What is the Purpose of Life? (Big Picture Ep. 5/5)

This video is about how life arose and what its main function or purpose in the universe seems to be. Throughout the universe there is a driving tendency for entropy to increase and free energy to be used up; however, sometimes there is some sort of barrier holding back further potential increase in entropy - these entropically favored but not directly possible reactions (like hydrogen nuclei fusing to become helium, or carbon dioxide reacting with hydrogen to form methane and water), *can* be achieved by larger systems, often complex or complicated, that allow multi-step reaction chains that ultimately lead to the entropically favored state. These systems, (stars, whose nuclei foster conditions amenable to fusion of hydrogen into helium, and life, which fosters conditions amenable to hydrogenating carbon dioxide) are naturally entropically favored, once they arise. And thus the purpose of both life, and stars, can be seen, in the context of the universe, as being a catalyst system that helps facilitate increases in entropy that are not otherwise possible.

REFERENCES & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sean Carroll: The Big Picture

And twitter - @minutephysics

Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics -- all in a minute!

Created by Henry Reich

[kurzgesagt]

Awesome video! A worthy end to your series. Now we have to rewrite a script we wanted to release next year though.

[iizvullok]

When someone tells me I need to tidy up, I answer with "The meaning of life is to create a huge mess.".

[EugeneKhutoryansky]

I sure hope that the people who work on suicide hotlines have a better answer.

[ShawnRavenfire]

Isn't this a little bit like saying that the purpose of a car is to wear down the treads on tires?

[CloudHater]

So the meaning of life is to make the heat-death of the universe happen sooner? Nice.

[heyitsalex]

is it just me or is the idea of entropy being used very frequently recently?

[markalepsy]

This video is wrong. The purpose of life is to work our asses off, pay bills, and die.

[tebogoseshibe]

No lie, I was having an existential crisis before watching this.






This didn't help, but liked nonetheless.

[wankovich]

i think the universe might be suicidal :/

[Zoradude]

The mitochondria is the power house of the cell

[Thurgor_Supreme]

The meaning of life is to distract yourself from realizing that life is meaningless.

[man]

Life's reason is to force others to go through the same horrible shit.

[underyourbreath]

"The purpose of life is to continue the mission of the stars"
Now who the fuck says science isn't romantic?!?

[stiimuli]

I think this video conflates purpose with effect.
The term purpose denotes a consciously imposed goal to be reached.

[lradmclovin]

Consider this: much of the universe only exists in the perception of living things. For example, "beauty" is a valuation applied to the universe by the human brain, but that doesn't make beauty synthetic or any less real, because our brains are a natural, real function of the universe. Since beauty manifests in perception, as living things we serve to manifest beauty in the universe.

One could consider that, rather than us having a purpose within the universe, it is us that fulfills the purpose OF the universe; for the existence of beauty.

[angelrai]

Meaning of life is you give it a meaning. There, you're welcome for the answer.

[zernie]

Thanks Minute Physics for giving me the gift of an existential crisis every time I pour my coffee...

[CounterTheAnimatorocn]

I always thought that the purpose of life is to escape the heat death of the universe, not act as a catalyst.
I mean, life is just the universe itself becoming sentient, hoping to escape death, as we all do.

[iamanan]

Well I guess most people have a faith in something, my faith is that big bangs occur every time max entropy is reached creating a whole new universe over and over again in an infinite space and time that we don't really comprehend.

[Roboterize]

I'm good at breathing but suck at life.