Are human beings robots?

ravkes

It sort of makes sense to me. We're in a universe that rewards us if we process/compute things properly, if one doesn't think/act objectively/clearly then there is an error and it generally leads to suffering. Mostly everything is quantifiable and subject to laws (we call them natural laws or whatever) making free will illusory in an ultimate sense. In a conventional sense we have free will within a set of constraints -- If we actually had free will we wouldn't be bound by our bodies (constraint) and our minds wouldn't be limited by what we could perceive (constraint). Ultimately, we all must abide by the laws for survival (we're not going to run into the middle of the street and get run over because we understand that in this world we would die). Therefore, we are effectively reduced to biological machines reacting to external stimuli. Robots, forced to work for a living (as if reality cares if you like your job that you're forced to have to live) and dying at nature's whim without a care in the world for our well-being (Haiti, thousands that are born, die and suffer from poverty).. All seemingly random and meaningless..

What are your thoughts on this theory? Maybe I'm just getting sick of school and work.. lol even if I'm not a robot I certainly feel like one.

havamar

You have free will in all the areas that matter. You're just getting sick of school and work.

ravkes

Ehs, eh mcgulligans.. I'm at that age (21).. where all of your dreams as a child and all of what you thought life actually was and will be turns into an enormous dose of reality. I suppose you're right. Accepting one's situation really makes everything better, and if I am a robot so be it. I can't really change things that are out of my control. I can't surmise about a universe I know nothing about. I'm just left with the ability to change my universe and nobody elses. I have no idea why anything happens if I'm honest with myself. I tend to cling desperately to ideas and people that make me lazier because that's where I feel comfortable. But alas, life is not for the lazy it's for those who have meditated and have the courage to see things objectively. Alas mcgulligans and so it goes.. on and on with the mental jibber-jabber..

DaltheJigsaw

It sort of makes sense to me. We're in a universe that rewards us if we process/compute things properly, if one doesn't think/act objectively/clearly then there is an error and it generally leads to suffering. Mostly everything is quantifiable and subject to laws (we call them natural laws or whatever) making free will illusory in an ultimate sense. In a conventional sense we have free will within a set of constraints -- If we actually had free will we wouldn't be bound by our bodies (constraint) and our minds wouldn't be limited by what we could perceive (constraint). Ultimately, we all must abide by the laws for survival (we're not going to run into the middle of the street and get run over because we understand that in this world we would die). Therefore, we are effectively reduced to biological machines reacting to external stimuli. Robots, forced to work for a living (as if reality cares if you like your job that you're forced to have to live) and dying at nature's whim without a care in the world for our well-being (Haiti, thousands that are born, die and suffer from poverty).. All seemingly random and meaningless..

What are your thoughts on this theory? Maybe I'm just getting sick of school and work.. lol even if I'm not a robot I certainly feel like one.

Yes and no...
I guess it depends on each individual?
However, the majority are.... I guess...

ravkes

Yeah Leon, just more of my mental trash that has no bearing upon practical matters in everyday life whatsoever. I need to get my head out of the clouds.

DaltheJigsaw

Yeah Leon, just more of my mental trash that has no bearing upon practical matters in everyday life whatsoever. I need to get my head out of the clouds.

Lol!
It's okay!
I think we all go through this type of thinking...
I guess all our goal is to stay mindful and empty:)

ravkes

Yeah man, sorry for giving you crap about your stuff.. Ish can get outta control up there lol..

Cloud

@ravkes, We are whatever we think we are, on the conventional level. On the ultimate level we're nothing special, just matter and conditions. It's good not to push it too far or you lose sight of life because of your own conceptions. It's not life that changes, it's how we view it; so... take it easy.

DaltheJigsaw

Yeah man, sorry for giving you crap about your stuff.. Ish can get outta control up there lol..

You did?:)
I don't even remember.
But it's totally cool!:)
Friend!!!!

DaltheJigsaw

@ravkes, We are whatever we think we are, on the conventional level. On the ultimate level we're nothing special, just matter and conditions. It's good not to push it too far or you lose sight of life because of your own conceptions. It's not life that changes, it's how we view it; so... take it easy.

Beautiful!

ravkes

@ravkes, We are whatever we think we are, on the conventional level. On the ultimate level we're nothing special, just matter and conditions. It's good not to push it too far or you lose sight of life because of your own conceptions. It's not life that changes, it's how we view it; so... take it easy.

Dude, that's true. But like just accepting that doesn't give me the motivation to get up everyday to go to school and work. Where does motivation come from?

Cloud

Everyone's motivation differs. It depends on your personal goals, wants and needs. Probably more than that.

ravkes

Ohs gosh I smells a new discussion coming!

Cloud

oh noes!

Jeffrey

emptiness is not only fused with dependent origination. That is just concepts. Dependent origination is our experience. Everything is spacious and when you analyze it nothing lasting is found only change with no reference point. Yet within that an experience emerges.

And from the experience that emerges fused with its insubstantiality or spaciousness. The universe thus has a heart.

MellowViper

If were really robots, then that begs me to wonder what the nature of being a robot actually is. Yah, there's a mechanistic or material aspect to robots, but if were synonymous with robots, it makes me wonder why they have this wild thing called perception and self awareness and aren't purely just process.

Cloud

@MellowViper, We're not purely process? Not entirely verbs, mind and matter acting and changing under conditions, rather than nouns?

MellowViper

@MellowViper, We're not purely process? Not entirely verbs, mind and matter acting and changing under conditions, rather than nouns?

What I mean is that were not completely object. Were also sets of subjective experiences as the sentient beings we are. You could use verbs to describe the motions of a wind up toy as well, but, as far as I know, there's no observer behind those actions. That's unless the laws of physics driving the gears and motors have some sort of conscious habit behind them, an idea I'm not entirely closed to.

Cloud

Rather than "observer", "observation".

ravkes

Who really gives a crap a toot. Alls I know is that I'm not gonna change the world, I poop after I eat a lot and I'm mad lazy. So be it. That's what it is, what to do. Reality is reality for sure.

MellowViper

Rather than "observer", "observation".

I think both words could sufficiently describe what I'm trying to get accross.

Who really gives a crap a toot. Alls I know is that I'm not gonna change the world, I poop after I eat a lot and I'm mad lazy. So be it. That's what it is, what to do. Reality is reality for sure.

No specific individual is going to save the world because its ultimately a team sport. When individuals think they can save it alone, that's just an ego-trip.

ravkes

Trippin' on that ego.