The Great Pact of Modernity: Between the Pursuit of Power and the Loss of the Cosmic Sense

Contemporary human civilization experiences profound transformations redefining individual existence and collective societal structures. This transition toward the current global order relies on an unspoken agreement shaping daily actions, economic systems, and scientific pursuits equally. Understanding the mechanisms of the present era requires careful examination of the historical roots of this development and the fundamental exchange of meaning for material power. Observing these underlying patterns reveals the intricate balance between ancient psychological comforts and modern material ambitions.

The Unspoken Agreement of Existence

Modernity rests upon an implicit pact that every individual accepts upon entering the world, dictating existence until the final breath. Only extremely small fractions of people ever manage to cancel this arrangement or free themselves completely from its constraints. This invisible contract dictates dietary habits, guides professional careers, and shapes the deepest longings of the human heart. It determines residential choices, romantic partnerships, and the ultimate manner of departing from life.

The Core Transaction of Human Progress

At initial glances, this agreement appears to be an extremely complex construct, with true natures usually completely elusive to the fleeting observer. People resemble users installing extensive applications who blindly accept endless license agreements written in incomprehensible jargon without ever reading the terms. In truth, this facade hides astonishingly simple barter transactions reducible to individual core concepts. Humanity agrees to renounce the search for higher meaning and in return receives unimagined power over the material world.

The Abandonment of Predestined Roles

In past eras, most cultures were animated by the firm belief that individuals play assigned roles in vast cosmic spectacles. This universal plan was designed by omnipotent deities or eternal laws of nature and could not be circumvented by mortal beings at will. That divine design endowed human existence with profound purpose, but simultaneously restricted individual room for maneuver massively. Mortals resembled actors on stages whose texts and gestures were strictly prescribed, and whose departure from the stage was forbidden at any time.

The Comfort of Predestination in Antiquity

In exchange for this massive renunciation of power, people of earlier epochs felt their existence to be profoundly meaningful. Bravery in battle, support for rightful rulers, and adherence to religious dietary rules played decisive roles in daily life. That awareness of being part of the grand whole provided tremendous psychological shields against the unpredictable blows of existence. When wars broke out or plagues raged, people comforted themselves with the certainty that even the greatest suffering occupies fixed places in the divine order and ultimately serves higher destinies.

Embracing the Purposeless Cosmos

Contemporary culture radically rejects the belief in such universal master plans. Humans no longer consider themselves performers in plays bigger than their own existence. According to the prevailing scientific worldview, the universe resembles blind and aimless processes characterized by noise and wildness, but lacking any deeper meaning. During our tiny and ephemeral stays on insignificant celestial bodies, we pursue our own impulses before disappearing forever into oblivion.

Finding Freedom in Cosmic Futility

Since there are no predetermined scripts and humanity plays no fixed roles in larger dramas, terrible things can happen without any higher power offering rescue or assigning deeper meaning to the suffering. There will be no predetermined happy or tragic finales, but events simply chain together sequentially. The modern world believes in no overarching purpose, but merely in chains of causes and effects. Lacking binding meaning, people are no longer bound to rigid role models and can shape their destinies according to their own discretion.

The Religion of Endless Technological Progress

Epidemics and droughts possess no cosmic backgrounds, but humanity possesses the tools to simply eradicate these plagues. Wars are no longer considered unavoidable steps on paths to better futures, but rather problems solvable through peaceful agreements. When sufficient capital flows into scientific research, groundbreaking discoveries accelerate technological progress at breathtaking paces. New inventions drive economic growth, which in turn releases more resources for future-oriented studies and steadily increases prosperity.

The Peril of Absolute Material Dominion

Eventually, knowledge will become so comprehensive and technology so advanced that humanity will synthesize the means for eternal youth and lasting happiness. That modern agreement thus represents enormous temptation for people, yet it is inextricably linked to colossal danger. Before us stretches the alluring prospect of absolute power, while directly beneath our feet the abyss of total meaninglessness gapes open. Modern existence consists of constant striving for influence within realms that refuse any higher purpose.

The Alliance of Science and Economic Growth

The relentless modern pursuit of power is fueled significantly by the alliance between scientific progress and economic expansion. In historical retrospect, science moved forward at snail paces for long periods, while economic development remained completely frozen. When human populations grew, this merely led to corresponding increases in production, without improving fundamental living conditions noticeably. Rulers and subjects firmly assumed that the prosperity of societies possesses fixed upper limits and that individuals can only enrich themselves at the expense of others.

The Chains of Historical Economic Stagnation

That economic rigidity resulted to high degrees from the massive difficulties in financing new and innovative projects. Without the necessary financial means, it was virtually impossible to drain swamps, build bridges, or open completely new trade routes. Capital was extremely scarce because there were hardly any credits, which in turn was due to people not believing in future growth. This vicious cycle of missing trust and stagnating economy perpetuated itself over centuries and let every economic dynamic freeze completely.

The Historical Impasse of Innovation

Imagine living in medieval towns where deadly plagues rage regularly, and deciding to develop cures. You need urgent money to set up workshops, buy rare herbs, and pay assistants, while simultaneously feeding your own families. Since you possess no considerable wealth, you ask local woodcutters and bakers for advances, which you intend to repay after discovering the remedies. The artisans will reject this risk, since they must feed their families daily and do not believe in miracle cures.

The Triumph of Future-Oriented Trust

Consequently, you must abandon your project, the plague continues to rage, and not a single coin changes hands, leaving the economy frozen. This suffocating cycle was only broken in modern times by the growing trust in the future and the resulting miracle of credit. Credit is nothing else than the economic manifestation of trust in future developments. When researchers today want to develop new medicines, they easily receive capital from banks or investors who firmly believe in future success.

The Financialization of Global Epidemics

When deadly epidemics broke out in West Africa during recent summer seasons, people reacted no longer with pious prayers, but with financial speculations. The stock prices of pharmaceutical companies feverishly working on vaccines shot up to unimaginable heights in extremely short periods. For modern financial markets, even deadly plagues represent excellent business opportunities where immense profits can be achieved. When enough new enterprises succeed, trust in the future grows, credits flow abundantly, and the economy develops enormous dynamics.

The Biological Origins of Economic Skepticism

On paper, this mechanism sounds extremely simple, yet humanity had to wait for millennia before economic growth took up this enormous speed. People formerly did not trust in growth, because this contradicts their evolutionary heritage and the natural functioning of the world fundamentally. Most ecological systems are in rigid equilibriums, and the struggle for survival resembles games where the gain of one party inevitably means the loss of another. In valleys, only limited amounts of grass grow annually, maintaining fixed populations of countless rabbits and numerous foxes.

The Strict Limits of Natural Abundance

If foxes are particularly clever and catch more rabbits than their peers, other foxes must inevitably starve. Even if all foxes catch more prey temporarily, the rabbit populations collapse, which leads to mass deaths of the predators in the following year. In the long term, predators cannot assume that they will hunt greater proportions of prey annually, since natural resources are strictly limited. Although some ecological niches know more complex processes, the basic struggle for survival remains a game with distributed roles.

The Blood Debts of Nocturnal Creatures

The most famous creditors of nature are vampire bats, which dwell in huge caves and hunt for blood nightly. When bats find no victims, they return home hungry and ask more successful peers for donations of the stolen blood. The animals remember their debts exactly and reciprocate when the creditor itself runs out empty. In contrast to human bankers, the bats demand no interest and also finance no new business ideas.

The Fallacy of Infinite Natural Expansion

The blood is produced by other animals, which is why the bats possess no possibility to actively increase the total amount of available blood. They cannot assume that there will be more prey in future years, and consequently do not believe in eternal growth. For vast epochs of evolution, people lived under exactly the same conditions as those bats, foxes, and rabbits. Therefore, it remains an enormous challenge for the human mind to believe in unlimited economic growth today.