Cone: The reason I asked was that it highly depends on how you define being a cog in a machine. We are all parts of the current social order, and we really have no way out of it but suicide, a thing that I myself am not considering as I happen to enjoy life. Ted Kazscinsky (the unabomber) tried to live outside the society that he hated. This worked for some time, but the futility in this idea occurred to him as he saw that a highway had been built through the thus far untouched nature that he saw as his, hence he started to send his bombs. In a way we are all mere consumers, but do we accept to be pigeon holed as nothing but this? Is it even possible for us to escape the social order? Hardly, even if you decide to live alone in the forest you will still carry your experiences and social conditioning within you.

The depression you talk about might even be result of something completely different, a lack of a shared purpose caused by the fact that every single traditional community has been torn apart today, leaving people in a futile pursuit to be "unique" and find an "identity", leaving them as easy prey for our dear products that will "change your life". All to fill a void that they simply are not equipped to fill on their own.

Perhaps the distinction that I was really aiming for is this one. On the one hand you have the person who can accept that the meaning of life is indeed life, who indeed finds a meaning wherever he goes, while the person who needs to constantly be told what it is, an idea that really is odd, can’t adapt and ends up as depressed whenever this outer “solution” isn’t there. Perhaps we should just substitute purpose here with another word, as the word purpose implies an absolute goal with your existence, and THAT does certainly not exist.

Another thing which I just can't help to comment on. The lack of action also inluences people, sometimes more than actually acting, but it generally is in a "negative" way. Your (perceived) choice not to act will have just as large effects in changing the causal chain as acting. However, due to it's completely reactive nature, it is not like you will accomplish anything by not acting, it is just a slow but steady march closer to grave for both society and the individual.