How to Get Through a Day Without Knowing What You're Doing

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I think we can't really get through a day without thinking we already know the answer to that question. And for me, this actually broadens a bit because as an academic, something I've just been surprised by is I feel more and more uncertainty about what I should be doing. The project is just to figure out how to live human life and what we're doing.

Suppose all of humanity was infected by a virus that left us all infertile--no one will come along after us. How would you react to such a world? Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago says she would be filled with despair. But why does this seem worse than our own inevitable deaths? Callard speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the meaning of life, and what exactly about the end of humanity is so demoralizing. The conversation concludes with a discussion of whether humanity is making progress.