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Yada yada yada, the futility of life, we're all dying right now, etc.
nihilism matters the same as everythin else, not at al
do wat u want
In truth, life actually DOES come with an instruction booklet, and it does have a purpose. Most nihilists just have their heads to far up their own neocortexes to notice it. Genes create organisms for a purpose, and that purpose is the spread of themselves. Humans are no different, everything people do can directly be attributes to their genetic programming. If you follow it, you get a chemical reward. If you don't, you get nothing, or worse, negative reinforcement to the point where your body shuts itself down.
There's your purpose for life and your instruction booklet all in one. Even better, it's written for idiots in way you cannot fail to understand. Funny that the hack movie line that the best things in life are "to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women" is actually more accurate than everything Nietzsche ever wrote, but there it is.
Similarly, you do not have to worry about the world at large, or how you will be remembered in it. You already have a mechanism for ensuring that you do what you are supposed to: your family. It is nigh-impossible to get lost in your own head while you are seeing to a family. You learn from and base behaviors off elders, the young must be taught, protected, cared for, and you already have a biological compulsion to do these unless it's broken and you're a sociopath.
Nihilists look at what people put on top of family structures and try to take all that apart: "What is tradition? What is nobility? What is a legacy? Do these things mean anything? No, they're just constructs." Yet they are wrong and backwards in their assumptions. Because those concepts are built on the solid foundation of a family, they can be damn near anything and they still actually matter. Maybe your family tradition is tossing a burning pinecone to one another. Who cares? It still works, assuming it unites your family.
Of course, that's just the "For Dummies" instruction manual. Most people want some greater purpose in life than just doing what their genes tell them to do, even though it's a fine place to start. A greater purpose in life involves what people want to create inthis world, and like even small family traditions, it hardly matters what that is so long as it suits the needs of a family.
Personally, I subscribe to belief in the singularity. It fits my observations of life, where life only ever creates higher forms of order and in greater amounts, or at least tries to. Humans are not an exception. In a world where competitive advantage is everything, they will readily create things too powerful for them to control, for if it a choice between defeat and the possibility of victory, they will choose the possibility.
That much has already come to pass repeatedly and continues to do so. The first children to be born from modern genetic tailoring are already over a month old. The VERY first proofs of concept are graduating high-school. Thosuands more are already scheduled to be created, and there will be millions hence. What such children will accomplish is beyond my ken, but just like a parent happy to see their child outsmart them, I will happily hand the world unto their care.
I also know my role in all of this. It is not a large one, but it does not need to be. My family and I are always warrior-servants, we have been since the 13th century. Or, well, we say that. There are gaps where we don't know, but it doesn't matter. When humans inevitably clash we are there to do the fighting so that others better able can carry on the miracles they create. My younger siblings, their children, and my children, and their descendants will all serve this purpose, and it is a good life for us.
Now, maybe I'm not correct about everything, but unless you can convince me I'm not, it is irrelevant to this discussion. I have my purpose in life, I know what I believe the purpose of life to be. You can do the exact same in your own fashion, it's just your perspective (and to an extent your biology) that limits you.
What I can tell you with certainty is that nobody ever built a society that lasted for even one generation out of nihilism. It's just contrary to the nature of life itself, so you definitely need at least a new perspective.
What the hell is this all about? Genetically modified children?
Ok, Gary Johnson.