[Closed] Waiting for the bombs.....and the futility of modern life..

Humans have been at war since humans existed.

We've(UK) had a quite a nice little run of peace lately but by n large we are nasty b'stards who do a lot of fighting. Thats why the world is run by northern europeans.

I would ride a bike more, dont read/watch the news/fb and enjoy the party.

Surely we have been 'waiting for the bombs' since the 50's. Having grown up in the 70's and worked for the MoD in the 80's the cold war threat was always 'real' of at least perceived as a real threat. We have had a brief hiatus from Nuclear destruction in the 90's and 00's where we were busy managing lesser threats to humanity such as Taliban and its offspring that live in Oil rich areas.

You have to wonder if it doesn't suit the powers that be to keep us a little scared and to look to daddy for support and shelter.

Additionally, am I the only one walking to work (through the hoards of people doing the same) this morning wondering what the point of it all is?

No.

I can't be the only one that feels like this?

You're not.

Bring it on.

Life isn't futile, there's beauty in every sunset and every good deed.

War is just one of natures ways of cutting down on the human population every now and then, of trimming of the dead wood and letting the strongest, cleverest and dirtiest to survive.
It even allows us to make huge strides in technology and medicine as well as a bonus.

[/brightside]

We've(UK) had a quite a nice little run of peace lately

Apart from the Falklands, Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

Bored at work? Listen to some of Dan Carlin's fantastic Hardcore History podcasts. "the Destroyer of Worlds" (start of the nuclear age) is pretty good as is "blueprint for Armageddon" (The first world war). Its far better to know how events like this have unfolded previously than to ponder your navel despondently.

WRT Putin: Russians like to make you feel scared, its in their culture. They just want to see that you're scared and then they take you out and get you drunk, take you to a strip joint and laugh at your inability to down another round of vodkas. It'll all be fine.

WRT Mr Kim: China are pretty peeved with him. I suspect they'll deal with this. Trump might send some tomahawks in to select locations, but full scale war is unlikely at this stage. If the fat one conducts an air blast (even just as a test) then things may change. But that's likely to be a localised conflict.

Booooooring.

Just because we've had a short period of no nukes man, doesn't mean the threat hasn't always been there.

Stop navel gazing and enjoy the last futility of what ever you life has left to give.

Its not worth worrying about. Everything will be fine. Have a sausage roll...

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😀

Worry about what you can control. Me worrying about Putin/Trump/Jong-Un will make not a single bit of difference to how they act so I refuse to waste any time doing it.

If you're questioning the futility of your life I'd suggest that you should change the bits you can change (your job, your friends, your hobbies, etc.) instead of what you can't (see above).

what the point of it all is?

I've not actually achieved anything with my life

blocks (can't swear at work) By whose standards?
Have you laughed? have you had a good time doing things you want to do? riding your bike perhaps, always gives me pleasure, if so then you've certainly lived a lot more than lots of people who watch TV in the evening, rather than getting out n about on a bicycle.
BUT yes there is a futility to it all and recently I've come to the conclusion that when I'm 50 (42 now) I will spend at least 6 months travelling the world. Both my parents died early from cancer so chances are I might go the same way and I don't feel I've spent enought time seeing the world. What my wife will make of this I've yet to find out but I want to do it solo and while I'm young enough to be able to enjoy it.

What Lunge said.

I'll add that comparing your life to others is also futile. Sure, some folk "do amazing things," but plenty more are happy to spend their dole money on nose candy and Special Brew. And social media has given people the ability to project a facade of how awesome their life is whilst hiding all the shit bits, don't fall for it.

Ha, wondered what sort of responses I'd get - the only one I was certain of was Binners and his sausage rolls...

I'm thinking much the same thing about the travelling. I'm pretty poorly travelled (well, I've travelled a lot but only for work), so I need to address that. Also think I'm a bit burnt out with work so maybe a bike ride round the globe might do the trick. Obviously it'll be a bit more difficult if they lob nukes about but at least I won't need to pack the Gabba....

hot_fiat - thanks, will give that a try..

Life has always been futile. It was worse 800 years ago when all you could do was work and die.

And there won't be a nuclear war. When two giant superpowers were vying for control of the world, there wasn't. Some tiny dictator isn't going to set it off. China won't sign up to annihilation and hundreds of millions of deaths for the sake of Kim.

There might be a bomb let off though, would be a humanitarian and environmental crisis, but I doubt it'll be war.

My life is so bereft of meaning that nuclear oblivion barely makes it into my top ten of things that could spoil my week 😯

I'll add that comparing your life to others is also futile. Sure, some folk "do amazing things," but plenty more are happy to spend their dole money on nose candy and Special Brew. And social media has given people the ability to project a facade of how awesome their life is whilst hiding all the shit bits, don't fall for it.

Amen to that Cougar

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I could die today and (for me)it would all have been enough.
This is not to say that I have done or felt everything that I ever wanted to do,but from a very young age I latched on to the saying "This is not a rehearsal,don't waste the time you have".So from my teens to my forties I took every chance I could to experience everything that came my way and explore all the things and places that I was curious about.The best bit is,that now in my 50's I can still remember so much detail,like some super computer my tiny brain is managing to store all this information and let me understand who I am and how a lot of the world works.So my real worry has less to do with bombs or war(which I can't do much about)and a lot more with not losing my mind and staying on this trip as long as I can.Life is good,eat it up.

I have this design (from the Daily Mash, obvs) on my phone case to constantly remind me of the futility of my daily existence.

[img] [/img]

Embrace it! 😀

I listened to that clever Chinese fella on BBC this morning: It's all posturing - "Nobody wants war".

I wouldn't particularly care if a nuke fell on me 'ead tomorrow though. I've had enough of this shite.

There really isn't much point to life. Just don't waste the best years working in some miserable shit job wondering about what could have been...

Agree with lunge above.

We all feel down about things at some point but we also need to maintain some perspective.

We live (well most on this forum) live one of the luckiest countries at the most luckiest times any human has ever lived.

Especially if you are a white male - and with no family commitments - if you don't like where things are for you, change them.

My current gig is at one of the most successful brands in the world - I am amazed when people complain - you should definitely push for things to improve yes - but complain! - go live in the slums of Delhi and see how your attitude changes.

[i]go live in the slums of Delhi and see how your attitude changes.[/i]

More whataboutery meaningless bullshit

Cool new word for me "whataboutery" - thanks for that.

I just mean perspective is needed. We are in the best time to live right now -
there are no excuses - If you don't like where you are in life - change it.

If we die today in a storm of nuclear detonation, or in 50 years time dribbling in a nursing home most of us will still not have achieved anything worthwhile in our lives so what difference does it make when it happens. there's nothing to be afraid of in death it will just be the same as not being born and that wasn't scary.

If there's going to be a nuclear war I'd rather it was a European one so it would be over quickly rather than a gradual death due to the effects of a global nuclear winter. I'm not afraid of death but I'm none too keen on suffering.

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Read Maslow Hierachy of Needs and Marcuse One -Dimensional Man then get back to us.
Or you could just ride your bike more.

most of us will still not have achieved anything worthwhile in our lives

Depends on your definition of 'worthwhile' doesn't it?

[i]Cool new word for me "whataboutery" - thanks for that[/i]

See Cougar's post up there ^^ for suitable definition.

Truth is there is no point to all of this - we as humans have always sought to justify our 'special existence' but there isn't one. We exist to produce the next generation and we've done so well at it that the world is over-populated with humans we literally have no point any more.

The upside of that - like a life-long Sunday morning, we don't actually need to do anything if we don't want to, human nature and our less than benevolent overlords will push towards 'the grind' but we don't have to, so we're free to enjoy it.

I wouldn't worry about bombs too much, we can't do anything about it - the last 'worry free' time for Brits was between the 10th of April 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement took place and Sept 11th 2001. 3 and a bit years when the chances of being blown up either by Terrorist or foreign Government was negligible and we ****ed all that up.

More whataboutery meaningless bullshit

it's not whataboutery, it's about perspective. walk a mile in another man's shoes, etc.
I recently spent a day in Soweto, it's not something I embraced or chose to do, but I left with a more positive outlook on my own life. the people I met there have hopes, dreams and aspirations; reasons to be. I was envious of that.

most of us will still not have achieved anything worthwhile in our lives

Speak for yourself. I once farted so loudly I woke everyone in the house up

Speak for yourself. I once farted so loudly, I woke everyone in the house up

Your own house?.....Amateur!

I watched that programme about busiest cities, there was a guy living in a cupboard because it was all he could afford. Then women from the Philippines sitting next to a train station on a Sunday because it was their only day off from being servants or cleaners and they had nowhere else to go. oh, and they have to sleep on a kitchen floor if they're not lucky enough to have been given a bed in a cupboard.

It all could be worse, put down Facebook and the new and go out for a ride or something, hug your stepchildren, stop worrying about something out of your control, some people have **** all

Oh don't tell me.... you let rip one that woke a whole street up? This massive trouser eruption having been caused by the enormous build up of gases only a large tandoori munchy box can provide?

You never miss a chance to revel in our gastronomic poverty, do you?

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Oh don't tell me.... you let rip one that woke a whole street up

Nope just the whole house.....

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To be fair, the acoustics are fabulous 😉

This massive trouser eruption having been caused by the enormous build up of gases only a large tandoori munchy box can provide?

You never miss a chance to revel in our gastronomic poverty, do you?

Peace through superior fryer power.

I once farted so loudly, I woke everyone in the house up

I once farted so badly my daughter vomitted

I watched that programme about busiest cities, there was a guy living in a cupboard because it was all he could afford. Then women from the Philippines sitting next to a train station on a Sunday because it was their only day off from being servants or cleaners and they had nowhere else to go. oh, and they have to sleep on a kitchen floor if they're not lucky enough to have been given a bed in a cupboard.

Ah, I think you're mistaken - that was these chaps:
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Apart from the Falklands, Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria

Of our own choosing, none of those countries was threatening your home.

England hasn't been under direct threat from since 1945 (with the possible exception of Irish separatists) but previous to that it has nearly always has been. Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans, French, Spanish, Germans, Scottish, Ourselves and much of the time they succeeded so life was pretty grim.

OP, if you are feeling like that now why not cheer yourself up by watching some decent tele.

I recommend the Handmaids tale, I nice positive picture of how things may look in the future.

R D Laing Said "life is a sexually transmitted disease, with a 100% mortality rate.

That tickled me greatly for some reason.
Either way there will be good parts and bad parts finding a balance is the tough part i guess.

Truth is there is no point to all of this - we as humans have always sought to justify our 'special existence' but there isn't one. We exist to produce the next generation and we've done so well at it that the world is over-populated with humans we literally have no point any more.

Aside from the biological functions nothing else? We have the capacity to be better than that.

Not dissing the OP's comments, but those further up the food chain love people like that, like us. Just drift through our existence, let our lords and masters do what they like, carry out your function for the economy, and when you can't, **** off and die.

Our leaders, people like trump, they are just little boys throwing stones, that mindset has helped them get to the top of the pile, the mindset that recognizes the same traits in other leaders, and perceives them as a threat, it poisons the rest of us with it in the process.

But we are not completely innocent ourselves, as we let people with this mindset get there in the first place due to our indifference, our "I don't do politics" bollox. And in return they give us stuff like nationalism, and competition/capitalism, if we are not fighting someone else, where are fighting amongst ourselves.

That's why stuff like racism, sexism, the worst of capitalism, and insular sh*t like brexit(nationalism) has to be eliminated as far as I'm concerned.

Our next revolution shouldn't be technological, its got to be about us freeing ourselves from all the above, and as a Human race work together to resolve the challenges we are currently burying our heads in the sand over, the stuff that our current knight in shinning armour, Capitalism either exacerbates or completely ignores.

These new kings and queens are continuing to shape our future, and at the moment we are being dragged backwards by the very people who benefit from nations and citizens being at each others throats.

Other animals seem to do OK without the extra bits.

They don't do OK - life in nature is miserable.

[i]life in nature is miserable.[/i]

Ah will you quit it with the whataboutery! 😆

life in nature is miserable.

Tell that to my ****ing cats? An easier, more cossetted existence to difficult to imagine

Think they care about Trump? Or Kim Jong Un?

Just ridden Pau - Aubisque - Pau on a roadie. You don't get much more futile than that. Whatever you do the end is the same, so:

Tell that to my ****ing cats? An easier, more cossetted existence to difficult to imagine

Think they care about Trump? Or Kim Jong Un?

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But to return to the OP, every day I live in the deepest dread that a nuclear missile might go off above us and the electromagnetic pulse takes out all the unshielded electronic devices. So no more kitten photos from the internet. #stuffofnightmares

they are just little boys throwing stones

I'm going to forget all about it and lose myself in music.

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That great Scottish philosopher William Connolly once said "you're here to make babies and look after the place". I think that covers it.

Tell that to my ****ing cats? An easier, more cossetted existence to difficult to imagine

Your cats aren't 'in nature'.

Yes they are. So are you. We all are. Humans think we're gods ****ing gift, but we're all just temporary parts of an ecosystem that doesn't give a toss whether we live or die.

I'm pretty sure the dinasaurs thought they were it as well.

All it's going to take is a few misjudged decisions and global civilisation will resemble Newport at midnight on a Saturday night

On the upside, should the atomic apocalypse occur at least my KOM's will stand for hundreds of years.

I'm pretty sure the dinasaurs thought they were it as well.

I'm pretty sure they didn't.

That would make a good song lyric. Oh, wait...

😉

I honestly don't think anyone would push the button and in an instant wipe out 10 million people. I for one do not think it would happen.

Even if it did I wouldn't be too fussed about it. Us humans have bred like rabbits and raped the planet. The only species to exist that leaves a negative footprint from birth to death.

A reset might be what is required.

I honestly don't think anyone would push the button

I would! Just for shits and giggles. And I'm arguably saner than either of the protagonists involved here

[b]MUHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA[/b]

But binners, no more Greggs?

hit the button.... no more Binners, no more Gregs....

or is that no more Gregs, no more Binners?

As they say in Burnistoun - 'We're all just spinning through space on a ball of crap, hanging on for dear life like some maggots inside a deid dug some wee guy's flung onto the waltzers.'

slowoldman - Member

I'm going to forget all about it and lose myself in music.

thanks for that.... enjoying the album....!

I am disappointed by the folk who say there is no point to existence.

The point is to experience. You get a chance to interact with stuff!

If it's not doing it for you, change your experience!

Thats not the point of existance.

As someone posted in one of the other naval gazing threads its about "making babies and looking after the place" which raises the point that a bomb is not the greatest threat to humans.

We are polluting our air and our water to such an extend that carrying out objective number one will either be impossible or pointless.

If you want something to worry about ( and you can actually do something about) focus on that!!

Thats not the point of existance

It is for me. And there will be no kids at my end of things. It's a choice.

Having children is part of an experience too.

Earth will be around long after humans have shuffled off.

Thats not the point of existance.

It's a reasonable distraction from what is otherwise a path to oblivion. That, in a best case scenario is merely setting another in the path to oblivion.

We as a species seem pretty much hard wired to need a purpose/meaning. If you can find a healthy way of meeting that then it's all good with me.

Your cats aren't 'in nature'.

Of course they are, humans aren't separate from nature. We've just taken things to what seems like an extreme and Binners cats have taken advantage of the situation.

Human behaviour is natural for humans, unfortunately that behaviour often involves pushing the rest of nature out. But it's still natural behaviour for humans, even posting shite of forums is natural, it's part of our need to communicate and share "ideas"*

*i use that word very loosely here.

If I may digress from the rectal amusement for a moment...

I just read an interesting measurement.

Pyongyang is nearer to London than Los Angeles. 😐

O.K. Back to the fart jokes everybody.

Relax OP, there's not point having an existential crisis about something that isn't impacting you, probably won't, and you are unable to stop if it does.

You need to develop an irrational fear of something more immediate instead.

Hey, did you know you are probably drinking invisible plastic fibres in your tap [url= https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals ]water[/url]?

I'm starting university today, learning Brewing, Distilling and Entrepreneurship. I will no longer being working in an office.

I'm going to cycle there along the canal on my nice, silent belt drive singlespeed.

Just now I have a kitten sitting on top of my head with his bumhole on my forehead. He is waiting to get some of my bacon sandwich.

I have a random American guy who is in to mountain biking staying in my spare room which I rent out on AirBnB now that I'm no longer married.

Tonight I'm going to an old art deco cinema with my new girlfriend to watch a movie about cats in Istanbul. Then we will have sex.

None of this is related to the atomic bombs, but all of it comes back from looking at my life about 18 months ago and realising I was drifting into old age.

Tonight I'm going to an old art deco cinema with my new girlfriend to watch a movie about cats in Istanbul. Then we will have sex.

"Back of the net.."

Life is complex and challenging and, ultimately, you will die at the end of it. That's just how it is, you can't change that.

I'm not in the best position to offer advice, but work as much as you need to to enjoy the times outside work and try not to worry about the things that you can't solve. I've been repeatedly told that and it's the kind of thing that more or less keeps you sane.

I was quite enjoying this thread and all the interesting philosophical debate it throws up until yourguitarhero mentioned having sex with his new girlfriend tonight.

Now that's all I can think about. Let us know how it goes.

I'm more interested in the movie. Midnight Ex-puss?

I was quite enjoying this thread and all the interesting philosophical debate it throws up until yourguitarhero mentioned having sex with his new girlfriend tonight.

Now that's all I can think about. Let us know how it goes.

This time tomorrow you'll be able to purchase a souvenir of the event from the internet.

Going to see a film about cats in Istanbul is very much like....

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Tonight I'm going to an old art deco cinema with my new girlfriend to watch a movie about cats in Istanbul. Then we will have sex.

Todays winner.

I am disappointed by the folk who say there is no point to existence.

The point is to experience.