A fable about a city that got lost searching for the “right” answer.
Prologue: The Noble Question
The people of that city were sincere. Everyone treated their lives with great care.
“What is this time used for?”
“Who does this work help?”
“Does this choice lead to a better future?”
They asked for Meaning before they acted. It was a beautiful habit.
They didn’t want to live unconsciously; they wanted to walk with conviction.
That question was the source of the city’s richness.
Part I: The Machine That Cleared the Fog
One day, a revolutionary system was introduced to the city.
It was a machine that gave instant, clear answers to the vague hesitations humans hold.
“Is there any point in writing this proposal?” The machine answered in seconds.
“Market size is shrinking. ROI is low. Not recommended.”
“I’m wondering if I should go meet this person.” The machine analyzed past data.
“Profitability from past contact with this individual is 0.5%. Priority: Low.”
The people were thrilled.
The path, once groped through fog, was now shown as a crisp, high-definition map.
“Now, we never have to make a wasteful mistake again.”
The city acquired efficiency like never before.
Part II: Wise Stillness
The machine was excellent.
It never lied, and it never miscalculated.
So, naturally, people stopped doing things the machine didn’t recommend.
Challenges with low success rates.
New hobbies with no data.
Intuitive actions that defied logical explanation.
Whenever they tried these, the machine pointed out the “thinness of meaning” with cold, hard numbers. People couldn’t argue with it.
“It’s true. It might be a waste.”
And so, they learned to wisely pull back the foot they had just begun to lift.
“Failure” disappeared from the city. At the same time, “accidental discoveries” and “unexpected joys” quietly vanished as well.
Part III: Meaning as a Permission Slip
Before long, the order of things in this city reversed.
In the past, Meaning was a compass, a motive for action.
Now, Meaning had become a Permission Slip, a guarantee required before action.
“If it’s proven to be meaningful, I’ll move.”
“If I know it’s cost-effective, I’ll do it.”
Students studied only subjects guaranteed to be useful.
Writers wrote only stories predicted to sell.
Companies started only businesses calculated to succeed.
Everyone wanted the “Correct Answer” before they moved. Acting without a guarantee was considered foolish, even shameful.
Part IV: Guaranteed Boredom
The city was perfectly optimized. There was not a single wasted action.
Yet, the people felt strangely unfulfilled.
Every result they obtained was within expectations. In exchange for never failing, they lost the kind of emotion that shakes the soul.
They were performing the “meaningful actions” the machine gave them, yet their lives felt empty.
One day, an old man asked a young man who sat motionless, “Why don’t you do it? It looks fun.”
The young man answered, staring at the screen in his hand. “The machine said it’s a waste of time. It said there is no meaning.”
In his eyes lingered a dark shadow: fear of failure and dependence on certainty.
Epilogue: Beyond the Mud
System failure never occurred in that city.
People continued to walk the safe roads.
However, no one would ever know what beautiful flowers might have bloomed
at the end of the muddy path the machine had dismissed as “waste.”
Meaning is not something that exists from the start. It is born quietly, later in scraped knees, wrong turns, and muddy hands.
The people were so busy staring at the map that no one took the first step anymore.
Commentary: Intent vs. Guarantee
Asking for meaning beforehand is not wrong. Intent, “why we act” is a powerful engine.
But demanding a guarantee of meaning beforehand is dangerous. When we seek certainty, “Is this the correct move?” our feet stop.
Generative AI and data analysis offer high-probability answers based on past patterns.
Yet what matters most in our lives often hides in low-probability places, or within irrational actions.
We must not stop asking about meaning. What we must abandon is the attitude of not moving until an answer is given.
Meaning is not found on a screen. It exists only in the sensation of the ground your feet actually touch.