Why Modern Life feels meaningless | Lex Fridman and John Vervaeke

@johnvervaeke and @lexfridman delve into the heart of the modern meaning crisis, revealing how our innate quest for wisdom is thwarted by a world awash in information but starved of meaning.

[philipmcritchie]

What ive learnt is when you isolate yourself for extended periods of time you realise how much bullshit goes on in our day to day existence.

[KapilKhatter]

Going to the phone to get wisdom about how the phone isn’t where we go to for wisdom

[AmericanSpyFox]

The more access we have to each other, the less we value each other.

[brad]

Feelings of meaninglessness, depression, and despair are precisely what drive us to fulfill subjective meaning by doing all sorts of things like starting families, producing art, buying things we need and don't need, going to school, getting interested in politics, etc...etc...etc... It's adaptive.

[officialtbhoops]

The problem is none of our natural instincts and strengths are required. Men used to have to hunt everyday to provide, build, train, protect our families, and survive. Nowadays, we just hit buttons on a keyboard and stare at a screen while locked indoors sitting in a chair to provide.

[Johnnyapplseed]

I feel like I’ve gotten a second chance at life, now I don’t question the meaning of it, I just take it for what it is. I feel like we expect too much out of life and the happiest I’ve ever been is when I don’t focus on my desires and just find peace in what I have.

[JuanDiegoVilllla]

Incredibly interesting topic from a unique perspective. My biggest feedback- simplify responses to something everyone can understand.

The jargon takes away from my ability to absorb what really matters in John’s responses. I found myself spending most of my mental energy “decoding” sentences. I would much rather spend my mental energy focusing on the new ideas and unique perspectives that John is proposing.

For example around the 5min mark: “There is a functionality to religion that we lost when we rejected all the propositional dogma”. This isn’t a crazy complicated sentence. But it is unusual enough to require significant energy to break it down to: “There are benefits of religion we lost when we rejected religion as a whole” (honestly, I’m not 100% sure this is what John meant but that adds to my point).

I’m an engineer. A big part of my career is explaining engineering ideas to non-engineers in a way they will understand. I find that jargon is only beneficial for me and detrimental to my audience.

I don’t think I speak for myself here. I would imagine most people watching this talk truly understood a small percentage. It’s a shame considering how interesting the topic is. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Huge props to Lex to being able to follow along as well as he did.

[andymiguel]

The book of Ecclesiastes addresses this in depth and was written ~2500-2900 years ago.

[shiracohenyoga]

The reason is the common-unity, the trust and faith shared when we do something together based on an underlying understanding and knowing of that which is infinite and sacred in our life and lives. It's very simple, so obvious we overlook it all the time, yet it is always there if we would stop and appreciate the little moments of magic in connecting deeply. And depth is in the unknown, the mystery of life. We all know it and without feeling or re-member-ing it life becomes meaningless.

[richak]

We're becoming too outwardly. Too much dependency on external things to give happiness. External happiness is not real. Its a delusion which only lasts a while and then we want something new to feel that happiness again. The true bliss comes when we move inwards, that's everlasting and ever growing happiness. Then it doesn't matter if you're sitting alone in a cave for years, as long as you're moving inwards and connecting with your higher self you won't need anything or anybody to be happy. I have started the inward journey and it's true bliss. I hope that we all reach the highest level in finding and connecting with our higher selves.

[jessewallaceable]

Thank you for bringing light to philosophy by having an actual professional philosopher on. Thank you.

[maryj]

I love seeing great minds talking together. I'm religious and I love it, and I see others of different religions being such admirable people because they seek the truth with humility and love for humanity. That is a positive inner motion that unites us and to me it's really what differentiates good people from the rest. As soon as you meet someone, you can tell what matters to them. If they're living badly, what matters is what they can get out of other people. If they're just getting by, what matters to them is getting through the day without too much fuss. If they're good people (the tradition sense of "good") they want to do good and be good, they will be looking up for what's bigger than them and a cause worth fighting for, without letting their perception of themselves and others stray away from objective reality. These are the people that think things through and make sense whatever they say. On the contrary, people living badly will have a narrow logic, and people who are just getting by will have no prior reflection to what they do, and if they do, is very superficial. And I think it's no coincidence that belonging goes along with a person that wants to contribute to the common good.

[TheDoomWizard]

We've all been reduced to atomized individuals alienated from each other working paycheck to paycheck

[bagofrandom]

Very interesting chat and makes me glad I studied philosophy, as it prepares you for the fact that life requires imagination and the crafting of one’s own meaningfulness. Respect

[barrycrowder]

8:06 I found this very interesting that you called out the distinction between "adjectival and the adverbial qualia", as it echoes a distinction that I have made often, but almost never found anyone else with whom it resonates. I tend to group nouns and adjectives together and also verbs and adverbs, and I notice that many times nouns and adjectives reduce to verbs and adverbs. Often times, the distinction depends on the level of abstraction.

[williamwillaims]

Super interesting thoughts. When my father left our family when I was 19 years old, as a young man, I went through a crisis of self. This question huanted me when grappling with what direction I ought to take in life.

With a super unorthodox religious qausi atheist upbringing the ground for an internal battle between fear and wonder nearly ruined me.

I've almost given up on answering this question. We can all sense the crisis of meaning if we only pause for long enough.

One of my fears is we will cram that hole with our new "messiahs" - *autonomous artificial intelligence* and just kick the can down the road.

I'm definitely watching the full version! ❤

[alexbrewer]

Damn I picked the right video to spark up a j to

[tylergoldstein]

Marriage is the one constant social structure common to all cultures that enhances connectedness and fitness.

[markh]

I’m not an expert, but I think finding real life meaning probably ought to begin with the devotion to something greater than oneself. It can be devotion to a divine being. It can be a devotion to a cause like helping others. Whatever that devotion is should translate to energy spent toward something or someone else. And that energy will in some way reverberate back to you.

[ross]

Very thought provoking. Thanks for this.