The more you delve into science, the more polarized your views on existentialism gets.
You might marvel reading about the LUCA theories on the origin of life, and matters of the purpose of being alive fall right out of the window.
Life most likely began because billions of years ago, submerged oceanic volcanoes spewed out alkaline water, which did chemistry stuff with acidic water, which lead to energy transfer, and eventually storage, ending up as the earliest signs of life (proteins and nucleic acids).
Hence, if life wasn't a divine gift, but a fleeting result of proton transfer in a primordial pool of chemicals and chance, does it lose its innate value?
Does the special uniqueness of every life fall flat in the face of the seemingly accidental origin story of its creation?
From what I've observed, this realisation either leads to blatant apathy (think mad scientists), or unconditional empathy, emerging from a profound appreciation for the inevitable birth of life.
You either disregard the value of life as a whole, or you develop respect for all of it.