In my previous post, I reflected on what we need for a good life in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and automation. I concluded that it is meaning—today, tomorrow, and ten years from now. We need our lives and the world around us to have some sense of purpose, or at least for us to be on the path to finding it. When this sense of meaning disappears, it leaves behind an emptiness that most people find difficult to bear.
We typically find meaning in work, relationships, tasks, and hobbies. But what happens when most of these opportunities vanish? When machines and algorithms take over the majority of meaningful activities? When they perform most tasks better than we do? To what will we dedicate our time when the things that once gave our lives purpose become unnecessary? This emptiness arises not because we lack material things but because we lose what truly matters to us.
This feeling of emptiness is often referred to as anxiety.
The Phenomenon of Anxiety
I first became deeply interested in the concept of anxiety when I read Being and Time by Martin Heidegger during my university studies. It was challenging reading. In seminars, we dissected the text sentence by sentence. I had never encountered anything like it before, but the ideas this book offers are well worth the effort.
Heidegger describes anxiety as fundamental to existence—something that reveals the true nature of our being. Anxiety differs from ordinary fear. Fear always has a specific object—we fear illness, loss, or failure. Anxiety, however, has no specific object. In a state of anxiety, the world as a whole appears meaningless. Activities and relationships that we usually take for granted seem to lose their significance. This is not fear of something in the world; rather, it is a revelation of the fact that our being is our own responsibility, with no predetermined purpose.
Heidegger explains that anxiety confronts us with the state of Geworfenheit (thrownness)—the realisation that we have been thrown into the world without our consent, without a clear guide on how to live within it. This recognition forces us to confront our freedom and responsibility, reminding us that no external framework provides the meaning we seek.
A key aspect of Heidegger’s conception of anxiety is that it grants us access to authentic being. When we recognise that our time is finite—we gain the opportunity to live on our own terms, rather than according to societal expectations. Anxiety, therefore, is not merely an uncomfortable state but a crucial moment of clarity in which we can reclaim the direction of our lives.
In the digital age, where algorithms and machines manage all practical matters, a unique challenge emerges. When everyday obligations that once distracted us disappear, we are left with only ourselves and one pressing question: What now?
In my view, we will stand at a crossroads. One path is to seek out new, meaningful activities. The other is to embrace anxiety and the questions and challenges it brings. Perhaps it is this second path that will ultimately lead us to a good and truly authentic life.
Ignoring these paths takes us somewhere too—just not where we would want to go. The question is how many people will follow other directions. I can imagine a future, a world where living a good life will not be that easy.
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Summary
When machines handle all practical matters, what gives life meaning? This article draws on Heidegger's concept of existential anxiety — the moment when the world as a whole reveals its apparent meaninglessness. Not as despair, but as an opening. In an era of algorithms and automation, the question is no longer what to do. It is why to do anything at all.
Sources
Edmund Husserl, founder of phenomenology, taught at the University of Freiburg:
University of Freiburg
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