What is your justification for your own existence?

I don't try to justify my existence. No-one needs to earn a right to be.

its neutral that i exist and you have no particular reason to care other than we share a solidarity having to suffer the human condition.

good luck, you only get one shot

I didn't get much say in the matter so might as well enjoy the memes

"Try and stop me."

My purpose for existing is not to do your homework. Stop being lazy and do your own work.

What makes you assume I exist?

I exist. There's nothing to justify.

Capitalism creates a world in which you have to "earn" a living. But you exist and that should be enough.

To produce art that, however slightly, affects the world. I don't care if anyone agrees or cares, I just need to make it.

When I meet people who share my ideals and principles, it feels like finding an oasis in a desert.

It's very likely that other people think the same of me. My existence ensures that some people won't feel alone in this world.

I have a cheat code: I work for others. My work helps performances happen, which in turn do bring entertainment and/or depth to audiences. Also I love my office

Because there's only one of me. And if I weren't me, then nobody would be me.

IMHO, there's no such thing as a reason to exist. It was imposed, by a principle that exists beyond the existing cosmos, to all existing things (every star stuff, thus it's not just me and you). One of our duties is to let go of anthropocentric pretensions that "only we humans are trapped into existence", for countless fauna and flora are in the same ship as us, many of which were already here before the first hominin ever existed. And similarly, we must let go of the geocentric pretensions that "only earthlings are trapped into existence", for countless celestial bodies (statistically likely to be cosmic petri dishes of self-rearranging structures aka life) throughout the cosmos have existed way before Sol (the star around which this Pale Blue Dot have been orbiting) got its form. I got some spiritual beliefs on top of that (Demiurge vs Cosmic Mother, unfolding of fractals of this cosmic strife, Lucifer and Lilith, , etc) but for this specific question, I'm trying to keep it objective and more grounded on scientific reality, which is the universe is an ongoing system of unfolding causality, subjected to thermodynamic entropy, in which baryonic and nonbaryonic matter are fated to interact pointlessly and react in strictly mathematical manners. Exactly: a pure, mathematical fate. C'est la vie.

!asklemmy@lemmy.world

No one needs to justify their existence. Existence is valuable in and of itself, not derived from what you can do or be or experience.

"In the same way that your heart feels and your mind thinks, you, mortal beings, are the instrument by which the universe cares. If you choose to care, then the universe cares. If you don’t, it doesn't."

I already exist, and that's enough justification on its own. Whether you care or not doesn't make a difference.

Now, swap around "I" and "you".

I didn't ask to exist. I exist and you are not required to care. Whether my existence is good is a philosophical debate.

However showing empathy and understanding to your fellow sapients is a virtue.

im just here so i don't get fined

So that I can reduce suffering in the world

Is it good that anyone exists over anyone else?

Unless you've knowingly caused some irrevocable abhorrent harm to others then you're just as deserving of your existence as anyone else.

We're all here without our consent, some even by complete accident - might as well do something with it, even if its just living a quiet life surrounded by those who love you.

I have none. I exist now but did not before and eventually will not again.

You seem to be under the impression that I think my existence is a good thing.

I have no justification I'm afraid. I kinda just suck.

It's self-evident

I guess I have none, but I also don't really feel like offing myself.

Great question!

😬

Do things really need a justification to exist?

I currently have a tiny ant hill outside my house. They are thankfully of the kind that don't attack the house or cause any kind of damage. They are chill and I don't mind them. Maybe they do some small good to the ecosystem but if that specific anthill disappeared no one would really notice. It wasn't there last year and everything in my life was the same. Does that ant hill need a justification to exist? No. And I mean that no matter if it was a good ant or a bad ant. Those ants are just there. Let's say they were the kind of ant that does eat up the house. Then I would want to exterminate them. But that has nothing to do with their justification for existing. I would then remove them because they destroy my house, not because they haven't earned the right to exist.

I don't believe we have to earn a right to exist. We just exist. Existence is very neutral. A rock on Mars also exists and that's nothing extraordinary. If that rock suddenly breaks no one is gonna care. However some things have value because of other traits than simply existing. If we suddenly learned that there was a human on Mars that no one knows or previously cared about, but we now know about him and he is in danger. Then he would be very valuable and I would even say invaluable and we should try to save him! It's the human part that adds value.

So first off no one has to earn the right to exist. People just happen to exist and that's a neutral thing. But I also happen to believe human life is invaluable. I think that's even in the UN declaration of human rights somewhere. Now how useful you are does not mean you are more valuable. Human life is already invaluably high. Same with if you are a detriment to others. I don't believe in the death penalty. If your value was how useful you were then we would kill everyone who was a net drag on society but I think very few people believe that. Even a serial killer I wouldn't kill. However I would lock him up for the sake of others.

So you don't have to show that you are worthy of existing. I don't believe in that. I also don't believe you have to prove that you are valuable. As I believe all human life is invaluable. You could however have to show that you are a net benefit to society. But that's a whole other point and I really don't believe everyone has to have a net benefit. Some can contribute a lot, some can't contribute at all. And that's ok. Contributing a lot to society is admirable and should be heavily encouraged. But it shouldn't be necessary to be valued as a human being. The Nazis used to think that your value was tied strongly to your societal contribution and exterminated disabled people. I think that's an unfathomable crime no matter how much of a drag those people were on society. If you exist AND you are a homo sapiens. You are invaluable no matter what.

Sorry for rambling. I'll get to bed now.

Why is anything good? Existence isn't a question of value.

What makes your existence any more or less meaningful than a speck of dust in some distant nebula? Does the fact that we breathe, shit, and wax poetic about the hallucinations we derive from our bundles of nerves really amount to anything when we know how impermanent it is? I say no

There is no meaning to life - there is no good or bad for being around at any one time.

Some people try to fill this hole by convincing themselves that service to others, or great accomplishments in their eyes, will somehow tip some cosmic scale and demonstrate/reward their goodness.

The bee doesn't examine it's own life, yet many believe their lives are worth living (because it benefits other life).

🤷‍♂️

No help here, I guess.

i'm not as dumb as you, for starters.

I can still bleed.

It's none of your business

Pattern recognition. Opposable thumbs. Kung-fu grip. Floor-sweeping. Can sometimes create something neat befitting the year 1997. Can chop and fry vegetables. Load/unloading dishwasher. Poorly-equipped operator of 2 wheels (250w assist), ~450 miles on the odometer and no current destinations (also too damn hot).

Those are the ingredients that make it hard for me to justify myself in context of escapist fantasies (as out there as brain-in-a-can, as realistic as intentional communities yet still intangible).

People like positive self-talk (everyone matters), though I feel it really clashes with the rent-seeking+papers-please reality that we find ourselves in. Disposable everything.

I am conscious and my experience of the physical world including my own body allows me to grow and feel.

At a bare minimum you should care if for no other reason than self preservation. You probably seek fulfilment of your need for connection in that others care about your existence. You're much more likely to receive that if you care for the existence of others. Furthermore, the experience of caring for others enriches your own sense of well being and value of self.

I didn't use "good" because its meaning hinges on context and the morality of the reader.

Always wanted to be on an episode of Red Dwarf.

I mean, I was literally forced into existence by a family of racist people. I've had so many opportunities taken from me and held back against me because of the color of my skin. I've had so many of the people that are supposed to be my family who are supposed to be there to support me work actively against my future happiness rather than not doing that because of the color of my skin.

And now that I'm an adult, I got away from them. I make more money than any other person in my family. I've bought my own house as a single adult man. And I have money to burn.

I have proven that I have worth and value to people in the world who do not choose to actively be against me.

There is a part of me that honestly believes that no amount of self-worth that you assign to yourself is worth the same caliber as the worth other people assign to you and other people have assigned to me worth enough to be one of the wealthiest people I know.

I live and grow more powerful to spite my enemies.

That's a very loaded question. Nobody asked to be born. Why is Trump still existing? What good has he brought?

i have a damn good reason but i'm not gonna tell people because my whole life i've faced rejection for who i really am because other people are superficial assholes who fail to comprehend something meaningful when they see it.

I’m just here to keep the pretzel population in check.

Why is it good that you exist and why should we care?

It isn't and you shouldn't.

I didn't choose to exist. I'm just making the best of the decision that was made for me. Just like everyone else.

I think that the goal most humans should have for themselves is to leave the world better off in some way than you found it. If you can manage to do that, your existence is worthwhile. Everyone else ought to get fed feet-first into the nearest woodchipper.

Couldn't give you an answer beyond my passion for listening to music, watching cartoons/anime, writing fanfiction/other works ( very slowly ), and playing games. General life love things for me, I guess.

I find pleasure and having fun to be a good enough reason for me to exist right now.

Fuck you. I don't owe you a reason for a goddamn thing.

I exist because the world existed before I did. My existence is neutral, it is my actions that determine good or bad. I am capable of unparalleled compassion and kindness, but I'm also capable of unimaginable cruelty. Choosing not to care about these capabilities is why we have some truly terrible people throughout the world. Therefore it is my duty to care for myself and others around me, to reduce cruelty in the world.

I exist because I do, I will until I don't, which will be earlier than I think, and the only alternative is to "clock out early", which I was told to avoid doing.

I am.

anal and weed and all my hot AF transsexual friends make it kinda alright, sometimes. especially when my friends fuck me and we're blazed.

here's a better question to ask: why should anyone need to justify their own existence?

Who really benefits from that mindset? Who benefits from systems that force people to justify their existence in some way? I'm thinking about economics, and politicians making welfare recipients jump through hoops that cost money more than they save to "earn" basic necessities, and the implications for people with less-understood disabilities and older adults with dementia and people who are marginalized in other ways, and how all of this fits into a world where tech companies want to replace everyone's jobs and hobbies and relationships with AI. (Granted, I doubt LLMs will ever be reliable enough to fully replace humans in some things, and some people will always want relationships with real humans, but there's plenty of other tech being developed out there too.) Everyone on Earth might have an "unjustified" existence as far as society is concerned someday, if we continue with this mindset.

To answer the second part of your question, though, about why should we care: because we are all fellow humans. I think others here have answered that part in more depth.