Dr. Bill von Hippel

And so if life is truly devoid of meaning, then what do you do? And the only answer to me is you make the best of this meaningless thing that you can. And how do you do that? Well, you be aware of what we've evolved to do and we've evolved to connect.

And so if life is truly devoid of meaning, then what do you do? And the only answer to me is you make the best of this meaningless thing that you can. And how do you do that? Well, you be aware of what we've evolved to do and we've evolved to connect.

And so if connection is the most important thing I can do as a human, and I believe it is, then you be kind to each other because that's facilitating connection. You believe life is devoid of meaning. Yeah. People won't like that. I know, I don't like it. I don't like the fact that I don't think life has meaning. When people search for meaning, they get happier, which suggests that they find it.

And so if connection is the most important thing I can do as a human, and I believe it is, then you be kind to each other because that's facilitating connection. You believe life is devoid of meaning. Yeah. People won't like that. I know, I don't like it. I don't like the fact that I don't think life has meaning. When people search for meaning, they get happier, which suggests that they find it.

I've never actually taken the time to reflect and search for meaning.

I've never actually taken the time to reflect and search for meaning.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Or a little of both. It's usually a little of both, but we don't know with certainty. There's not enough good data on this problem because lots of people search for meaning. And in the end, you can also decide that, well, there isn't meaning, and I'm a small cog in a big machine, and I'm a pointless small cog in a big machine, but it's all I've got.

Or a little of both. It's usually a little of both, but we don't know with certainty. There's not enough good data on this problem because lots of people search for meaning. And in the end, you can also decide that, well, there isn't meaning, and I'm a small cog in a big machine, and I'm a pointless small cog in a big machine, but it's all I've got.

And so Richard Dawkins in Unweaving the Rainbow says, we're the lucky ones because we're going to get to die. Now, what he really means by that is first we get to live. And almost nobody gets to live, right? You think of the 100 million sperm that I'm making every day, they don't go anywhere. They never get a chance. But I made three humans. I did my part. I only did the small part.

And so Richard Dawkins in Unweaving the Rainbow says, we're the lucky ones because we're going to get to die. Now, what he really means by that is first we get to live. And almost nobody gets to live, right? You think of the 100 million sperm that I'm making every day, they don't go anywhere. They never get a chance. But I made three humans. I did my part. I only did the small part.

But I played a role in making three humans who then got lucky and got to live out of all the other sperm that came out that day. They're the one that made it into the egg, and they get a chance at it. And we just happen to be really lucky, I believe, as humans, that the solution that evolution landed us on was a kind one. We have the kindest solution in my mind to solving life's problems.

But I played a role in making three humans who then got lucky and got to live out of all the other sperm that came out that day. They're the one that made it into the egg, and they get a chance at it. And we just happen to be really lucky, I believe, as humans, that the solution that evolution landed us on was a kind one. We have the kindest solution in my mind to solving life's problems.

So you look at this. One of my favorite birds in Australia is the kookaburra. Kookaburras lay two eggs, and then they wait a little bit, and then they lay a third. And Australia is very drought prone, so some seasons are good and some are bad. If the season's good, that third egg has a decent chance of making it to adulthood because there's so much food being brought back to the nest.

So you look at this. One of my favorite birds in Australia is the kookaburra. Kookaburras lay two eggs, and then they wait a little bit, and then they lay a third. And Australia is very drought prone, so some seasons are good and some are bad. If the season's good, that third egg has a decent chance of making it to adulthood because there's so much food being brought back to the nest.

If it's not good, that third egg never makes it. And why doesn't it make it? Well, the two older siblings peck it to death. And they've got an adaptation on their beak, a little hook, that allows them to kill their little sibling more easily. So they've literally evolved to kill their little sibling when times are tough. What have we evolved to do when times are tough?

If it's not good, that third egg never makes it. And why doesn't it make it? Well, the two older siblings peck it to death. And they've got an adaptation on their beak, a little hook, that allows them to kill their little sibling more easily. So they've literally evolved to kill their little sibling when times are tough. What have we evolved to do when times are tough?

To band even closer together and to work together and to cooperate. That's what got us to where we are. And it was all sorts of interesting things that got us there. It was cognitive things like division of labor. You know, cuckoos don't do that because they're inherently mean. It's the only way they can solve the problem. Humans solve that problem very differently.

To band even closer together and to work together and to cooperate. That's what got us to where we are. And it was all sorts of interesting things that got us there. It was cognitive things like division of labor. You know, cuckoos don't do that because they're inherently mean. It's the only way they can solve the problem. Humans solve that problem very differently.