The top rated comment is spot on:

> Werner Herzog tells a joke:

> "Why did the penguin cross the road?"

> "To die. Alone. Insane and unnoticed."

Beautiful, thanks for sharing.

That penguin walked to his certain death, while his mates swam and caught fish, to their certain death. Sadness for it and his supposed insanity only exists for a fleeting moment. In a long enough timespan, it lived and died like any other penguin has or ever will.

Nihilism is not necessarily pessimistic. It presents our universe, and life itself, as a glass half full, but it's up to you to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Thanks for this evening philosophical reflection.

I speculate, but I imagine that that type of behavior by a group of individuals on a long timescale where most but not fail is one important mechanism of how remote Polynesian islands, ice age American via Beringia, and other areas of the world get populated.

That’s what I was thinking—-the occasional outlier’s success in pioneering out into the new.

> Nihilism is not necessarily pessimistic. It presents our universe, and life itself, as a glass half full, but it's up to you to decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

The nihil is nihilism is Latin for "nothing".

Nihilism says there is no meaning to existence: it does not matter if the glass if half-full, it does not matter if the glass is half-empty, it does not matter if the glass (or its contents) exist at all. It does not matter if you decide if life/universe/everything is good, or if you decide it is bad. It does not matter what, or even if, you decide something at all.

The nihilistic philosophy offers neither a good nor bad view of the universe, but people then assume that nihilism itself is good or bad, because of their preconceptions.

If you really want to believe that your life has meaning, you will find any philosophy saying your life has no meaning utterly abhorrent.

But if you accept that life has no meaning whatsoever, it is exhilarating and freeing.

So I'm agreeing with you, just pointing out that philosophy itself is neither good nor bad, it all depends how one approaches and judges it.

at least for most of us it is not pessimistic only as long as one can muse about it while sitting comfortably in a warm place with a full stomach.

You are mistaken. Being at peace with the universe isn't only available to wealthy people. This is a very materialistic view.

There is someone out there in abject poverty that is more content than anyone with a warm place and a full stomach. They are hungry, they are cold, yet they are at peace.

Likewise, I believe one can reach inner contentment even if fed and clothed. It is not a path accessible only to the poor.

Food and shelter isn’t materialistic. The lack of them have have severe psychological and physiological consequences.

"There is someone out there in abject poverty that is more content than anyone with a warm place and a full stomach"

This is a statement without meaning, e.g. so what?

I would wager that it's easier to "come to peace with the universe" if your basic needs are met: warmth, shelter, friends, food, etc. (it has nothing to do with materialism or wealth).

Insightful comment on that video by Chudea. Reposting here so I'll remember it:

"All death is certain. This penguin didn't go to the mountains to die. He went on the journey in order to live. Rest in peace on the top of that mountain, penguin. Your frozen grave will be your place of victory over monotony."

> It never fails to sink me to my nadir, so I avoid watching it even if I love it so much.

Of course the sound track to that scene is a Russian Orthodox religious chant:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LVHl3HTBoA

Herzog laying it on thick with the music as per usual lol but that is a beautiful, haunting sequence nonetheless. I like to rag on Herzog but he really is a unique mind and an incredible documentarian.

Thanks. I remember that scene well. Herzog at his finest. I had the privilege of seeing Herzog speak in person at a conference around the time when this movie was released.

Understandable. It struck a deep chord with me, became a larger metaphor applicable to all life.

Amazing, thanks for sharing.