Arthur C. Brooks argues that meaning comes from coherence, purpose, and significance, but technology and hustle culture push us into left-brain thinking focused on productivity and metrics. He warns that AI cannot simulate true meaning, and that boredom, which tech companies eliminate for profit, is essential for finding it.
What is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is defined as a combination of, of why things happen the way they do. That's coherence. Why you're doing what you're doing, which is your purpose and why your life matters, which is significance. And they don't even know how to address those issues in the first place because you only take on those big philosophical questions in the right hemisphere of your brain. And all the time you're spending on your devices, not to mention the hustle culture and the grind and the, you know, the technical culture that we live in, is just pushing us to live exclusively on the left hemisphere of our brain. We're living in the matrix, Mike. Why are they doing that? They're doing that because that's what's on offer. Number one, that that's how we work and how we're educated. That's number two. Number three is we're addicted because the technologies that we use are highly addictive. And number four is that we've learned how to solve the life's biggest problem, which is boredom, and we need to be bored. And probably because they could sell you something. Well, yeah, for sure. That's why they do it. That's why time and app is the number one metric when you're developing a technology, when you want somebody to download your app, Time and app is how you monetize everything. But the truth is, this is highly, highly, highly addictive. And, and, and it keeps us doing this all the time. And, and you don't even know. It's funny because people ask all the time about AI, you know, how will AI affect happiness? And the answer is, well, somebody might use it to do left brain tasks and free up their time to go spend it in their relationships, in the right side of their brain. But, but a lot of people are using it as their friend, lover, or therapist, which is exactly wrong. There's one thing in life you can't simulate, which is meaningful.
