AI inspires both excitement and fear, yet the real danger lies not in the intelligence of the machine but in human abdication—of judgement, of freedom, and of responsibility. This article explores the creative potential of AI, the new Luddism, and the deeper political risks of surveillance and control. The window for open inquiry is narrowing; now is the moment to think clearly.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) turned the collapse of religious certainty into a demand for moral self-authorship. This essay sketches his life, clarifies his philosophy (“existence precedes essence”), traces the steps by which he reached his insights—from bleak fiction to public ethics—and considers possible misunderstandings that remain. It concludes with a sober appraisal: we need not act from anxiety or ideology; real action springs from the will to live.
For three centuries France and Britain have rebelled against religious authority, from Voltaire’s écrasez l’infâme to Nietzsche’s death of God and the modern satire of Private Eye and Le Canard enchaîné. Yet rebellion, once a weapon of liberation, has hardened into reflex. The challenge today is not to keep mocking but to recover conviction—before the state learns to silence even our laughter.