What is the meaning of life? A question asked many times from Monty Python to Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This will become an even more important question in the future as robots and AI control our world. Why are we here? What is the function of a human? Is there any meaning to our lives? What is our purpose?
It is pretty obvious that machines can have empathy and advise, but the role of counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists and more will grow massively in the next decades as people grapple with a core question: why are we here? The reason being that, although machines can show empathy, they are not human. They don’t understand our brains.
The human brain excels in adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence, and the ability to absorb complex and unstructured information, but computers are superior in processing speed, memory, and precision.
This is the reason why we ask questions such as: why are we here? Do computers ask those questions? Will they?
In some ways, these are existential questions that will become more and more meaningful as robots and AI take over a lot of the menial tasks and functions that humans currently perform. The result of more and more automation will leave humans with more and more free time and, for many, more and more time to ask: why are we here?
The result will be a huge rise in advisors and mentors who can help us to find meaning, structure, and spiritual fulfilment.
Sophie Deen calls this the Purpose Coach, although I prefer a Life Coach. It’s an advancement of the traditional therapy role that many Americans have used for years.
About 30% of American adults have seen a therapist recently. In 2021, about 42 million people received treatment or counselling for their mental health in the USA, of which about 17% were teenagers. It is interesting as half of Americans see seeking therapy as a sign of weakness, even though three out of four have seen a therapist at some point to help them out.
These numbers will grow in the future, as people grapple more with the reason why they exist. This results in a need for a Life Coach, someone who can mentor, advise and counsel you as you grapple with the struggles of everyday living. We have them today – the therapists and counsellors of the world – but imagine tomorrow, when more and more functions that humans do become redundant and replaced by machines. What will you be doing? Why are you here? What is the meaning of life?
The Life Coach will help by designing personalised “life quests” for clients; facilitating group challenges for community building; conducting one-on-one sessions on finding meaning; recommending AI-curated activities for skill development; creating structure and challenges to prevent personal atrophy; and more.
The challenge here is that yes, it could be provided in an automated form, but the Life Coach being a human has different skills that machines cannot replace:
- strong empathy and active listening
- the ability to craft meaningful personal growth journeys
- deep understanding of human psychology and spirituality
- expertise in balancing technology use with offline experiences
Looking to the future, we will replace all things that humans can do with automation, wherever we can, but there will always be a role for a heart and a head and a human.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
