Foundation 02
Purpose
People need a reason to rise, not only a means to survive.
Definition
Purpose is the sense that one's effort is aimed at something that matters beyond one's own consumption.
Why it matters
Every serious study of human wellbeing points to the same thing: people need direction more than they need ease. Provision without purpose produces comfort and quiet despair at the same time.
The challenge AI presents
If AI removes much of the work through which people found direction, the vacancy will not be filled automatically. Purpose is not a byproduct of income.
Implications
- For individuals
- Separate your sense of direction from your job description before circumstances do it for you.
- For institutions
- Design roles around contribution people can recognize, not only tasks a system can measure.
- For leaders
- Explain what the work is for. In a period of automation, meaning is a leadership responsibility, not a communications exercise.
- For society
- Policy that addresses income while ignoring purpose will solve the smaller half of the problem.
“Income is not the same as purpose.”
From the book
Explore the Book“The purpose is not to preserve the former economy forever. It is to carry actual human beings across the interval between what technology makes unnecessary and what civilization has not yet learned to value.”
Essays on this foundation
Essays are being written
Commentary and analysis connected to this foundation will be published in The Human Future journal.
Resources
Resources are being developed
Discussion guides, briefings, and reading lists tied to this foundation will appear here as they are completed.
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