On the Path to the Overman

“Man is something that shall be overcome.” So speaks the narrator Zarathustra in the most famous work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. After the “death of God,” humanity looks forward to the possibility of overcoming itself.

Is artificial intelligence a digital distortion of this Overman? Every day we hear which tasks it can take over and how it surpasses us in speed and data processing.

Nietzsche, however, did not describe a technological program of evolution. The Overman (“Übermensch”) is not the product of progress, but a demand placed on each of us as individuals: to create new values, to take responsibility, and to shape ourselves.

Performance alone is not a standard in Nietzsche’s sense. The Overman sets his own standards rather than merely optimizing within existing patterns.

Human beings are shaped by suffering, decisions, responsibility, and tragedy. AI processes data, models probabilities, and generates scenarios. It bears no risk, has no fate of its own, and does not wrestle with meaning.

Humanity as Bridge

If, for Nietzsche, the human being is the bridge, then AI at least changes the conditions under which this self-overcoming takes place.

It confronts us with the question of what remains distinctly human when analysis, pattern recognition, and forecasting become increasingly automated.

This is especially evident in investing. AI can analyze vast amounts of data in seconds, identify historical parallels, and simulate scenarios – for example, in times of geopolitical tensions involving Iran.

But markets price expectations. No model knows the future or can say with certainty which assumptions are already reflected in current prices.

As investors, we remain accountable. Judgment, humility, and experience – especially painful experience – shape our development. A drawdown in the portfolio reminds us that responsibility cannot be delegated.

Self-overcoming remains a human task.