Telos: Purpose and the natural algorithm

• 3 min read
#thoughts#philosophy#personal

One Sentence Summary

The core question in life is what to spend resources on. The core algorithm is doing things based on our current model of the world, in expectation that those actions will lead to better understanding of what to spend resources on.

We don’t know why we exist. Without that answer, the question becomes: what is the most valuable thing to spend time on? I believe it’s important to value why you’re doing something, and to follow that “why” chain to the end.

I don’t subscribe to the perspective that happiness is the terminal value. I think there is no definitive answer yet. My working hypothesis is that we really don’t know. Therefore, we have to work in hopes that we can uncover this secret.

The value of our actions should be pegged on how well they will lead us to uncover this.

This perspective leads to a logical cascade: if we don’t know the ultimate purpose, then our job is to build better models of the world, increase our understanding, and improve our ability to discover that purpose.

I recognize this is a specific worldview. Many people move through life without this recognition, and that’s okay. But for those of us who do question these things, I believe this framework provides the most robust foundation for meaningful action.

The Algorithm

Without knowing the terminal goal, the best we can do is:

  1. Build the best model of the world we can
  2. Take actions that improve our model
  3. Take actions that increase our capacity to discover the answer
  4. Iterate

This isn’t nihilism. It’s quite the opposite. It’s saying that because we don’t know, the discovery itself becomes the most valuable pursuit. And that pursuit requires us to be rigorous, productive, and intentional about how we spend our finite resources.

Why This Matters

Many people run what I call the “human algorithm.” They go through life without questioning the chain of “whys,” accepting the closest, most immediate metrics: pleasure, happiness, or satisfaction derived from biological and societal signals. That’s a valid way to exist.

However, if you value understanding the root of your actions, then you must follow that chain of “whys” to its absolute end. The key evolutionary unlock of humanity is our introspective capability to define personal, social and civilization metrics that persistent dopamine signals are subordinate to. Use this power. Maximize your evolutionary potential.

And at the end, we find uncertainty. But from that uncertainty, we can derive a clear directive: optimize for discovery, optimize for understanding, optimize for building better models of reality.

Everything else follows from there.