In the previous blog entry, the word I was looking for, but could not find in my head at the time, is Nihilism. Without clicking the link and reading up on it, the word indicates a conviction that there is no meaning to anything in life. So, if there is no meaning, then it would seem that there is no importance to anything except that which we give it, and that is simply an illusion. Therefore, this entire line of inquiry about the Most Important Thing To Do Right Now is completely without merit, without meaning, and a complete waste of time, so I should be on the beach playing Frisbee rather than trying to unlock the mysteries of the universe.
Maybe a little time spent playing Frisbee on the beach wouldn't hurt...
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Actually, the term ''nihilism'' has several different definitions, so we must be careful not to equivocate, which means to use a term in one definition in one sentence, and then to use it in a different definition in another sentence, while not realizing that this is happening. It causes a lot of trouble, including the atomic bomb being dropped by mistake on Japan, as a result of the famous ''mokusatsu'' equivocation, when the word was used in two different senses. Another example is the equivocation of confusing morality with utilitarianism. People say it's not ''right'' for poor people to be starving, meaning the moral sense. But politicians then pass welfare measures for the poor because it is ''right'' to do so, meaning the utilitarian sense. Equivocation causes much great disaster. Anyway, there is meaning to life, and the meaning is: minimize suffering and maximize pleasure. Wittgenstein studied and wrote about ''the meaning of meaning''. He says that meaning is based on experience. For something to have meaning, it must be something that somebody has experienced with their senses or which they have been told about by someone who has such experience. For example, the term ''god'' has no meaning, because nobody ever experienced it.
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