The Nihilistic Journey
Nihilism can be defined as the rejection of intrinsic meaning, or value in life, morality and knowledge. Based on this definition it can be asked if we are seeing in segments of the human population a move away from the existent, real outer world and the values it held towards the Self, community and society. Secondly, with the creation of the new pseudo outer world of the internet and social media, and now the introduction of AI, how will this affect human beings’ ability to think and have their own inherent freedom of thought. This new outer world is generally a one-way directed flow of information from the algorithm. AI can take away from the ongoing creative process that has been developed over time.
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Nihilism therefore could be seen as an end game, relative to the Self, community, society and culture. Yet nihilism is the end point of the journey, and there is a possible pathway through this. Social media, for instance, creates storylines and visual images that offer the fantasy of utopic thought. These in turn create desires within the viewer that seem attainable, but often may not be.
The journey begins at the social media level, and with non-attainment the viewer starts to isolate themselves from everything external. This then leads to depression or depressive thinking (the viewer will often attempt to blame the real outside world). Finally these thoughts will turn to a nihilistic view — the dissociation of the individual from the outer world. In parallel comes the loss of a true Self identity.
This may be more of an upcoming trend within segments of the community and society. It is a phenomenon that all of us must become aware of. We need to find a new path to reverse this — end games are not healthy for the Self, community and society.
