Nihilism: The Emptiness of the Machine

by André Cancian

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

* * *

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.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

50 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

André Cancian is 41 years old and lives in Catanduva, SP, Brazil. Graduated in languages by IMES-FAFICA, he works as a writer, translator, and coder.

He created, in mid-1999, the portals http://ateus.net and http://niilismo.net, and is still responsible for the selection, revision and publication of the materials of both sites. He contributes sporadically with texts of his own, but generally the focus is on translating texts of authors with pertinent themes.

He is the author of the books Atheism & Freedom, The Emptiness of the Machine and Atheism & Nihilism, written with inspiration in the material published at the ateus.net site.

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André Cancian tem 41 anos e mora em Catanduva, SP. Formado em letras pela IMES-FAFICA, trabalha como escritor, tradutor e programador.

Criou, em meados de 1999, os portais http://ateus.net e http://niilismo.net, e mantém-se até hoje responsável pela seleção, revisão e publicação dos materiais de ambos os sites. Contribui esporadicamente com textos de autoria própria, mas em geral colabora traduzindo textos de autores com temáticas pertinentes.

É autor dos livros Ateísmo & Liberdade, O Vazio da Máquina e Ateísmo & Niilismo, escritos com inspiração no material publicado no site ateus.net.

Reviews

[Sudeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nihilism is a logical stance to take. There's surely no objective meaning of my life or yours. You can manufacture one, sure. The universe has unfolded from inanimate atoms and compounds to single celled life to complex beings such as us. And inanimate we shall once again become, as the suns extinguish and universe becomes cold and uninhabitable.

My problem was what to do with this intellectual realisation? It has thrown me often in despair, and I've learned that living involves an element of exaggeration, or an injection of fiction. André calls this reliance on fiction to live properly as "madness". It's as if subjective beings such as us cannot live from a purely objective view.

The answer that André gives is that Nihilism is a negative philosophy which helps you weed out a lot of bullshit from your worldview, but doesn't give you a philosophy of life, doesn't tell you how to live. It helps you clean your view. It's about situating man impartially within what is known to science.

Nihilism paralyzes us at first. It's because it's only the illusions that kept us moving before. Now, we must learn to walk again, however this is not tantamount to overcoming nihilism, but to acquiring the ability to better separate out knowledge of nihilism from the practical needs of a biological, social being.

Nihilism as an intellectual tool serves the precise purpose of purging our worldview from beliefs and dogmas. But it is incompatible with life when you allow it to seep through into your emotional life. It causes only despair. We need some amount of fiction to live our lives and cannot allow nihilism to eliminate it from us.

The passage which gives a small flavour of the book's title:

let’s imagine the following situation: we were researching in a library and, by chance, we found a document with our name. As we read it, we find that all our family members are not actually human beings: they are machines preprogrammed to live with us. They like us automatically from the beginning. Even their feelings are calculations of their central processors. That is what we read in the document. Well, even if such an understanding did not change anything in practice, would not knowing it be emotionally devastating? The feeling that everything has never been more than a fantasy crushes us. Now it is enough to realize that this is not fiction: they really are machines, and so are we. Everyone is. Life is a dream inside a machine. Faced with this, we are astonished, perplexed, and “mourning” is the best word that occurs to us to describe this feeling that something has died, although we cannot tell exactly what.

[John Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little shocked when I found out that it was only 50 some-odd pages. It's more like an essay than a book. In that short space, Cancian offers an interesting perspective on existential nihilism. This one might be worth a second or third read. I found it revealing and perhaps a little frightening where, in his appendix, Cancian likens existential nihilism to the depression (mourning) one sometimes experiences with the loss of something or someone important.

[Pegboard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nihilism is written by Andre Cancian. Nihilism basically reduces morals, values, and existence to nothing. Life and death both have no meaning and is empty. I find this belief similar to Christian Science, which was started by Mary Baker Eddy. Though there appears to be different beliefs and degrees of nihilism, it all boils down to not giving values to something that is not there or important, empty.

I personally believe differently and value moral codes, myself and others. And many would also believe the same way but to some degree we all may believe a touch of nihilism. Do we value the unborn child in the womb? Do we value the future of our children? Do we value those of a different political view? Do we value those of a different nationality? Or are do we believe they have no value or their lives are empty just because they can do nothing for us? I really don't see how a person can live a productive life believing this, since there would not be a need to have goals. But the author certainly make you think, not an easy read by any means.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Those who compared our lives to a dream have more reason than they thought.’ – Montaigne

Brazilian author André Cancian Graduated in languages by IMES-FAFICA (Municipal Institute of Higher Education – University in Catanduva), he works as a writer, translator and programmer, focusing his attention of translating texts of authors with meaningfully significant themes. His own books include six books published in Portuguese and NIHILISM and ATHEISM AND FREEDOM. He has created online portals and works with web programming and mobile application development for Android and iOS.

As a reminder to readers unclear about the topic, ‘nihilism’ is a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless. Nihilism is a condition in which all ultimate values lose their value. The use of the term/concept dates back to Buddha, Turgenev, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. In André’s Foreword he clarifies the substance of his brief but cogent essay: ‘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.’

André defines Nihilism in his own terms – ‘Nihilism can be defined as the implosion of subjectivity. Alternatively, and being a bit clearer, we can define it as a disbelief in any metaphysical foundation for human existence. It is not, however, something difficult to define, but to apprehend. Because it is a rather broad and abstract notion, there is much confusion around it. Let’s look at some of the main reasons for this. First, nihilism is vague in itself, for it comes from the Latin nihil, which means nothing. The word nihilism, which could be translated as “nothingism”, gives us no immediate idea what it is. Second, nihilism has no positive content. Since it is a negative posture, we will only be able to understand it after we become aware of what it denies, and therefore the understanding of nihilism involves many other concepts; it will only become clear after we sketch its context. Finally, nihilism has not historically been given a consistent employment, and every thinker or movement has interpreted it in a very particular way, usually with an ideological background, in a myopic attempt to justify an active and militant nihilism. In general, we see nihilism associated with other ideas, denoting its inherent emptiness.’


In an essay that pleads to be read multiple times the author offers cogent statements such as ‘Many, out of prejudice, are afraid of the “emptiness of existence,” but this fear in itself is something completely meaningless, for it equates to fearing something that doesn’t even exist; emptiness is not a positive threat.’ ‘The essential concern of the nihilist approach is not to discover the truth, but to point out the lies and to recognize limitations. Describing the facts is the role of science. Nihilism consists only in the discipline of being honest in the face of the facts we observe, to understand and accept its implications.’

A step beyond the manner in which we usually process our thoughts, André Cancian makes considering the mind and the world freshly credible. ‘It is our little human fantasies that, in spite of everything, allow us to live our lives, even if it makes no sense at all.’ A brilliant essay that at last opens the concept of nihilism to all readers.

[Julius Blitzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wild approach like this one is rarely found these days.
Something is missing, when we look our lives in retrospective, there is always something missing, a detail, a memory, a piece in a greater puzzle, is hard to describe it but everyone must felt that way once in a while, there is finally a sense of direction, and it’s all thanks to this amazing book.
It is ironic how when we are evaluating a machine or someone else, is so easy or at least possible to find any flaws in them, but seeing ourselves in front of a mirror we often evaded what’s missing, because we don’t really know what is missing in every one of us, this book provided a lot of details in this compelling subject and it has been a while since I was this focus on a book, it’ interesting, it makes you read some sentences more than twice to really see the meaning, it’s amazing, words are not enough to describe it, just read it.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing forward that made me look up the definition of nihilism: “the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.” So, I was curious to see what the author had to say about this concept. The author takes us through a scientific breakdown of what this means and how we unwittingly use it in our everyday lives when we dismiss someone else’s morals, or political views, or even their basic rights; all the while expecting our own to be relevant and important.
Originally written in Portuguese, this essay/book is translated for us to enjoy (or in my case ponder a bit confused at moments). Even though this book was not that long, it was a long read as in the ideas presented were complex and it took a little extra effort to comprehend them. This is not a light and easy mindless read, this one requires you to give it your full attention.

[Steve French · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have rated this at only two stars based on my first reading of the book. I freely admit that upon further readings this opinion may change. The arguments contained in the book are very dense, probably due to this being a summary of a much longer argument presented in another book. I am also always a bit leery of translations of philosophical works. This is not a direct criticism of the translator but there is nearly always something lost in translation. I am concerned with some of the assumptions made early in the book and how those assumptions may presume the conclusions reached. This is not so much a criticism of Mr. Cancian's reasoning as it is my not fully understanding of the arguments presented. I will have to return to this book and read it again to more fully grasp his arguments (which are many) and will have to spend more time analyzing the arguments set forth. The book will make you think and it is not an easy read.

[Lydia M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to dehumanize humanity through nihilism, is like trying to deduckify ducks by forcing ducks to act like anything but ducks. Expecting humans to be rational to the point of meaninglessness indicates a belief that humans aren’t a primate species. That we are somehow outside of nature. This is incongruous with the premise of nihilism. We are animals, we are irrational. And for us to be rational means we would have to act as if we aren’t just animals. We don’t shun nihilism because we fear meaninglessness , we shun nihilism because it is too rational. The people who rationalize why other people are irrational are defective humans. A true nihilist is such a defective human that 1) they think they are rational at all 2) their philosophy guides them to deleting themselves from the gene pool. Complaining about other people’s “irrational beliefs” shows ignorance of the science that says religiosity is more of an immutable characteristic than The Gay™️ (see neurotheology for more info).

[Phantom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first nihilism related book/essay I've read and I had a lot of fun. The author has a lot of strong opinions and they were not afraid to share them. When I'm more well learned in the relevant topics discussed in the book, I definitely want to revisit it.

Something I found funny is how skeptical the author is of metaphysics/morality stuff but then accepts science and other epistemic virtues as if they are a given. Also at some point they were talking about how science should be approached from an objective perspective, anyone remotely familiar with the philosophy of science would be skeptical of this sentiment; science is value laden and even beyond that it's facilitated and influenced by various sociological factors/considerations, it's hardly a fully objective process.


My main take away: nihilism is the intellectual process of stripping all that which is subjective away, until we lay bare to the naked nothingness that subsumes all (kinda)

[Arianne X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philosophical Antimatter and The Nihilism Accelerator

Nihilism is best described by what it is not. It seems peculiar to describe nothing as a something that it is. The author states in the forward that “We have the feeling that something is missing.” This is precisely the point of nihilism, the missingness. Nihilism is so difficult because it is an attempt to grasp total reality through its embedded determinate negation. We end up caught in an antimony that requires us to overstep our limited empirical experience and when we do, we find ourselves caught in a paradox but paradox was and is my first love. The task is to describe that something that is missing but after describing it, identifying it and speaking to it, we find that we are working with something after all, the very dangerous substance of philosophical antimatter.

Before I explore the antimatter metaphor, I would like to state that nihilism only offers the most honest assessment of the human condition, value junkies, free will fanatics and meaning maniacs, notwithstanding. Nihilism does not offer an 'anything goes' license by simply dismissing values and meanings. Nihilism is simply a state of detachment from all values and meanings, both positive an negative, as a result of assessing them for what they really are, subjective impositions. What is true is not knowable and what is known is not true. We are tyrannized by fate, victimized by evolution and cursed by genetics. Under these conditions, I prefer not to be subjected to the treachery of plans and the tyranny of goals. There are of course rules thumb one must use simply to navigate existence but these are found empirically, not through the discovery of objective truth. The rules of thumb are of course subjective, relative and ephemeral.

I offer the antimatter metaphor of self-annihilation. Self-annihilation is the process that takes place when matter collides with antimatter in a particle accelerator. The Value ‘particles’ collide with the Anti-Value ‘particles’ in the philosophical accelerator of nihilism. Upon contact, they self-annihilate, and the result is nothing. We can only observe indirectly the nothing that remains after the collision. Every Value contains its own Anti-Value and therefore its own negation. Values and Anti-Values exist in pairs and their collision leaves behind pure nothing. Values previously thought to exist do not exist, they have been annihilated by colliding with Anti-Values in the philosophical accelerator of nihilism. The somethingness of the Value is annihilated and the nothingness remains. Both the Value and Anti-Value cease to exist. A mistake often made when considering nihilism is to think that it is adequately expressed by the Anti-Value, the opposite-value or no-value. We can only get to nothing after colliding the Values with Anti-Values in the accelerator. A standalone Anti-Value, opposite-value or even no-value is still a something and needs to be annihilated before we can arrive at the truest state of nothing. This resulting nothing just is the subjective human ‘reality’. The pre-existing underlying and unknowable objective physical reality of the brain, the body, the planet and the universe remain. It is only our subjectivity that separates us from the purely physical ‘reality’ and it is this subjectivity that is annihilated. With the use of the nihilistic accelerator, we annihilate our conditional subjective false certainties under which we labor but this leaves us in the objective void of existence. This simply the price of understanding, hence the warning.

We focus exclusively on the Value to cope with human existence and ignore the reality of the Anti-Value. To help illustrate the Value and Anti-Value pairing, consider this, what is the square root of 16? The answer would appear to be 4, but this is only half the answer. The full answer is that both 4 and -4 are the square root of 16. We ignore the -4 (the Anti-Value) portion of the answer because it is not ‘useful’. The complete answer is nothing, +4 – 4 = 0. The subjective human solution is to simply define the problem out of existence: “the square root is defined to be the positive root.” We simply fool ourselves by defining away the negative root, but the problem is that the negative root still exits, the best answer of nothing is the obvious result. However, the Values, the Anti-Values and the philosophical accelerator of nihilism are all invented by-products of our own subjectivity, including philosophy and anti-philosophy as well as the meeting of all assertions and their embedded negations. At the most intimate level, existence (human life) is our greatest assertion and it contains within it its own negation, death or non-existence. Again, it is only when both are collided that we have nothing. By themselves, each the assertion and the negation are something, including death.

Now, let’s take the demonstration to the next step. Once we have our two resulting square roots of 4 and -4, let’s take the square roots again. Another problem arises. The square root of 4 is 2 and -2; the square root of -4 is what? More subjectivism, we will simply call the square root of -4 an imaginary number. Our experience of existence is shaped by the distinctions available in the language and mathematics that we bring to existence, which is itself circular. We bring these Imaginary numbers into existence, just part of the overall subjective imposition we impose upon existence which we are pleased to call objective reality. In fact, logical form itself is a product of human subjectivity.

[Richard McElroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening

One reason I know it was a well written book is that I finished it. Nihilism is the next logical step from Atheism, and I felt a calmness dwelling in the book with the writer. The book is well written and worth your time. I’m also going to purchase the paperback version as well.

[ElfQueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This book is a mindfuck in such a good way! I really enjoyed reading this + it was very helpful in understanding nihilism. My brain hurt in a good way + its the kind of book I will probably look through again and again because it really blew my mind.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its an interesting read but its more of an extended essay than a book. However there are some great perspectives in there.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick and interesting read

[Toni Wittus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a short read however it took me longer than usual to read it. I had to stop and process some of the authors points. Interesting perspective.

[tana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this a few times. I enjoy it because it's like a sort of tinkering with ideas - each time a bit different. When everything is a construct you can then really begin analysis.

[Sam (Sassyowlreads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and cannot wait to read it!