Nihilism and Superimmortality
Nihilism is a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless. Or a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths. Or a belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility.
If your life is a struggle to survive from day to day you might not have time to think what is it good for when there is so much suffering in your life and in the lives of people that you know about. There are many joys in a life where one basically eats, sleeps, and competes with nature to survive. When life becomes better with adequate food and shelter and time to get bored, but yet still suffering from injury, disease, fear, and death of one's self and other loved ones, a person often has the time to ask why? When we are poor with few resources the goal is simple --- survival. When we get richer the goal is creating a life with less suffering, extending life for ourselves and other loved ones, and greater control of our environment. The values and beliefs change as our quality of life changes. Often religions are formed for the purpose to create hope for life after death. Large amounts of resources have frequently been used with the belief that it will help in an afterlife and of course getting there.
With modern science the belief has become that there is no place for an afterlife world and no way to accomplish getting there. Your body's death is believed to be the permanent end of your life. You will never experience anything again after the death of your body. So what is the purpose of your short, painful, senseless, life? The better life becomes the less purpose there seems to be in it. People set goals for themselves. They sometimes accomplish these goals of money, power, love, nice home, nice car, nice children nice objects etc. In the end it seems meaningless because you die. Some people say it is not about material objects it is about being a good person, doing good things like reducing the suffering of other people and animals. It is clearly a state of mind based on how the brain is structured and then functions.
How does superimmortality effect nihilism? Superimmortality gives purpose and meaning to conscious existence! Values and beliefs are founded when there is a goal or goals that is being pursued and the values and beliefs used to accomplish these goals are useful enough. When the values and beliefs hinder the goals they are unfounded.
