This is not a debate, but I would like for everyone to answer the following few questions in this thread, please.

1. What does it mean to exist?

2. How do you know you exist?

3. How did we [people] get here [earth]?

4. How did the earth get here?

5. Where are we going?

6. What is our purpose?

7. What meaning does life have?

8. Do we really have a choice in anything? Why and how?

9. If light never existed, would we know that it was dark?

10. If there was never good in the world, would everything be bad?

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"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools..."

Interesting questions. I will try to answer them the best way I can, which is just what I believe to be true based on my education.

1. What does it mean to exist? to be alive is to exist, however, one can exist without living...

2. How do you know you exist? "cogito ergo sum" ; plus we have all the senses that show us we exist (go ahead, pinch yourself!)

3. How did we [people] get here [earth]? through evolution, which started with a single celled creature which evolved from a combination of elements and probably an electric charge from lightning

4. How did the earth get here? planetary accretion of interstellar elements

5. Where are we going? crazy...? around the sun, through the galaxy and through the universe

6. What is our purpose? to live and be the best we can be

7. What meaning does life have? only what you ascribe to it

8. Do we really have a choice in anything? Why and how? yes we do. Nothing is predestined; we make choices continually throughout our days, our lives. I choose to answer this quiz, I choose to go make dinner after I finish, I choose to live a moral decent life to the best of my abilities...

9. If light never existed, would we know that it was dark? no there would be no such thing as "dark" which is basically a lack of light. Since light did not exist, then dark would not either

10. If there was never good in the world, would everything be bad? no, everything just would be
( see #9 )

...

It means that I contain atoms.

I think, therefore I am.

Evolution.

Nobody knows for sure, but there are many theories available throughout the internet.

Toward death.

To die.

Death.

Yes. We choose our own actions through messages between our body and our brain.

No. Yin and Yang. One cannot exist without the other.

No. Without good, there is no bad. Yin and Yang. One does not exist without the other.

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Chinese proverb on wealth
Wealth is but dung, useful only when spread.
Don't miss the donut by looking through the hole. ~Author Unknown
It is easy to stand a pain, but difficult to stand an itch. ~Chang Ch'ao
A thousand men can't undress a naked man. ~Greek Proverb
A stumble may prevent a fall. ~English Proverb

1. What does it mean to exist? To exist, I guess, is to be. I am, so I exist. My computer is, so it exists. Even things that are not real exist, like video game characters. They are just light on a television screen, and they aren't real, yet they are.

2. How do you know you exist? Because I am. Maybe I'm not real, but I still exist.

3. How did we [people] get here [earth]? Well I suppose the Earth came first, and we evolved or some damn thing. As of yet there are no more theories for it. We're just that dumb that we can't figure out how we got here.

4. How did the earth get here? We still don't know that, either. The Big Bang Theory pulls some weight in the scientific community, but I don't know much about it. I guess matter just started collecting, and grew and grew in gravitational force until it was the size it is today...but then wouldn't that still be happening? Unless the atmosphere prevents it...that makes sense.

5. Where are we going? I don't suppose we're going much of anywhere. We'll probably go extinct someday, and the Earth will just keep on doing its thing. We have made some amazing advances to improve human life and understand our world, though.

6. What is our purpose? I'd say...to live and to affect the planet and what lives in it, either positively or negatively.

7. What meaning does life have? Everything alive instinctively protects its life above all. To live as long as possible and accomplish as much as possible would have to be our goal.

8. Do we really have a choice in anything? Why and how? I think we do have choices. We have brains and thoughts. These make decisions for us...but since our brains are a part of us, we are indeed making these decisions.

9. If light never existed, would we know that it was dark? No. We'd have eyes, but no vision. Actually, we just wouldn't have eyes. Imagine just not having any sight at all...not even darkness. It'd be so much harder to do stuff, but we'd figure it out.

10. If there was never good in the world, would everything be bad? By today's standards, we would have a lot of bad without good. Don't forget a small amount of neutral action. We wouldn't consider it bad since we would not know of good, however.

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- Ash (This will make a better quote once it's no longer his signature, but until then, I'm doubling the quotational awesomeness of the forum.)

Thanks for the responses. For those who have already answered 1-10, please answer this:

11. What is real love? Does real love exist? How do you know? If it does exist, what benefits does loving someone have, if any? If it does exist, where did love come from?

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"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools..."

11. What is real love? Does real love exist? How do you know? If it does exist, what benefits does loving someone have, if any? If it does exist, where did love come from? Love exists. I don't think that there's one person you are fated to fall in love with, because you can fall in love more than once. The benefits are just...happiness, but that's a lot. How do I know it exists? Because people love each other. It's an emotion.

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- Ash (This will make a better quote once it's no longer his signature, but until then, I'm doubling the quotational awesomeness of the forum.)