really helped me to find the strength in myself and to reframe my work around this strength. You’ve done a wonderful thing making this video. Thank you!!!! :)
I’m very grateful to Aaron and Big Think for sharing this video. I’ve been searching for my purpose for a long time and this seems to be the most logical way to think about our purpose. Keep up the excellent work Big Think!
I find no purpose in my job beyond supporting the pursuit of my hobbies. All of which provide intrinsic value, none of which is designed for the enjoyment of others. Nonetheless, I am made to serve and suffer greatly for it.
5 ปีที่แล้ว +13
I find meaning in my job if I also got heard for things I need to improve my job. Biggest problem is management doesn't listens to is employees.
I've always looked at the entirety of the human project from a top-down view, with the fact hat everything and everyone is going to die, to cease to exist, rather nullifying any meaning. The only thing it makes sense to me to spend your time doing, if you happen to find yourself alive and sentient, is to work on your own survival, which used to be what evolution primed us to do, but now requires us working on problems that evolution either created alongside us or couldn't overcome - cancer, heart disease and ageing itself (and all the age-related diseases). It's unfortunates that I think we are most wired to doing practical things with our hands that net us dinner at the end of the day , i.e., hunting & gathering, living in the moment, what our contemporary survival requires is a drastic departure from what our initial survival required - long-term science as a part of large teams, writing up complex papers that are hopefully well reviewed and replicable. If you're no working in the field of researching the things that will most-likely kill you, what are you doing? All you're doing is making money to put food in your belly until you succumb to death like everyone else in history, when now is the first period in history we have the technology to make some pretty good inroads into changing that status quo. Unfortunately, not everyone has had the background or has the personality traits that make for a good rejuvenation/healthy-life-extension biotechnology researcher, so by chance we might just be stuck with an essentially meaningless job, even if we find small moments of satisfaction doing whatever we do well.
It is silly to assume you can only find meaning if you are tackling the problem of life extension which to many is not actually a problem if you accept death. Watch the video again, meaning can be found in the relationships fostered through your career and he little impact you generate in the world.
@@j.martinez8767 Also, "little impact" is not satisfying at all. I can give a homeless person some money, but what is the point? He'll still be homeless after that tiny bit of light in his day. I'd much rather solve the social problems that create all the homeless people. I'd much rather find the cure to the disease than treat a few people's symptoms (before they eventually die anyway). If you think like this, it's silly to think you will find meaning wasting your time putting temporary band-aids on problems that require a systemic fix.
You seem to view life from a more pessimist angle, that fine though we all have different perspective. But just understand that not every person thinks like you and for some people "that little impact" does make a difference. What I got from reading you is that you believe oife is about "treating sickness and suffering". I want to argue that and say that life is about health and sickness, and their a many meaningfull things that people can do to sustain (good) HEALTH!! It's not only about treating sickness, but about how to keep it away. Where I live I'm aware that wokers help homeless people to at least maintain their health while they're on their street, other help to get them off the street. Also, for the homeless person instead of thinking you're not helping him by giving food or money, how about you consider that by doing that gesture your fufilling two basic needs for that person: you help him get food and most importantly (I believe) you aknowledge that he exists, that he's part of this world. So many times people simply walk past without even looking at them and that's a help of a lot to deal with, feeling like you don't exist.
@@PinataOblongata All you're saying is that you view this at a societal level and don't understand why anyone would view anything at the personal level, which is exactly the doctors vs administrators/researchers example. One isn't better than the other, both need attention from the right people.
@@Charlemagne89 I understand what you're saying and that all that support infrastructure needs to be there (as well as, say, functioning sewers and electricity and running water) but that's not a convincing argument to anyone faced with finding real meaning in their work. Technically, you would be right to claim that your job as a garbage man plays a point in keeping modern civilisation running, but without the actual breakthroughs in understanding ourselves and our universe that science affords, all we are doing is taking out the trash every week until we ARE nothing but trash to be disposed of. You are either the tool of our technology to date or you are guiding it with by learning new things using science, and as per my original comment, even on a personal level I can't see how the former can really ever be as satisfying as the latter.
i guess if you work in a warehouse or stock shelves in a supermarket, your experience isn't even worth mentioning... i'm sure his advice is useful to others
The epitome of postmodernism. This generation is very lost. No everything in live have to come with a profound meaning and social impact. Fucking grow up and accept the fact that life is rough and dealing with shit is part of what is known as living in the the real world.
The real world as you describe it is not real but engineered/manipulated to be that way. Meaning & purpose is what brings about individual evolution, even in suffering...meaningful suffering that is.
This statement misunderstands purpose. The concept of purpose is not only ancient, but is considered to be an integral part of most philosophies. It is abundantly clear, both in texts from thousands of years ago to modern research, that a life that doesn’t feed purpose in some way results and everything from depression to decrease length of life to reduced health. Purpose is the reason why people continue to push despite the slings and arrows of life; because understanding that what you are spending your time on, whether it is making a better product, helping an individual person, or just building something that’s pretty cool, makes that time valuable. Meaning doesn’t have to come from something crazy; it can simply be from a job well done.
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Wow.. I’m so grateful that this came across my feed today. You really helped me to find the strength in myself and to reframe my work around this strength. You’ve done a wonderful thing making this video. Thank you!!!! :)
I’m very grateful to Aaron and Big Think for sharing this video. I’ve been searching for my purpose for a long time and this seems to be the most logical way to think about our purpose. Keep up the excellent work Big Think!
I find no purpose in my job beyond supporting the pursuit of my hobbies. All of which provide intrinsic value, none of which is designed for the enjoyment of others. Nonetheless, I am made to serve and suffer greatly for it.
I find meaning in my job if I also got heard for things I need to improve my job. Biggest problem is management doesn't listens to is employees.
Count me in the last of the three. Anyone else?
I've always looked at the entirety of the human project from a top-down view, with the fact hat everything and everyone is going to die, to cease to exist, rather nullifying any meaning. The only thing it makes sense to me to spend your time doing, if you happen to find yourself alive and sentient, is to work on your own survival, which used to be what evolution primed us to do, but now requires us working on problems that evolution either created alongside us or couldn't overcome - cancer, heart disease and ageing itself (and all the age-related diseases). It's unfortunates that I think we are most wired to doing practical things with our hands that net us dinner at the end of the day , i.e., hunting & gathering, living in the moment, what our contemporary survival requires is a drastic departure from what our initial survival required - long-term science as a part of large teams, writing up complex papers that are hopefully well reviewed and replicable.
If you're no working in the field of researching the things that will most-likely kill you, what are you doing? All you're doing is making money to put food in your belly until you succumb to death like everyone else in history, when now is the first period in history we have the technology to make some pretty good inroads into changing that status quo. Unfortunately, not everyone has had the background or has the personality traits that make for a good rejuvenation/healthy-life-extension biotechnology researcher, so by chance we might just be stuck with an essentially meaningless job, even if we find small moments of satisfaction doing whatever we do well.
It is silly to assume you can only find meaning if you are tackling the problem of life extension which to many is not actually a problem if you accept death. Watch the video again, meaning can be found in the relationships fostered through your career and he little impact you generate in the world.
@@j.martinez8767 Also, "little impact" is not satisfying at all. I can give a homeless person some money, but what is the point? He'll still be homeless after that tiny bit of light in his day. I'd much rather solve the social problems that create all the homeless people. I'd much rather find the cure to the disease than treat a few people's symptoms (before they eventually die anyway). If you think like this, it's silly to think you will find meaning wasting your time putting temporary band-aids on problems that require a systemic fix.
You seem to view life from a more pessimist angle, that fine though we all have different perspective. But just understand that not every person thinks like you and for some people "that little impact" does make a difference. What I got from reading you is that you believe oife is about "treating sickness and suffering". I want to argue that and say that life is about health and sickness, and their a many meaningfull things that people can do to sustain (good) HEALTH!! It's not only about treating sickness, but about how to keep it away. Where I live I'm aware that wokers help homeless people to at least maintain their health while they're on their street, other help to get them off the street. Also, for the homeless person instead of thinking you're not helping him by giving food or money, how about you consider that by doing that gesture your fufilling two basic needs for that person: you help him get food and most importantly (I believe) you aknowledge that he exists, that he's part of this world. So many times people simply walk past without even looking at them and that's a help of a lot to deal with, feeling like you don't exist.
@@PinataOblongata All you're saying is that you view this at a societal level and don't understand why anyone would view anything at the personal level, which is exactly the doctors vs administrators/researchers example. One isn't better than the other, both need attention from the right people.
@@Charlemagne89 I understand what you're saying and that all that support infrastructure needs to be there (as well as, say, functioning sewers and electricity and running water) but that's not a convincing argument to anyone faced with finding real meaning in their work. Technically, you would be right to claim that your job as a garbage man plays a point in keeping modern civilisation running, but without the actual breakthroughs in understanding ourselves and our universe that science affords, all we are doing is taking out the trash every week until we ARE nothing but trash to be disposed of. You are either the tool of our technology to date or you are guiding it with by learning new things using science, and as per my original comment, even on a personal level I can't see how the former can really ever be as satisfying as the latter.
Brilliant insight!
All I hear is "how to make them work harder while paying the same".
Meaningful!
I wanna be able to talk like you!!
i guess if you work in a warehouse or stock shelves in a supermarket, your experience isn't even worth mentioning...
i'm sure his advice is useful to others
So, draw meaning from... Serving others.
Well you see, I got a problem with that.
These dont work for me.
have you heard of "the hairbrush" ?
It is pretty hard to take someone seriously when they put no effort into how they present themselves, isn't it?
Uh, helping to bring the world back to the Garden of Eden, basically …
The epitome of postmodernism. This generation is very lost. No everything in live have to come with a profound meaning and social impact. Fucking grow up and accept the fact that life is rough and dealing with shit is part of what is known as living in the the real world.
The real world as you describe it is not real but engineered/manipulated to be that way. Meaning & purpose is what brings about individual evolution, even in suffering...meaningful suffering that is.
This statement misunderstands purpose. The concept of purpose is not only ancient, but is considered to be an integral part of most philosophies. It is abundantly clear, both in texts from thousands of years ago to modern research, that a life that doesn’t feed purpose in some way results and everything from depression to decrease length of life to reduced health. Purpose is the reason why people continue to push despite the slings and arrows of life; because understanding that what you are spending your time on, whether it is making a better product, helping an individual person, or just building something that’s pretty cool, makes that time valuable. Meaning doesn’t have to come from something crazy; it can simply be from a job well done.