“In Marx’s view, the core of our existence, our encounter with ourselves and with the world through labor, has become merely an external means of existence, a way of making money. Even more, we are alienated in our relation to the social world as well. Because we, as human beings, find ourselves in constant existential competition with one another, we encounter one another primarily as competitors, and thus with latent hostility; and, over time, this leads to irresolvable self-alienation.”