REDISCOVERING THE HUMAN CONDITION IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMS:
For two centuries, the figure of Economic Man (Homo Economicus) has haunted our models of progress: the rational, self-serving, utility-maximiser. He built GDP. He shaped markets. Today, his ghost drives the algorithms that harvest our attention.
But he is a fiction. A convenient model for economists and capitalists, perhaps, but never the full story of what it means to be human.
THE DEEPER TRUTH
Humans have always reached beyond transaction, towards meaning:
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The Greeks spoke of eudaimonia — a life of flourishing.
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2000 years ago Epictetus wrote that wisdom lay in rejoicing in what you have, not grieving what you lack.
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Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl observed that survival in the concentration camps depended not only on physiological needs, but on meaning — on having a ‘why’ to live for.
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Maslow and Csíkszentmihályi showed how purpose and flow can elevate all our lives.
This is not Homo Economicus. This is Homo Experientialis — the meaning-seeker, the co-creator, the human who lives most fully in shared, resonant experience.
THE FORK IN THE ROAD
Our story is written in phases:
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Hunter-gatherers: experience as ritual, survival, and story around the fire.
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Agrarian and industrial eras: hierarchy, productivity, efficiency.
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Enlightenment and capitalism: rationality, utility, the rise of Economic Man.
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The attention economy: Madison Avenue first monetised our desires; today, tech giants monetise the void itself — selling back scraps of experience as if they were the whole.
In many ways Homo Economicus has stolen our purpose. The more life is optimised for transaction, the lonelier and sicker we have become. Weak ties vanish. Social capital erodes. Children grow up anxious.
THE CALL
We are not simply consumers of goods. We are makers of meaning.
To design futures, destinations, and even technologies as though we are only Homo Economicus is to miss the point. To design for Homo Experientialis is to align with the truth of the human condition — ancient, resilient, and forward-facing.
It means recognising that humans are not defined by what they own, but by what they experience, remember, and share. It means creating spaces, services, and destinations that elevate joy, dignity, and connection rather than reducing life to transaction and utility.
From the fire circles of our ancestors to the civic squares of the Renaissance, from festivals to theme parks, from sacred rituals to everyday moments of flow, the thread of meaning has always been what sustains us. In an age where algorithms monetise distraction and strip experience down to content, design has the power — and the responsibility — to restore resonance.
To design for Homo Experientialis is to build futures where people do not just consume, but belong. Where they are not reduced to data points, but recognised as makers of meaning. Where the purpose of a place is not only to function, but to fulfil.
This essay is part of a wider series exploring how meaning, fulfilment, and systems thinking can reshape the experience economy. Discover more in our From Fun to Fulfilment and Memetic Engineering essays.
Coming soon: our white paper Immersive Influence™ — a practical framework for delivering positive, place-based change.