Gigaom AI Minute – October 6

Transcript

What would you do in a world where no one had to work for a living? How would people, who traditionally get their identity, in part, from their jobs, find meaning in life? Hunter-gatherers probably never asked themselves this question. In fact, up until quite recently, the question was largely moot. The purpose of life was to survive until tomorrow. There was little time for anything more. But in a world of plenty, the question becomes more germane.

Deep down, most humans really want to matter. We want to leave our mark on the world. In ancient Rome, the damnatio memoriae was considered the most terrible of all of the various Roman punishments. It was a decree by the Senate that a person be erased from history, to have all of the images of them destroyed and all mentions of them removed. It wasn’t used often, because its severity was such that it didn’t just take away a person’s future, like capital punishment, but their past as well.The good news is, of course, that with more leisure time and more possibility brought about by the technologies we're making, we will have more opportunity to matter.