• Question: What is the meaning of life?

    Asked by Science-yay!!!:) to Alex, Laura, Lesley, Richard, vediacan on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Lesley Pearson

      Lesley Pearson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      I think that the meaning of life can be found in ourselves and in other people. I think it is to be the best version of ‘you’ you can be, and help other to do the same.

      How you become the best version of ‘you’ is the question we all spend our whole lives answering.

    • Photo: Richard Prince

      Richard Prince answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hi Science-yay:)
      There was me thinking that the question “What makes us human” was hard!
      From a scientific perspective, something is alive when it can reproduce itself. If you add in the requirement for that reproduction to be independent of another organism’s genetic machinery, then viruses would not count but everything from bacteria upwards would do. You’d have to do some hard thinking if a self-replicating machine was produced. However, some people think that an intelligent self-replicating machine would very quickly see humanity as a threat and would wipe us out….. we probably wouldn’t get to think about whether it was alive or not for very long!
      In terms of what gives my life meaning…. there are lots of things. My family, my friends, my work……..
      All the best Richard

    • Photo: Laura Newton

      Laura Newton answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hey!

      I agree with Richard on that basic fact, from a biological perspective the driving factor for life is to ensure your species survives, i.e. to reproduce!

      If you want to look at some other things that make us alive, you could consider every living things’ need for energy, animals and bacteria need food and oxygen, plants need sunlight and oxygen and their ability to sense what is going on around them. Animals of course have many senses, plants can sense which way the sunlight is coming from and move towards it, even bacteria have little proteins on their membrane that can sense which direction they should move in to find the nutrients they need.

      Of course if you add that all up you get 42 (sorry I couldn’t help myself! :P)

      Thanks for your question!
      Laura

    • Photo: Vedia Can

      Vedia Can answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Hey Science-yay!!!

      The meaning of life can only be answered by you. For me the meaning of life is simple, live the now and never give up on your goals.

      Best Wishes,

      Vedia

    • Photo: Alex Agyemang

      Alex Agyemang answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      A very challenging question.

      From a philosophical viewpoint, life is perhaps what we make of every breath we take and the opportunities that come our way.

      Best wishes,
      Alex

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