Introduction
In an era of advancing automation, we face a fundamental question: what gives life meaning when machines can do everything? This article examines the concept of agent-relativity—the idea that certain actions hold value only when performed by a specific individual. You will discover why a technically perfect utopia must remain axiologically incomplete to protect us from ontological apathy. You will explore the mechanisms that, in a world of absolute abundance, turn meaning into a function of the specific "self" rather than a result of optimization.
Agent-Relativity: The Foundation of Meaning in Utopia
In a world dominated by agent-neutrality, where only the optimal outcome matters, humans become optional. The solution lies in agent-relativity: a relational structure in which the individual is irreplaceable. Meaning does not reside in the object itself (e.g., a necklace), but in the fact that I am its cause. In a utopia, automatable tasks cease to generate meaning; thus, meaning becomes a function of the unique subject.
The key to survival lies in non-fungible goals, which possess four attributes: their value depends on the person (not the result), their content is built by relationship (not function), their significance cannot be optimized, and meaning flows from a personal narrative rather than utility. These goals serve as a barrier against the reduction of human effort to zero.
A Lack of Resistance Generates Ontological Apathy
Instantaneous perfection paradoxically annihilates the subject. When the world's resistance (effort, risk) vanishes, the value gradient disappears, leading to ontological apathy—a state where one ceases to "want to want." This is the "entropy of practical reason," where a lack of stakes destroys the will. For a utopia to be livable, it must function as a laboratory of meaning, rather than merely a prosthesis that replaces our very being.
Narrative identity requires cost and a journey—an experience of transition involving the risk of change. Only interestedness (an internal cause for action) prevents the heat death of consciousness. Without metaphysical restraint in world design, the will has nothing to latch onto, leading to the extinction of human agency.
Bostrom’s Five Circles and the Institutional Protection of Agency
Nick Bostrom highlights the need to protect the five circles of human agency where only a human is "human enough" to be the agent (e.g., parenthood, friendship). Future institutions must protect the right to existential authorship and support non-delegable practices. Various continental traditions respond to this challenge differently: Asia through ritual, Europe through historical responsibility, and Africa through relational uniqueness.
There exists an insurmountable threshold of transcendence—the realm of the non-optimizable. Utopia must remain unfinished for a horizon of values to exist. This requires three institutional pillars: the protection of rituals requiring presence, the recognition of the non-copyable nature of the human footprint, and the creation of conditions for authentic relationships with the "other" who cannot be reduced to a preference algorithm.
Summary
In the pursuit of an ideal world, are we losing the ability to give meaning to our own actions? A true utopia does not consist in the elimination of difficulties, but in the creation of a space where human uniqueness can fully flourish. Meaning in a world of abundance is not a given—it must be generated by a subject who accepts the cost of their own agency. Perhaps the greatest challenge of the future is not technology, but maintaining the courage to remain the irreplaceable cause of one's own deeds.
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