Awe thanks Mick! I had to go back and add a paragraph or two at the end... feels like I missed an opportunity to really bring the meaning/violence relationship home.
Well-written article, though I'd add that meaning is not a necessary precursor to violence - violence can give us meaning as well. Along the lines of the idle youth you mentioned, there are plenty of young folks who have joined wars in the absence of ideological motivations, either for the unifying/belonging aspects of group violence or merely for license to commit violence. Violence can also be an end in itself, a la A Clockwork Orange. So even if we completely expunge other loyalties and sources of meaning from this techno-utopia, there's no logical reason to think we'd be free of violence.
Another great piece. Thanks Heather.
Awe thanks Mick! I had to go back and add a paragraph or two at the end... feels like I missed an opportunity to really bring the meaning/violence relationship home.
Well-written article, though I'd add that meaning is not a necessary precursor to violence - violence can give us meaning as well. Along the lines of the idle youth you mentioned, there are plenty of young folks who have joined wars in the absence of ideological motivations, either for the unifying/belonging aspects of group violence or merely for license to commit violence. Violence can also be an end in itself, a la A Clockwork Orange. So even if we completely expunge other loyalties and sources of meaning from this techno-utopia, there's no logical reason to think we'd be free of violence.
Really great thought process, Heather! Thank you for this!
It is such a pity we cannot call Musk a perfect Kant.