existentialism

Sartre also said that existentialism is humanism, which is a load of crap, so what Sartre said of existentialism isn't necessarily what it is.

Existentialist questions can't be solved with existentialism but might well be solved by other realms of knowledge.

WRT AI, Hollywood aside, if existentialism is the issue, then it's really about technological unemployment.

It's interesting that these same concepts are found in existentialism -- another philosophy that has been given a bad rap by many.

Pictures of transsexuals and underage girls and people covered in fecal matter go alongside programming jokes, debates about Obama, and discussions of existentialism.

That's like saying: so there is no example of existentialism working?

If not many, then I imagine that can contribute to some existentialism around the role.

Incidentally, i love how fast AI discussion degrade into existentialism.

---- It could be that my reaction is from taking existentialism in stride, these days.

Um, is this some new existentialism thing?

You mention Nietzsche, he (along with Kierkegaard) are claimed to be the fore-runners of existentialism - the idea that life has no (intrinsic) purpose, senseless in the meaningful sense.

I thought this was going to be about existentialism and depression.

That has absolutely nothing to do with Existentialism.[1] What people probably mean when they use that term is "a threat to ___'s existence".

When you say, "there is a school of thought which embraces the idea that the universe is senseless" the first idea that springs to mind is existentialism[0].

What complicates matters further is that existentialism is many things -- it is basically "the philosophies of those called existentialists".

In the phrase "existential threat", there is no cause of confusion (unless there is cause to speak of threats relating to Existentialism).

Existentialism argues that we create our own meaning by living life and exercising our free will.