The things that inspire people vary wildly. We (I) can’t answer this without knowing more about you (possibly more than would make sense to share in a public space). Are there particular things that have made you feel like humans are hopeless?
There’s a narrow subset of people who are inspired by the all-encompassing vision of a utopian future that Harry desires. I think most people are inspired by more specific things—addressing issues of racism that they have particular exposure, addressing specific issues of government corruption that they care about, etc.
Are there things you care about that are more specific than “fix the entire world?”
Eh, how can I put this… I used to think I could make huge improvements in that sense through the invention, perfection, production, and distribution of useful machines. Hence why I decided to become an engineer rather than an MD as my parents intended: I thought I might help more people the first way rather than the second. But then I find out about the FAI, the ultimate machine, which, in sixty years or so (the time I thought it would take me to cause any actual change), would make all my efforts as a drop into into the ocean… And I’m cmpletely useless at math higher than Calcuculs II, and hate coding, so I’m also irrelevant in making the AI, so I feel like whatever I’d be doing until the Singularity would be… passing the time, basically.
Plus I thoght I’d eventually need politics, social manipulation, etc. if I wanted to neutralize those on whoe toes I would inevitably step. But the more I learn bout that stuff, the less I feel like people are worth the sacrifice, and ALSO the less worthy and capable I see myself of those tastks, since my ideals hav been tested against real-life situations, and I have failed to reach my own standards, time and again.
I mean, I know I have a very strong Neutral Good inclination, but in practice that usually translates into “fuzzy-maximizing” rather than “utility-maximizing”. I need to feel I’m useful right now, immediate gratification, otherwise… are any of you familiar with the Rage Comic meaning of “Yao Ming”? Yeah, that tends to be my reaction to stuff s simple to “rise in the morning, take a shower, go to class, take notes, work at home, do it again tomorrow”.
Oh, and the “you’re putting too muc wieght on your shoulders” argument does not work for me: if you tell me I’m getting ahead of myslef and nobody needs me and nothing really matters I’ll just go in a basement and dedicate the rest of my life to jerking off or something.
The reason I’m sharing all this here is that, from what I can tell, these traits aren’t so unique, Akrasia seems to be a very typical problem here, and (frustrated) humanism and altruism seem fairly common, so I’m guessing my case is ot so exceptional, except maybe in how dramtic I’m being about it, but I’m a Large Ham, that’s something I just can’t switch off.
We’re a HIGHLY specialized society. For several dozen people with just the right skills, capabilities, and motivations to get together and dedicate their efforts to creating FAI requires a support society that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. People to sell them goods, people to build their houses, people to patrol their streets, people to keep their governments running. People to transport their goods to the store, people to have built them in the first place, people to grow their food. People to mine the ore and smelt it into steel and shape it into tractors and harvesters to grow that food in the first place. People working at all levels of all the corporations in between, making sure things keep flowing smoothly—accountants, clerks, managers, salesmen, janitors. And all those people are also supporting each other at the same time. And in between being productive, people need to rest and recharge, which requires entertainers, and maybe inventors to create new devices which make life easier so they can spend less time washing their dishes and more time being productive or enjoying their time.
You are contributing directly even if you are only a cog in this vast machine. It is a wondrous machine of humanity that makes the creation of FAI possible, and just because you are not in the group putting the lines of code together doesn’t mean you are unimportant to the final product.
Thanks ;_; Then this means I should dedicate all of my efforts to be the best engineer I can. I may only play the role of a speechless extra, but like Brad (Glee’s Pianist), I’ll still give it my all! (Also, my life has gotten ″much″ better as of late, and new opportunities for advancement both academic and social have opened up… Germany, here I come!)
The things that inspire people vary wildly. We (I) can’t answer this without knowing more about you (possibly more than would make sense to share in a public space). Are there particular things that have made you feel like humans are hopeless?
There’s a narrow subset of people who are inspired by the all-encompassing vision of a utopian future that Harry desires. I think most people are inspired by more specific things—addressing issues of racism that they have particular exposure, addressing specific issues of government corruption that they care about, etc.
Are there things you care about that are more specific than “fix the entire world?”
Eh, how can I put this… I used to think I could make huge improvements in that sense through the invention, perfection, production, and distribution of useful machines. Hence why I decided to become an engineer rather than an MD as my parents intended: I thought I might help more people the first way rather than the second. But then I find out about the FAI, the ultimate machine, which, in sixty years or so (the time I thought it would take me to cause any actual change), would make all my efforts as a drop into into the ocean… And I’m cmpletely useless at math higher than Calcuculs II, and hate coding, so I’m also irrelevant in making the AI, so I feel like whatever I’d be doing until the Singularity would be… passing the time, basically.
Plus I thoght I’d eventually need politics, social manipulation, etc. if I wanted to neutralize those on whoe toes I would inevitably step. But the more I learn bout that stuff, the less I feel like people are worth the sacrifice, and ALSO the less worthy and capable I see myself of those tastks, since my ideals hav been tested against real-life situations, and I have failed to reach my own standards, time and again.
I mean, I know I have a very strong Neutral Good inclination, but in practice that usually translates into “fuzzy-maximizing” rather than “utility-maximizing”. I need to feel I’m useful right now, immediate gratification, otherwise… are any of you familiar with the Rage Comic meaning of “Yao Ming”? Yeah, that tends to be my reaction to stuff s simple to “rise in the morning, take a shower, go to class, take notes, work at home, do it again tomorrow”.
Oh, and the “you’re putting too muc wieght on your shoulders” argument does not work for me: if you tell me I’m getting ahead of myslef and nobody needs me and nothing really matters I’ll just go in a basement and dedicate the rest of my life to jerking off or something.
The reason I’m sharing all this here is that, from what I can tell, these traits aren’t so unique, Akrasia seems to be a very typical problem here, and (frustrated) humanism and altruism seem fairly common, so I’m guessing my case is ot so exceptional, except maybe in how dramtic I’m being about it, but I’m a Large Ham, that’s something I just can’t switch off.
We’re a HIGHLY specialized society. For several dozen people with just the right skills, capabilities, and motivations to get together and dedicate their efforts to creating FAI requires a support society that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. People to sell them goods, people to build their houses, people to patrol their streets, people to keep their governments running. People to transport their goods to the store, people to have built them in the first place, people to grow their food. People to mine the ore and smelt it into steel and shape it into tractors and harvesters to grow that food in the first place. People working at all levels of all the corporations in between, making sure things keep flowing smoothly—accountants, clerks, managers, salesmen, janitors. And all those people are also supporting each other at the same time. And in between being productive, people need to rest and recharge, which requires entertainers, and maybe inventors to create new devices which make life easier so they can spend less time washing their dishes and more time being productive or enjoying their time.
You are contributing directly even if you are only a cog in this vast machine. It is a wondrous machine of humanity that makes the creation of FAI possible, and just because you are not in the group putting the lines of code together doesn’t mean you are unimportant to the final product.
Thanks ;_; Then this means I should dedicate all of my efforts to be the best engineer I can. I may only play the role of a speechless extra, but like Brad (Glee’s Pianist), I’ll still give it my all! (Also, my life has gotten ″much″ better as of late, and new opportunities for advancement both academic and social have opened up… Germany, here I come!)
Don’t know if this has helped me yet, but I’ll ask anyway: what would you want to do a few subjective years or centuries after the Singularity?
If you find an answer then by your assumptions you have something to live for. This at least gives working for survival some added value.