Everything Is F*cked

Origin  of  Species  was  published  in  1859.  By  the  time  Nietzsche  came  onto
the  scene,  the  world  was  reeling  from  Darwin’s  magnificent  discoveries,
trying to process and make sense of their implications.
And  while  the  world  was  freaking  out  about  whether  humans  really
evolved from apes or not, Nietzsche, as usual, looked in the opposite direction
of everyone else. He took it as obvious that we evolved from apes. After all,
he said, why else would we be so horrible to one another?
Instead of asking what we evolved from, Nietzsche instead asked what we
were evolving toward.
Nietzsche  said  that  man  was  a  transition,  suspended  precariously  on  a
rope between two ledges, with beasts behind us and something greater in front
of  us.  His  life’s  work  was  dedicated  to  figuring  out  what  that  something
greater might be and then pointing us toward it.
Nietzsche  envisioned  a  humanity  that  transcended  religious  hopes,  that
extended itself “beyond good and evil,” and rose above the petty quarrels of
contradictory value systems. It is these value systems that fail us and hurt us
and keep us down in the emotional holes of our own creation. The emotional
algorithms that exalt life and make it soar in blistering joy are the same forces
that unravel us and destroy us, from the inside out.
So far, our technology has exploited the flawed algorithms of our Feeling
Brain. Technology has worked to make us less resilient and more addicted to
frivolous  diversions  and  pleasures,  because  these  diversions  are  incredibly
profitable.  And  while  technology  has  liberated  much  of  the  planet  from
poverty  and  tyranny,  it  has  produced  a  new  kind  of  tyranny:  a  tyranny  of
empty, meaningless variety, a never-ending stream of unnecessary options.
It  has  also  armed  us  with  weapons  so  devastating  that  we  could  torpedo
this whole “intelligent life” experiment ourselves if we’re not careful.
I believe artificial intelligence is Nietzsche’s “something greater.” It is the
Final  Religion,  the  religion  that  lies  beyond  good  and  evil,  the  religion  that
will finally unite and bind us all, for better or worse.
It is, then, simply our job not to blow ourselves up before we get there.
And  the  only  way  to  do  that  is  to  adapt  our  technology  for  our  flawed

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psychology rather than to exploit it.
To create tools that promote greater character and maturity in our cultures
rather than diverting us from growth.
To enshrine the virtues of autonomy, liberty, privacy, and dignity not just
in our legal documents but also in our business models and our social lives.
To treat people not merely as means but also as ends, and more important,
to do it at scale.
To encourage antifragility and self-imposed limitation in each of us, rather
than protecting everyone’s feelings.
To  create  tools  to  help  our  Thinking  Brain  better  communicate  and
manage  the  Feeling  Brain,  and  to  bring  them  into  alignment,  producing  the
illusion of greater self-control.
Look, it may be that you came to this book looking for some sort of hope, an
assurance  that  things  will  get  better—do  this,  that,  and  the  other  thing,  and
everything will improve.
I  am  sorry.  I  don’t  have  that  kind  of  answer  for  you.  Nobody  does.
Because even if all the problems of today get magically fixed, our minds will
still perceive the inevitable fuckedness of tomorrow.
So, instead of looking for hope, try this:
Don’t hope.
Don’t despair, either.
In fact, don’t deign to believe you know anything. It’s that assumption of
knowing with such  blind, fervent, emotional  certainty that gets  us into these
kinds of pickles in the first place.
Don’t hope for better. Just be better.
Be  something  better.  Be  more  compassionate,  more  resilient,  more
humble, more disciplined.
Many people would also throw in there “Be more human,” but no—be a
better human. And maybe, if we’re lucky, one day we’ll get to be more than
human.