The most important question ever asked
Nietzsche writes in Beyond God and Evil of the 'new philosophers' future atheists who will reject all metaphysical notions, commanders and lawgivers who will live outside the herd concept of morality and have the strength, the will to power, to create their own values.
These new philosophers will say yes to life, yes even to the idea of eternal return because their experiments, their values will justify all of human existence.
With such ideas Nietzsche allows us to ask an amazing question, perhaps the most important question ever asked. The question is this: what undertaking might these new philosophers fabricate for mankind? What non-metaphysical project might these new philosophers give to mankind?
Remember the project would have to be so grand it would retrospectively make the entire history of human suffering worth it.
To put it another way: What shall we do for the next 10,000 years?
Answers on a postcard.
Tags: Nietzsche, art, ethics, philosophy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by kOrsan on -
What shall we do for the next 10,000 years?
Same thing we've been trying all along. Wiping each other out. Maybe one day we'll succeed and the earth will be rid of this cancer and the universe will be safe.
Seriousness aside.
What undertaking might these new philosophers fabricate for mankind? What non-metaphysical project might these new philosophers give to mankind?
The biggest contribution is probably to give people a better philosophy and morals to live by than what religion can offer. In Hitchens' words religion was, among other things, our first attempt at philosophy. In Rand's words religion is the most primitive form of philosophy. So in a way the transition from religion to a proper, real, and rational form of philosophy must be possible.
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Permalink Reply by RobertPiano on -
-OR-You may ask how will the species and our technology evolve over the next 10,000 years, and what will the weather be like? A good sized meteorite or a super-virus could send all non-metaphysical projects into oblivion. Physical survival projects will become very important as our population exceeds the capabilities of petri-dish-earth. I predict that our species may wind up struggling for it's very existence within 10,000 years. kOrsan predicts war, and if that is true we would have not evolved much at all ;)
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Permalink Reply by Ed on -
Developing a practical strategy to deflect asteroids would have to be at the top of the list.
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Permalink Reply by Jimmy Russell on -
What if we could somehow land on or attach an engine to an asteroid and just push it off course? I know you said practical, not sure how "practical" this would be but hey gotta do somethin right?
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on -
Actually, on a recent science show on TV they said it takes very little energy, given enough time, to deflect an asteroid into an altered orbit. Even a large curved mirror, focusing sunlight on the asteroid could be enough to alter the asteroid's orbit and prevent an impact.
BTW, a large object striking the Moon could cause enough havoc on Earth to destroy all surface life. It's amazing the degree to which life on our planet depends upon its moon.
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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on -
To be clear, it wouldn't be because the moon is destroyed, but rather because the debris from the impact would come raining down on us, a million Chelyabinsk (or bigger) meteors.
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on
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No. Suppose a large object smashed the moon and sent the debris away from the Earth. The results would be terrible. Read about them here.
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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on
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Your link addresses the fantasy case of the moon disappearing into thin air (so to speak). Although the effects cited would certainly occur it's fantastically unlikely--even as you modified it (though I am not even sure it's physically possible, given likely cometary velocities in the collision, to have all of the debris go away from earth). A 100 km object striking the moon would likely be an extinction level event here on earth, but the moon would be largely intact.
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on
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I'm sure you're right. To me, it's a thought problem. I do find it fascinating that our moon is so unique (by far, the largest moon in relation to its planet in the solar system) and that life on Earth might not even have been possible without it, and might be in grave danger if we lost it.
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on -
Not to mention that Bill O'Reilly would be without tides to explain supernaturally --
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Permalink Reply by Barry Adamson on -
He did what??
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