HN Explorer

Ask HN: Why humans do what they do?

6 points by eimrine ↗ HN
This question is needed to be answered for doing some discussions about should the CS be 8-th of the Liberal Art [1]. Also this is the questions which I am fond of for years and years, one of my favorite ones if not the favorite. So:

Why are you doing what you are doing?

I have already gathered 2 not bad answers: Lust and Because I Can. Please can you enrich my understanding of such a crucial question of human being with some more great answers or some cool philosopher's works I haven't been introduced to?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31437375

11 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 44.2 ms ] thread
h2odragon
add "to see what happens", possibly before "lust"
chadcmulligan
I think Camus' answer is the best - "Absurdism is the philosophical theory that life in general is absurd. This implies that the world lacks meaning or a higher purpose and is not fully intelligible by reason" [1] though others have different opinions.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

t-3
I do what I do, because I am. Action is the sum of character and the product of experience. A=Π(Ex ...) + C
OsintOtter69
Because we can i guess? I did not expect to have an existential crisis this early in the day. I think therefor I am
b_emery
“Years ago, it had occurred to me that Darwin and Nietzsche agreed on one thing: the defining characteristic of the organism is striving.” ― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

Figuring out the 'why' is step one of doing anything. For me:

- Because figuring stuff out can be really fun

- "we must know; we will know" - hilbert

musicale
Most creatures act according to their established nature. We expect (certain) bears to catch fish in streams and to hibernate for the winter, and (certain) monkeys to act in clever but often destructive ways.

Humans do what monkeys would do if they were slightly more clever and had a large production budget.

yesenadam
Because it's interesting. Because it's what I most want to do. Because I've never done it. Because I'm good at it and want to keep improving. To see what happens.

Are you just talking about work/study/career? I guess so but not sure.

ukj
Those “not bad” answers are frankly terrible.

Why am I doing what I am doing? Why am I asking this question? Why did you start this thread?

Both answers immediately shut down the enquiry. But if I wanted to shut down the enquiry then why did I ask the question “Why am I asking this question?” In the first place?!?

If we wanted to shut down enquiry we could have simply… not done what we did.