In his TED talk regarding effective altruism, Peter Singer suggests that a lifestyle of consumerism is the modern Sisyphus problem. In claiming that, Singer explains that consumerism influences people to work hard to make money, only to spend it on goods that they hope they will enjoy using. Afterward, when the money is gone, they will work to make some more, thus generating this never-ending hedonistic cycle. Just like Sisyphus' punishment, the consumer is in a hopeless situation of struggle and guaranteed failure without end.