Straw dogs

Finally got around to reading John Gray's 'Straw dogs'. And what a read it is, crystallising incoherent thoughts in my head. In particular, how can relentless optimism cohabit with a nihilistic view of the human condition?
Simple. The loss of hope is hope itself.
Admitting that we are just an accident, that we have no purpose as individuals, because the species does not require us to reproduce anymore, sets us free. It stops us from having to be something, to reach something, to commit to something.
Every day is a success itself. Yesterday's gone, tomorrow may never happen.
Rationality is not going to save us. Same for religion.

If we want to translate the above thinking into the day-to-day EI life, this means that emotional incompetence may just be a non-religious, non-rational surrender to the natural self-regulation of planet Earth, to the failure of humanism, to the impossibility of determining our own fate. Grown up in a strictly empirical environment, with a quasi-mystical belief in the scientific method and a total aberration of Aristotelic metaphysics (which, BTW, was only meant as the 'book after the one about physics'), admitting to the limitations of progress as an unshakeable mean to the truth can be disorientating, to say the least. However, if we look closely, quantum mechanics taught us that there is no objective science, that we modify our environment the moment we attempt to measure it. It was the founders of contemporary technology who also set the limits to our achievements. Having said this, even if I have dropped illuministic dogmas of a better future, the scientific method is still the solution to improving our life as individuals. I would rather take rationally-designed medicines developed through clinical trials than have leeches applied to my skin. I just don't think that the universe will benefit from the internet, GM organisms and the iPad. And the relief is that 'everything will be fine', as I keep repeating to myself. At the end of the day, will it really matter if we miss out on a promotion, the partner of our dreams or our best friend's birthday party? Yes, for us as individuals, no, for us as part of an ever moving flux of life.

It may sound like a cop-out, but when asked about my purpose in life, I could not find an answer. Most people say 'their children'. This is wise and biologically sound. In my case.. Well, I will have to leave you guessing.