Why You Should Read: Albert Camus [Recs]

A (hopefully) happier reinterpretation of one of my favorite writers

Oct 31, 2024

Hey, it’s Devansh 👋👋

Recs is a series where I will dive into the work of a particular creator to explore the major themes in their work. The goal is to provide a good overview of the compelling ideas, that might help you explore the creator in more-depth

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The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

Given that I am not perpetually depressed, people are often surprised by my love for Albert Camus. It can be very easy to associate Camus with Nihilism and Hopelessness, but I‘ve found Camus to be one of the most life-affirming philosophers. I think his work provides interesting remedies to some of the problems discussed extensively by the other writers that we have discussed-

In our coverage of Byung Chul Han- we noted that Han attributed burnout to an achievement subject at war at themselves. In other words, Han thought that Burnout was caused by society pushing us to constantly “be better and achieve more”. The constant struggle with no break eventually causes us to break down. Camus inverts this thought- life might be a never-ending and ultimately meaningless struggle, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find fulfillment in it. On a related note- I think Camus is generally a great antidote to the hopelessness we feel when asked to confront an unending task. I think about Camus quite a bit in my constant fight against certain types unsafe tech (mass surveillance, signal jamming against civilians, etc), where other incentives lead to the constant development of more advanced variants of these systems.
Our post on Hannah Arendt talked extensively about how individualization can lead us to be more accepting of totalitarianism masquerading as Utopias. This is something Camus thought about, and his focus on valuing connections and small things is a great antidote to this and a group's tendency towards extremism.
Above also holds true for the loss meaning discussed by Jean Baudrillard.

All in all, I think Camus is a much happier and more hopeful read than what it seems on the surface. In this article, I will try to convince you to give him a spin. We will primarily refer to the Myth of Sissyphus and his Notebooks since I don’t want to spoil you- but I would strongly also suggest reading his novels (The Plague is by far my favorite- so that’s what I’d recommend).

Executive Highlights (TL;DR of the article)

Following is a high-level overview of Camus and his ideas:

An Introduction to the Absurd-

Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.

To Camus, we struggle b/c we try to find meaning and affirmation from a fundamentally uncaring universe (or at least a universe that we are incapable of comprehending). This creates tension- which Camus calls the Absurd. The Absurd leads to a constant struggle, as we are unable to appreciate what is b/c we are too busy seeking what could be. The more we struggle, the more we feel the pain from reality ghosting us and the more pain we inflict on ourselves. There is only one way this fight against reality will end- with us left hollow, burnt out, and with all our will beaten out of us. We have stared too deeply into the abyss, and our psyches will never be the same.

Ultimately, there are only 3 ways out of this state-

Suicide- You can decide that a meaningless reality is not worth living in and choose to kill yourself. As he said, “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” You jump into the abyss b/c you can no longer ignore it. Camus does deny this as a solution- “But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.” I’m inclined to agree, simply for the reason that for a guide on how to live, “Just Kill Yourself” seems to be a bit self-defeating. But maybe one of your original thinkers can convince me otherwise.
Philosophical Suicide- Other, more classically existentialist writers (such as my favorites Kierkegaard and Nietzche) contend that the best way to deal with a meaningless life is to find/create something “by which you are willing to live and die” (keep in mind both mentioned are a bit more complex than this). Camus called this approach philosophical suicide b/c it requires us to willingly surrender our critical thinking and rely on arbitrary principles as crutches for moral support. We force ourselves to look away from the abyss and live as if we had never encountered it (or even overcompensate for its existence by passionately living for our causes). Important nuance- Camus is not against strictly against principles, but he does critique dogmatic clinging to principles.
Embracing the Absurd- This is the option that Camus recommends. Our breakdown is caused not by the meaninglessness of the universe but by our strong refusal to accept that. What if, instead of trying to force meaning in our lives, we just let go? Look at the abyss and say ok. Accept its presence w/o either villainizing it or lionizing it so much that it overwhelms you completely. Acknowledge the abyss, but refuse to let it define you. Live fully in the present to become an absurd hero, capable of finding joy, freedom, and purpose even in an uncaring world.

Obviously, this is hard. To understand how we might do this, it’s helpful to first understand the problem in more detail. This is where to look more deeply into our struggle with The Absurd.

Why We Struggle with the Absurd

Why do we have so many problems with the Absurd? Why does it gradually turn into an all-consuming specter, constantly haunting larger parts of our psyche?

We’re naturally driven to understand why things happen and to find our place in the grand scheme of things. This constant questioning and yearning for something more than fuzzy guidelines/half-hearted cliches leave us unsatisfied since we are constantly demanding something from life that it can never give us.

This is made worse by how isolating it can be. Your struggle against the absurd is very personal to you, based on your genes, experiences, and values. People can be sympathetic, but how many times do your loved ones truly understand why you’re so upset about a particular issue? How often have you tried to convince your colleagues that an action was a high priority, only to watch helplessly as other things continued to take priority?

All of this leads to cognitive dissonance as we are forced to confront the uncomfortable reality that maybe the truths we cling to so fiercely are negotiable to others. We can no longer fully justify why our self-evident beliefs are so valid, losing confidence in our ability to really understand the world. This is where we start to ski down the slippery slope of despair- as we must now question everything we took for granted:

Image Source. One of the key appeals of edgy and absurd humor/art done well is that forces us to consider our values in a safe way. This is why we freedom (both institutional and internal) is key. Image from the Gintama anime.

In simpler words- the very presence of the Absurd is a feature, not a bug. So we must learn to live with it, not struggle to “fix” it.

How can we do that? Camus has a surprisingly banal answer- just become a(n) (absurd) hero, bro.

How to Become an Absurd Hero

I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world.
-The Stranger, Camus.

The Absurd Hero is a somewhat grandiose title for what is a very grounded recommendation- if we are unable to be at peace constantly trying to find grand metaphysical universals, then perhaps it’s best to accept our inability to find these. Most of us don’t feel existential anguish about our inability to turn Super Saiyan (unless you’re me), regrow lost limbs, or use our tongues to pick locks- although each of these would be very cool abilities. Why should our inability to find grand metaphysical truths be any different?

Once we give up our desire to find these truths, we can focus on the simpler things that we can comprehend and control. By substituting our fanatic allegiances towards grand ideologies like God, Religion, and Society- we make space more simpler things: a profounder appreciation for human connection, a kinder disposition towards our fellow sufferers, epistemic humility, and a willingness to accept the world as it is (make sure you read this section till the end to avoid misunderstanding).

To quote Voltaire’s legendary Candide, maybe instead of making grand statements about the nature of the world, maybe we are better off cultivating our gardens-

Pangloss sometimes said to Candide:
“There is a concatenation of events in this best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of a magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunegonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbed the Baron: if you had not lost all your sheep from the fine country of El Dorado: you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts.”
“All that is very well,” answered Candide, “but let us cultivate our garden.”
— While this a sentiment I appreciate, I think it’s important to acknowledge that such an outlook only works when you are priveldged enough to have a Garden to tend.

This is not mutually exclusive to wanting to make a difference. You can still decide to expand your garden, caring for more issues. This approach will simply make your process more sustainable. To borrow the metaphor from Camus, you can be an angry Sisyphus- cursing your luck, the Gods, the Boulder for being so heavy, for slopes not being easier, and whatever else. Or you can choose to accept the world as it is, choosing to find joy and happiness in the act of pushing the boulder. I’ll let you judge which will allow you to stay at it longer.

If this sounds compelling to you, let’s play with these concepts a bit more. As always, this article is simply my limited view on a few ideas that spoke to me, and I highly recommend reading Camus for yourself to draw your own conclusions. I also reading Camus for yourself b/c he is a beautiful writer, and some quotes/summaries by other people will not truly do his work justice. I will throw in a lot of quotes from him, to nudge you into doing so.

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Love, Suicide, and the Absurd

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

I don’t have much to add to the overview of the Absurd in the tl;dr, so let’s merge the first 2 sections together and talk about why our struggle against the Absurd can cause so many problems.

I’m going to break this down in Mathy terms b/c that’s just how I’m wired and I couldn’t come up with anything clearer-

We’re Decision Making Agents who want to build world models (objective functions) in our heads by which we can judge the world and decide actions.
The world (you might have noticed this) does not come with a clear instruction manual, sets of invariant points, or helpful approximations that allow us to create aforementioned models. We have to stumble through trying to make these for ourselves, all while being exclusively limited to human perception for testing our assumptions.
Related to our limited perceptions- we suck at forecasting the future impact of our actions, especially when the actions are extremely powerful. Hence, the prevalence of Goodhart’s Law- where incentives lead to completely unexpected outcomes (this also applies to Agents/Tech b/c any sufficiently powerful pressure on a system reconfigures the system significantly).

This results in an unfortunate outcome- the world models we build are overtly complex functions trained on constantly stale data. From another perspective, the data we’re trying to model (the world as perceived by us) is fundamentally incompatible with an algorithm that builds static world models by which it can judge everything.

This becomes harder, b/c we REALLY love the world models we build. So much so, that when we see conflicting evidence towards the model- we cherry pick evidence to support the models or ignore the conflict. We do this so smoothly, that we don’t even realize it.

Our love for our models causes us to receive extremely strong signals from our reward functions (our emotions)- leading to swings, overcorrections, and constant updates for our models. We have to balance so many mini-objectives- aligning with other agents while also asserting ourselves, dealing with new information while maintaining a coherent sense of ourselves etc…

This is exhausting (retraining models is very energy intensive). So we struggle at length, constantly grinding our gears, trying to come up with an objective function that will eventually lead to a global maxima with no bumps.

All because we are unable to see ourselves as fallible agents working on incomplete and flawed information-

“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”

When we internalize this drive, we lose the ability to appreciate the world as it is- and we always looking what we lack right now. And that leaves us as permanent seekers, unable to ever find salvation in the only world accessible to us.

This is where acknowledging limitations of our abilities is critical. Having Epistemetic Humility, a knowledge of the limitations of our knowledge, can be very helpful. This will make the updates to our functions much less painful since we no longer force the world to follow our set formats.

There are several ways we can cultivate EH, but in my opinion- there is one that stands out. Gambling. Gambling has several personal, economic, and societal benefits and is a great way to teach people to appreciate the limitations of our knowledge and the dangers of constructing utopias in a way that is fun and helps people live in the moment. I have jotted down some of the benefits of Gambling below-

I am thinking of consulting in Public Policy, in case any of you want my other genius ideas.

The living in the moment part is also somewhat important to Camus-

“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”

The combination of EH living in the moment allows us to better deal with the impossible vastness of the world as it is. It kick starts our revolt against the oppression of the Absurd, not by railing against it- but by embracing our absolute freedom to act as we will, bowing to no sovereign greater than ourselves.

“Moment of adorable silence. Men fall silent. But the song of the world rises and I, a prisoner chained deep in the cave, am filled with delight before I have time to desire. Eternity is here and I was hoping for it. Now I can speak. I do not know what I could wish for rather than this continued presence of self with self. What I want now is not happiness but awareness. One thinks one has cut oneself off from the world, but it is enough to see an olive tree upright in the golden dust, or beaches glistening in the morning sun, to feel this separation melt away. Thus with me. I become aware of the possibilities for which I am responsible. Every minute of life carries with it its miraculous value, and its face of eternal youth.”

This revolt against both nihilism and a dogma that sacrifices clarity for the sake of internal peace. It accepts the world as it is, unconditionally-

But men die in spite of themselves, in spite of their surroundings. They are told: “When you get well…,” and they die. I want none of that. For if there are days when nature lies, there are others when she tells the truth. Djemila is telling the truth tonight, and with what sad, insistent beauty! As for me, here in the presence of this world, I have no wish to lie or to be lied to. I want to keep my lucidity to the last, and gaze upon my death with all the fullness of my jealousy and horror.

It is in this revolt that we start to morph into absurd heroes capable of living life in its entirety.

Let’s talk about the Absurd Hero to close this article.

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.

The Absurd Hero

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
-This paragraph, and Wittgensteins last sentence from Tractus, are two of the coldest mic drops I’ve seen in any work (not just philosophy). I have this para saved.

Contrary to what some parts of my depiction might imply- the AH is not a passive conformist that “goes with the flow”. Nor are they completely lacking any principles (which is impossible since to live requires a sense of agency)

Instead, an AH is an active participant in the world. The AH chooses their own values w/o needing validation from any other source. They decide to dedicate themselves to living a life of passion and freedom- for it’s own sake.

Against eternal injustice, man must assert justice, and to protest against the universe of grief, he must create happiness.

In their case, finding Hegelian universal forces to justify their theories about the world takes a back seat to a much more grounded interaction with the everyday. The focus is given to the smaller elements of life, which are often left by the wayside when we choose to sacrifice elements of our humanity to seek something transcendental.

This is what drew me to Camus personally. On the surface, his work can feel hopeless since he spends a lot of time talking against Utopias/Happily ever afters. His novel, The Plague, ends not on a triumphant note of humanity solving diseases but with a reminder that there were no final battles, and the next plague is just around the corner-

Dr. Rieux resolved to compile this chronicle, so that he should not be one of those who hold their peace but should bear witness in favour of those plague-stricken people; so that some memorial of the injustice and outrage done them might endure; and to state quite simply what we learn in a time of pestilence : that there are more things to admire in men than to despise. None the less, he knew that the tale he had to tell could not be one of a final victory. It could be only the record of what had had to be done, and what assuredly would have to be done again in the never-ending fight against terror and its relentless onslaughts, despite their personal afflictions, by all who, while unable to be saints but refusing to bow down to pestilences, strive their utmost to be healers. And, indeed, as he listened to the cries of joy rising from the town, Rieux remembered that such joy is always imperilled. He knew what those jubilant crowds did not know but could have learned from books : that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linen-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it roused up its rats again and sent them forth to die in a happy city.”

This + his philosophy’s denial of anything “greater” can seem to be hopeless. But a deeper read highlights His work has a strong appreciation for humanity- “There are more things to admire in men than to despise.” It does not deny the simpler pleasures as base/inferior to more sophisticated/refined ones. Camus has some of the richest depictions of the beauty in our interpersonal connections, our ability to overcome, and in banal, everyday moments.

In doing so, he justifies the struggle, not because it’s preordained by an Almighty being or b/c it will lead to Utopias where things will be okay. Instead, he justifies the struggle b/c preserves and enhances ordinary human moments and that is worth it. He justifies the struggle b/c it is human, and the human experience is worth struggling for.

Heroism and sanctity don’t really appeal to me, I imagine. What interests me is being a man.
-The Plague has some serious bangers

And that, my friends, is why we imagine Sisyphus happy. B/c Sisyphus struggles endlessly for the most beautiful cause imaginable- his right to be.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

Dev <3

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