the classical Cynics rejected conventional notions of happiness involving money, power, and fame, and advocated a simple, virtuous, unmaterialistic life. the modern cynic (not much different from the nihilist) criticizes everything as pointless, and prefers to emphasize the futility of it all.
what if we took that thought to its logical extreme? that everything really is meaningless, and there is truly no purpose in life? is it really as bad as they say, and what does nietzsche actually mean when he said, "nihilism can be a symptom of increasing strength or of increasing weakness"?
if there is truly no purpose, then, we're just here to enjoy it to the best we can. hedonism perhaps? or is the human nature so notoriously good at getting bored, it eventually gets bored of constant pleasure? (ok though practically speaking, not that we are in any immediate danger of this...)
but taking the thought experiment further, the quest eventually becomes, given our respective situations, what gets us maximum enjoyment over the most time? given the uncertainty of how much time we have left, how do we go about this?
