NIHILISM

The Emptiness of the Machine

By: André Cancian

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A bold philosophical defense of existential nihilism based on modern science.

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When we imagine a machine, the result is always something close to a mechanical system that works by itself. It doesn’t bother us to think that it’s nothing beyond that. But how do we feel when we imagine ourselves as a machine? Empty. We have the feeling that something is missing. And what is missing? What’s there in a human that is missing in a machine? Illusion. The emptiness of the machine is the consciousness that our subjective world is a fiction; the consciousness that our humanity is a delirium, and that there’s nothing behind what we are living. We are machines, and our consciousness is a dream of this machine. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing.

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“Great. I cannot remember the last time I read something so interesting.”
— John

“Divine essay, in a borrowed sense. It took me 40 years to understand this. A text like when I was 18 would have solved my search for the real nihilism. Worth more than the Zarathustra.”
— Jurandir Vieira da Silva

“Great essay. Special highlight for the phrase: ‘It is preferable to live in a meaningless world to believing in a false meaning to the world, one that points nowhere.’ When we are seeking a grandiose (and fanciful) sense of life, we end up giving little value to life itself. The act of living is the meaning of life.”
— André Felix

“In one word: great! More adjectives would be disposable.”
— Tom Carano

“I have it printed at the head of the bed to reread it a few more times. Great!”
— Julio Neves