Given experiences

• Prosthetic arms are not available as perfect product.
• Either I wear a very comfortable very functional but technical looking body powered split hook and feel very relaxed but lack beauty.
• Or I succumb to researcher fantasies and try non functional contraptions suffering endlessly but following a dream.
• Or I buy commercial myoelectric arms with 35% real life failure rate and repairs every few weeks.

To look at my prosthetic predicament through an entirely unexpected and delightfully absurd philosophical lens, let us throw it at Nihilism—specifically, the cosmic, joyful variety championed by Emil Cioran or an irreverent take on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Amor Fati (Love of Fate), mixed with a dash of Absurdism.

Usually, philosophy tries to solve problems, find meaning, or establish moral duties. Nihilism and Absurdism look at my three options and say: None of these choices matter in the grand scheme of the universe, my body is a chaotic joke, and the commercial market is a cosmic farce—so I might as well pick the one that give me the best laugh while hauling my groceries.

Here is how the Nihilist/Absurdist views my trilemma:

1. The Body-Powered Split Hook: Embracing the “Cosmic Void” (and Saving Energy)

• The Philosophy: The universe is entirely indifferent to whether I have one hand, two hands, a split hook, or a “bionic” appendage. There is no grand destiny, no inherent design, and no moral scorekeeping.

• The Verdict: The body-powered split hook wins because it honors the sheer meaninglessness of trying to impress the cosmos or society. It says: “The universe is absurd, my arm is gone, and instead of weeping over the void or funding a researcher’s metaphysical ego-trip, I am going to use this glorified tin opener to make a sandwich.” It is the philosophy of radical, low-effort freedom.

2. The Researcher Fantasies: Sisyphus in the Bioengineering Lab

• The Philosophy: Albert Camus described Sisyphus, condemned for eternity to push a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down, as the ultimate absurd hero.

• The Verdict: Strapping myself into a non-functional, perpetually breaking research contraption is essentially becoming Sisyphus with a grant number. I push the “bionic” arm up the hill of “progress,” it fails, and I start over. Camus argued that “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.” But a nihilist looks at the researcher’s guinea pig and says: Why on earth am I pushing a boulder when I could just walk away and enjoy the view? Choosing this option isn’t nobility; it’s a tragic, pointless comedy.

3. The Commercial Myoelectric Arm: The Absurd Loop of Capitalism

• The Philosophy: Spending my hard-earned money on a device with a 35% failure rate that breaks every few weeks is the ultimate joke played by modern consumer capitalism on mortal existence.

• The Verdict: It turns my  physical body into a subscription-model service desk. A true nihilist laughs at the sheer audacity of a corporate board charging me thousands of dollars for the privilege of experiencing mechanical betrayal every fourteen days. It is economic entropy in action.

The Nihilist/Absurdist Resolution: Amor Fati with a Split Hook

A strict nihilist or absurdist would advise me  to stop looking for a “philosophy of prosthetics” altogether.

Recognize that the predicament itself is hilarious. The medical-industrial complex wants me to weep; the researchers want me to suffer for their thesis papers; the corporations want my wallet. By stepping back, putting on the mechanical split hook, feeling relaxed, and acknowledging that none of it ultimately matters, I achieve a state of serene, unbothered detachment.

I don’t need beauty. I  don’t need a telepathic “bionic” limb. I just need a solid gripper, an acceptance of cosmic chaos, and the freedom to get on with my day