2. Hope as Existential Commitment
This conception of hope carries a radical implication: meaning is not discovered but chosen through an act of subjective commitment. For Kierkegaard, despair emerges when an individual refuses to integrate the finite self with the infinite possibilities of existence; hope, conversely, represents the decision to bridge this gap through faith. Thus, the leap of faith becomes an existential algorithm---a process by which the individual accelerates beyond despair into a state of authentic being.
3. Relevance to AI Disruption
In the context of AI disruption, Kierkegaardian hope challenges the assumption that meaning must be anchored in empirical achievements---such as work, creativity, or cognitive superiority. As these domains are increasingly shared with or overtaken by intelligent machines, the leap of faith invites humanity to ground meaning not in what it does but in how it chooses to exist.
The Kierkegaardian model thus frames AI not as an existential threat but as an opportunity to rediscover transcendence: the realization that human value resides not in functionality but in the capacity to embrace possibility, even amidst absurdity.
B. Camus: Rebellion Against Absurdity and Rejection of Metaphysical Hope
Albert Camus (1913--1960) represents a pivotal counterpoint to Kierkegaard by rejecting the notion of transcendent hope as a resolution to the human condition. In The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Camus asserts that the defining feature of existence is its absurdity---the tension between humanity's relentless search for meaning and the silent indifference of the universe.
1. The Absurd and the Futility of Transcendental Consolation
For Camus, the absurd arises from a confrontation between human longing for coherence and a world devoid of ultimate answers. Unlike Kierkegaard, who embraces a leap of faith toward divine assurance, Camus insists that such transcendence constitutes a form of "philosophical suicide"---an escape from the absurd through illusory belief.
Instead, Camus advocates for a radical honesty: to live fully aware of life's absurdity without recourse to metaphysical promises. This stance denies ultimate hope beyond the confines of human experience while paradoxically affirming the possibility of constructing meaning within it.
2. Rebellion as Existential Praxis
Camus proposes rebellion (rvolte) as the appropriate response to the absurd. Rebellion is not an act of despair, but a conscious decision to affirm life in spite of its lack of ultimate justification. It represents an active engagement with existence, a refusal to surrender to nihilism.
