Purpose

Michael Levin argues that a cell without purpose ends up being a cancerous cell (in summary). Roughly speaking, it becomes “selfish” and starts reproducing “because it wants to,” no longer submitting to its network that says something like “we are a pancreas, how cool, what do we have for today, what are the tasks for the day?”.

Michael Levin's work is spectacular. It ranges from organ regeneration to infinite life. But I will focus on purpose, an essential part of his work, by the way.

This purpose seems to involve any layer, not just cellular: genes, organs, people, countries (everything).

Quantum physics still presents us with the concept of “entanglement,” everything connected, leaning even more towards “purpose,” or teamwork in this case, or one dependent on the other, even in the very current quantum physics.

Our “brain,” our “soul,” we are here at the “person” level, approximately.

What would a person without purpose be like? At the person level, what kind of “cancer,” not the cellular one, but an analogy with people, would happen when someone among us lost their purpose?

A certain level of departing from the common goal - purpose - is, by itself, a very useful goal for society: to create, to innovate.

When Einstein departed from the common purpose of his time and created a new physical theory, he had a super common purpose, the purpose of science I would say, to discover the best explanations even if they have to change purposes, change equations, change ways of seeing.

It is like this in any area, innovation is a purpose in itself, including countless errors and some, great, successes.

So what would it actually mean to have no purpose at a personal level and what would be the consequences, the “cancer” by analogy at the personal level?

I leave the question (I don't have an answer at this moment).