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It’s far from a perfect fit, but I think Marx’s theory of alienation comes close to what you’re talking about:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx%27s_theory_of_alienatio...

I don’t think “existential angst” fits. As the name implies, you get that just by existing and being trapped by the limitations of being a mortal human.

You’re talking about the specific meaninglessness of modern work. Marx suggests that capitalism affords us some real freedoms, but at the cost of our feeling of purpose and solidarity. And, Marxists would argue, this makes us easier to exploit.

Marx and his inheritors failed to produce systems that solved this problem, and maybe that indicates that the problem is deeper than just forms of ownership and control.

But as a problem description, I think he was onto something.




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