Raison D'être

Jean squinted against the light and tried to turn away but couldn't because it seemed to follow his eyes. He groaned before the light dimmed in response to his discomfort. Jean slowly opened his eyes to try and see what was in front of him, and two overlayed aquamarine rectangles came into view. 

The foremost screen was titled 'notice' and had dense text below. 'You have inhabited a new body. Cause is unknown. This world is almost entirely different from your previous one, though how so and to what extent is unknown. Caution deemed paramount to survival. Approach everything carefully, especially M.'

'What... This doesn't make sense.' Jean thought. 'You know what? I don't care. No use crying over spilt milk or wondering why or questioning reality. It doesn't matter if this is reality because all I can see is this, and if a reality exists that is not what I can see or will ever experience, then it has no consequence to me if it can't influence me and I can't influence it.' Jean was nearly unparalleled in his genius and had pondered a litany of things. No subject was too difficult for him, and he even expanded on many things he studied through independent research.

Among the subjects he studied, philosophy (along with certain theoretical applications of mathematics) was likely to be his favorite; most of the research he had done regarded these two fields, though he had been everywhere. This was the most succinct version of his stance on matters derived from solipsism and epistemology that he could articulate. Ultimately, his stance was that of an indifferent approach to everything, which was another parallel of his unhealthy psyche.

'But what is this? Why are you telling me this?'

The first screen promptly dissipated as soon as he had those thoughts to make way for another notice screen, this one reading: 'This cannot be identified except by function. Purpose is unknown. Origin is unknown. Partial list of functions (explicit and implicit): act as a second mind, offer advice, perform tasks in stead of user, view and present user's memories (reliant on user), quantify and alter available metrics (limited), provide access to otherwise unavailable paths of power...'

A massive array of uses poured into the screen before it sensed that there was too much information on one screen and shortened it to be more palatable to him. He read it quickly before sighing in exasperation.

"What the f*ck," he muttered before sitting in silence for a moment. He didn't want anybody that might be in nearby rooms to hear him, so he continued conversing by thought, 'Ok, why do you think I shouldn't trust M?'

Another screen, this time formatted like a chat window, appeared, and a message was visible at the bottom that read, 'He has access to supernatural powers but hasn't mentioned them. He is more than the typical, down-to-earth façade he puts forth, meaning that he is likely hiding something. Reviewing your memories, it can be seen that the medicine he gave you was not on the nightstand before he grabbed it. You ignored that peculiarity like you ignored the echo in his voice. This is a different world, so the chance of English appearing here is nonexistent, so he must be using some form of magic to translate, and the echo is likely a side effect of using it.'

"Magic," Jean uttered in surprise. 'What... How do I say this? What can it do? In this world, what is normal for it? What heights can it reach? Is it easy to use or difficult? Who can use it? How?' His thoughts appeared in the chat window before it replied.

'Little is known, but there is some available information. Different forms of magic correspond to some of the paths to power mentioned in the functions before. Each path to power is as its name suggests: a typically supernatural (relative to the past world) method of developing physical might or influence. Some information is present regarding the paths, but much is obscured. From what is available, it can be inferred that most basic forms of magic work like free-form engineering, making them highly reliant on intellect.'

It continued, 'Some unique paths here are sourced from massive spells, but it is unlikely that such spells are commonplace. Each of these unique paths seem to rely on at least one magical breakthrough that was made manifest into a recursive pattern similar to machine learning or an arithmetic or geometric sequence. Casting a spell seems to be like engineering something from nothing using only one's mind to keep their place, connect what portions of what segments of the spells should connect where, and so on. Aids should exist, but it doesn't seem easy to use, even with them.'

Jean interjected, 'And that's why you think he isn't as simple as he seems. He must be extraordinary in some sense to be able to use magic, right? But you could also be wrong if it's easier to use it than it seems to be.'

'That's possible, but the translation magic does not appear to be simple. It does not simply take a word and find the matching denotative meaning. It is far more complex than that. What's more is that the spell appears to be completely stable and is something he can activate and keep activated without putting much thought into it. He had it activated before even greeting us, after all, even though he didn't know that we spoke a different language yet. There's more to him.'

'Maybe. But I don't care. I'm here because I threw my life away. I might just throw it away again. If he poses a lethal danger, then so be it. There's no reason to fight. I'll take what comes.' He sighed, still drained from before. "What should I do? I'm so lost," he whispered.

'An answer cannot be found. You realized this already in your past life's philosophy, but goals cannot be surmised without purposes. Goals are the actions one wishes to take because they suit their purpose. In other words, because you lack a raison d'être, which is a reason to live, or a purpose, there are no valid goals. Trying to find a goal in your state is trying to make something from nothing.'

'Yes, I know what a raison d'être is, but the thing is that there are no valid reasons to live. You have my memories, so you should know that I wrote a book covering a part of this. All proposed reasons possess varying levels of absurdity, which is why I adopted the stance of moderate hedonism. My emotions are my masters. They are with me at all times, always rewarding me or disparaging me. So why, when my purpose rejects me, when I can't be happy, should I not be allowed to take my own life? I'm right in what I did.'

It answered in as cajoling a tone as it could manage, 'Nobody questioned your actions. But you must recognize that you are no longer even hedonistic. You say they are your masters, but you don't care about them anymore, do you? Your apathy makes your life impossible. You're just depressed. So, for now, just make whatever interests you your purpose. Pursue magic. That's what interests you, isn't it?'

'I don't appreciate the lecture. Don't talk to me like that. But fine, we'll go for magic. Why not? Nothing else makes any sense or has any meaning, so why must my meaning have meaning?'

'It doesn't matter why you have a meaning so long as you have one because goals can now be created. Asking M about magic would be the most direct way to go, but there may be unintended consequences. The cultural norms surrounding magic are unknown, so it may be taboo in one way or another, and informing him that we know may provoke a negative reaction. We need more information, and the best way to get that would probably be to probe him for more.'

Jean added, 'We could also probe other people, possibly his family, but we don't speak a common language. We may need to ask M to teach us if he is willing. If it comes out that magic is something ordinary, though, then we may be able to ask him to teach us how to use it to translate for us, though that seems to defeat the purpose.'

'We also need to find out about aids to forming magic spells. Writing down the steps in some form of notation seems like the obvious choice, but there must be more if these unique paths to power actually exist. It's not possible for a person to conceive of a pattern like this entirely in their heads and then actually form the spell successfully.'

They carried on their brainstorming for over an hour and eventually put learning the new language, probing people for information on magic, and information regarding the culture as their top priorities. The purpose of the first and last goals were to help them find information on magic itself, which was the penultimate goal. The ultimate goal was using and researching magic personally. It was only a distraction for him, but adopting a distraction as his purpose was better than not having a purpose.