- What is science? natural philosophy!
- What is mathematics/computer-science? modern philosophy!
The journey from continental to analytic philosophy didn't end there. Today natural philosophy and modern philosophy are reaping the rewards of 'the culture of thinking' promulgated by the untiring work of philosophers of history and present.
If you feel any emptiness in your life, please consider spending time learning mathematics and/or programming. IMO it's the highest form of exploration of abstractions and information-structures.
You might ask? "but what's the point? and how does it help with unhappiness".
Well, here's the rub. The holy grail of computer-science is artificial intelligence!
There is a mad rush to achieve it from all walks of life and I believe it's going to happen very soon (within the next 10 to 30 years). You might want to be part of that!
What's the other big thing? biological longevity! There's an equally mad rush about to begin to extend healthy human lifespan to 100, 150, 200 years (and beyond) if possible.
AI and longevity don't end the existential gloom, but they change the game of which existential questions are asked.
There is another connection. The way math and CS is the natural continuation to analytic philosophy, transhumanism is the natural continuation to atheism! There is a connection because AI and longevity are exactly the two issues that are front and center in transhumanist thought.
Why transhumanism? Because once you're an atheist and an existentialist, and you realize there is no purpose in life, and that we make our own purpose, there are a few possible outcomes:
- nihilism/suicidal thinking (screw everything)
- religion (you go back to "thinking-less" life)
- absurdism (just accept the status-quo)
- superficialism (you give yourself some purpose just for the heck of it)
All four are unsatisfying. Well guess what, transhumanism is the fifth option. It challenges you that the drudgery of work (to make a living) and the thought of inevitable impending death (not to mention sickness and frailty) are at least as existentially significant as the meaning-of-life question (probably more so in the current state of human progress). It doesn't promise to answer the last one but it encourages to reach a life that is free of the first two.
Even if all of this is not convincing enough, consider one final thought. If we humans are biological machines programmed to have certain feelings and emotions which result in the existential gloom, and if we conquer our biology to get rid of sickness and death, what makes you think we would still be unable to switch off our feelings of existential gloom? feelings of boredom? What makes you think we won't be able to sleep as long as we want, instead of ending our life, and still have a shot at enjoying life when we wake up?
(P.S.: One parting word, space (the final frontier)!)