Weinberg’s analysis of our lives is similar to Nagel’s. There is no point to life and so our lives are meaningless (or, as Nagel puts it, absurd).
More specifically, they both think that we seek to find meaning in our lives through an external perspective on them. If we could see how life is meaningful from a perspective outside of our lives, that would give life meaning. Alas, they both say, that is something we cannot do.
They differ in that Nagel thinks that we can look at our situation with detached irony. His attitude, roughly, is “Yes, life has no meaning, but what are you going to do?”
Weinberg, on the other hand, thinks that the realization that our lives have no meanings is an occasion for great sadness.
My own contribution to this discussion is to pose a question. Suppose we could get external validation. What would it be like?
It would have to be couched in beliefs and values that are completely distinct from the ones that I have. That is what makes the validation external.
That leaves me uncertain about two things. First, would I understand it? Second, would I care?
I tried to illustrate these points by imagining that someone hands me a sheet of paper with the answer. “Your beliefs and values are valid because ….” What would the bit after “because” look like? Would it read like gibberish to me? If not, would I think “Oh, I see, yes, what I think truly is valuable now”?
If you think the answers to those questions are “no,” maybe you won’t bother looking for external validation or being upset when you cannot find it.
One thing that I found helpful in Weinberg’s essay was the distinction between everyday meaning and ultimate meaning. She thinks we have plenty of the former and none of the latter.
Our discussion covered a number of topics. I wanted to flag one point. We decided we liked the discussion of life as a container in Weinberg’s article.
After kicking it around a bit, I proposed the following. Our lives are meaningful because they are containers of what Weinberg calls “everyday meaning.” To put it another way, the point of life is to create everyday meaning. That seems to me to be a reasonable answer.