I think everyone with any common sense can see that there is no real purpose to life. Basically, we self-assemble, we're born, we're gifted with a vast supply of energy resources by the universe which we can convert into other forms of energy, and then we disintegrate.

It's a bit of a depressing prospect to imagine that life has no purpose, and that we're just kinda floating around in a mysterious universe.

I realized that we're lucky, though. Our lives are short enough that this shouldn't really bother us. I mean, think back to when you were a kid. Life was exciting and amazing! When I was a kid, I was just in awe of all the details of the universe. I used to love squatting down in the dirt and looking at the microscopic shimmering texture of the surface of a blade of grass in the sun, or the aphid crawling on it, or the dirt that the blade of grass is growing in which is a mish-mash of little bits of shiny sand and old fibrous leaves and other unidentifiable things. Nature just amazed me. We're given such an incredible gift of this harmoniously constructed framework which -- if you step back a few parsecs and think about it -- reveals an intelligence of such superiority that the sum of all of humankind's thinking and achievement is but an insignificant reflection.

However, as we grow older, we learn about the world, and we start to filter it out. That's one way to look at learning -- as creating filters. You see an input, and it produces an output. The more specialized your mind becomes, the less you really see. I think that's why, when people get old, they turn into curmudgeons who are all, "EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE NOWADAYS. IN MY DAY, EVERYTHING WAS BETTER. A SODA COST A NICKEL, AND OUR PRESIDENT WASN'T BATSHIT CRAZY." Well, he's right about the last thing, but really the guy doesn't see the beauty in the world anymore. His mind has carved out deep ruts that it just runs through again and again. You ever notice how old people tend to repeat the same stories over and over again? It's because they've stopped learning!

But, this is a bit of a tangent. The reason I'm writing this page is to put across an idea that I find very profound. Our lives are divided into developmental phases by evolution:

• fetal development
• childhood
• adolescence
• adulthood
• curmudgeonhood

Each phase seems to have specific goals associated with it, and it always feels "right" to be just following the path that evolution has set for you. Being a kid, running around, spinning in circles, it all feels "right".

Then being an adolescent, you start to learn about society and people, about more profound ideas, and you always have this sense that there's something in the future for you... that you're going towards something.

Then, adulthoood hits, and you want to start propagating the species. I've never experienced it myself, but I've heard from basically everybody who has a kid that it's the most joyous experience of their lives. You get to see this cycle that you just went through start anew! It really must be a marvellous feeling.

But then, after this phase is over -- after your kid has grown up and leaves -- what's left?! Evolution has run out of simple goal-oriented phases for us! It makes sense, since the average human lifespan for the last 30,000 years or so was about 35. You would barely have time to see your kid through to adolescence before you kicked the bucket! After we run out of goals, we tend to become old curmudgeons who want to die.

That is, unless we create our OWN goals! Personally, I like the idea of life-long learning. Learning is one of the most satisfying things, and it keeps you sharp and happy. If your goal is to keep learning and improving yourself, you'll have a goal that you can pursue for hundreds of years! (Hopefully we'll be able to live that long ).

So, the moral is, just go with the flow! Enjoy the fact that we're incredibly gifted to be a multicellular organism with the ability to manipulate its own environment, and that has unfathomable resources at its disposal. Enjoy the fact that we've really got nothing to worry about, because there is no purpose to life. We're put here on this planet to goof around, so let's do it efficiently!