Perhaps one of the most philosophically insightful treatises every written in the 20th century, The Postmodern Condition is a beautiful depiction of what happened in the 20th century, coining a new term for the public: "postmodernism," which describes the widespread disavowal and rejection of systems that give people meaning in their lives.
The author, Lyotard, judges accurately that people in the late 70's are not interested in 'believing' anymore. They would rather face the harsh prospect of existential dread and meaninglessness than be bothered to conform to a social standard or adopt a socially accepted narrative (meta-narrative, that is) for their life and its meaning. This of course means religion and politics, but it also involves a revolution in the sciences, since the modernist roots of 20th century progress have been removed.
Lyotard predicts a computerized, technology oriented future, where people will find science appealing only if it concerns computers and their utility to calculate and distribute data.
In other words, Lyotard is saying that the computer will be like the new god of science in a world without stories and without obvious meaning systems. That means that Lyotard accurately analyzed the progress of the West through the 20th century and predicted the internet age with astonishing accuracy.
The "meaning" of meaninglessness is difficult to parse, but one thing certainly stands out: People need to believe that their lives have meaning, or else they go into existential shock and horror. This means that people have been stitching together pastiches of religion, civic virtue, and scientific progress to pretend that their lives have meaning, when existentially, they don't. Although these ideas are subjective and matters of opinion, Lyotard manages to diagnose these Western ideas with astonishing accuracy.
The book is about the paradigm shifts of technological progress and the death of commonly-held belief systems.
