Federico Reyes Heroles
Existential Crisis in the Age of Scientific Progress
Never before has knowledge reached so many, nor has science advanced as rapidly as it has today. The Hubble telescope and its new horizons are beyond belief. The discovery of DNA has made medicines available to mortals for diseases we once thought were incurable. Genetic engineering paved the way for the hepatitis B vaccine, growth hormone, coagulation treatments, and a new type of recombinant insulin for the 600 million people who suffer from diabetes mellitus. Psoriasis and muscular atrophy are also curable.
The rapid response to COVID-19 was made possible by messenger RNA. The discovery of countless new proteins is another world. From 1953, when James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, to 2025, the medical arsenal has grown exponentially. The genetic component is behind schizophrenia, autism, and multiple varieties of cancer. Global life expectancy doubled from 1960 to 2022. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was 32 years old. In 2024, it reached 73.3 years, including COVID. Infant mortality is declining, new antibiotics are available, and nutrition has improved. There are many horrors, but the decline in hunger and poverty is monumental. The World Bank estimates that it fell from around 38% in 1990 to 10.5% in 2010. Trade liberalization, contrary to what its detractors say, has brought prosperity to countless corners of the globe. Globally, the suicide rate has declined slightly, but in the Americas it has increased: 9.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. Behind every death by suicide, there are about eight attempts. Where are we failing? That someone wants to take their own life is a slap in the face to what we call existence. Viktor Frankl, philosopher, neurologist, psychiatrist, in his terrible experience in a Nazi concentration camp—he survived, but lost his entire family—gave a definitive twist to the expression existence. It is not enough for a heart to beat and eyes to look around. True existence is finding meaning in life. That is why his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, remains relevant today. Let’s admit it, despite all the advances, we are living through an existential crisis.
A few days ago, one of the most brilliant philosophers of our time, Rob Riemen, was in Mexico City. Rob is a philosopher of the present, of our times. His bibliography does not seek ontological transcendence; it aims to serve. Hence, texts such as Nobility of Spirit, To Fight Against This Age, and The Art of Being Human, all published by Taurus. A central theme of his new text, The Word That Defeats Death, is the degradation of greatness. Rob wants to provoke reflection on the word. Greatness today is not the elevation of the spirit, the strengthening of nobility, of courage. No, what Rob points out is its debasement. The parade of those who claim greatness begins: Trump and his millions, Putin and his imperial threats, Orbán and his formula for government, extortion. The lavish sheikhs. What can we say about Netanyahu? Musk and his flirtations with figures like Superman or Iron Man. How many millions someone has, how many followers they have, greatness turned into numerical vanity. And the ghosts appear to remind us of the term’s original meaning: Simone Weil, the French fighter and philosopher, confronts them. Thomas Mann and Nietzsche, for whom Rob has a soft spot, respond, enraged.
When he comes, we meet with him and Eveline, his eternal companion, and friends. That night, we told him about Mexico, about the corruption scandals, about the power of the drug traffickers, about the destruction of a professional judiciary, about the ostentation of wealth, about the disappeared (42 a day), about lying as a form of government, about children with cancer, and so on. He couldn’t believe it.
What do they want? We ask ourselves. Only power and money. That is their dimension. The Mexican parody knows nothing of true greatness.
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