flâneur

The Significance Itch - Nomads Vagabonds

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In my small coastal town in Costa Rica, the dirt roads curl and weave through the jungle, the Pacific’s crashing waves are a constant presence and a lunch break can easily include snorkeling with sea turtles and octopi. After driving the length of Mexico and Central America, I intentionally decelerated. I biked, gardened, swam, and read. I was, in effect, beta-testing the post-work abundance paradise so often promised by the high priests of Silicon Valley. But the restlessness arrived quickly. It felt less like boredom and more like a siren’s song, pulling me back toward the rocks of productivity. Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Open AI’s Sam Altman speak of a future where machine intelligence absorbs economic labor, freeing humanity for higher pursuits. It’s a beautiful story, but my experience has left me with the belief that removing economic necessity does not automatically produce fulfillment. AGI might solve scarcity, but it won’t solve the significance itch. We will need new struct

For the past three years, I lived in the future. In my small coastal town in Costa Rica, the dirt roads curl and weave through the jungle, the Pacific’s crashing waves are a constant presence and a lunch break can easily include snorkeling with sea turtles and octopi. After driving the length of Mexico and Central America, I intentionally decelerated. I biked, gardened, swam, and read. I was, in effect, beta-testing the post-work abundance paradise so often promised by the high priests of Silicon Valley. But the restlessness arrived quickly. It felt less like boredom and more like a…

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