Is There a Pyramid Scheme of Meaning in the Future?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Many of our meaning creating activities are conditional on their being continued or developed in the future. So, you know, I'm in effect, counting on future people for the meaning of my life. The future people need to be involved in projects like mine and on the assumption that they are, then the things I'm doing retain their value. But it's a kind of just brute fact that you can only get meaning from doing something if there are future people who are going to sometimes continue that broader project.

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.