And if you want to be more grandiose and a bit philosophical about it - we are the Universe learning about itself. We literally are starstuff - we have been created from the material ejected into space by exploding stars. But we managed to develop intelligence and a curious mind. So, the meaning of life, is to learn and contribute to learning as much as possible.
Sadly, it’s all for naught. Either the eventual heat death of the universe, contraction, or something strange like a change in vacuum state will destroy any contributions we could make. That is, of course, assuming we outlast our own tendency to kill each other and destroy our environment.
The meaning of life, to us, is chemical. You do something evolutionarily advantageous, get a chemical atta boy.
We are designed to survive. Dying is locally a disadvantage to evolution, so we are programmed to fear and avoid death.
And if you want to be more grandiose and a bit philosophical about it - we are the Universe learning about itself. We literally are starstuff - we have been created from the material ejected into space by exploding stars. But we managed to develop intelligence and a curious mind. So, the meaning of life, is to learn and contribute to learning as much as possible.
Sadly, it’s all for naught. Either the eventual heat death of the universe, contraction, or something strange like a change in vacuum state will destroy any contributions we could make. That is, of course, assuming we outlast our own tendency to kill each other and destroy our environment.