Andy articulates a central theme of his book: the necessity of seeking meaning in our modern world, despite the wonders provided to us by technological progress.
He discusses several significant works, including those by Han (from samples of his upcoming book), Baudrillard, Asimov, Wallace, and Crawford.
Andy’s overarching point is that technology creates the means for us to live our lives with meaning, but it cannot provide meaning in and of itself.
Thus, we must strive to shrink the gap between the two as our capabilities grow.
Meaning comes from our attention to the world around us; we must choose to direct it toward what we want to see in the world.
In a callback to the beginning of the essay, he restates that we must work to ensure that our technological capabilities lead us to a world worth living in.
With the upcoming arrival of AI, the question of how we will achieve this feels more urgent than ever.
