I’ve also been having a few very similar worries. In relation to them, I’ve come up with plenty of half-formed ideas for solutions or potential ways around it, like the possible need to downgrade to current levels of intelligence temporarily to be able to enjoy current-era stories.
Here’s the thing though: will there be much point in engaging in such activities? Perhaps we go through some kind of massive intelligence boost, and our current modes of fiction suddenly seem so outdated, simplistic and as you say, banal. Perhaps they will only seem that way compared to however sophisticated way we enjoy ourselves in the future? Perhaps we might have access to completely different media, with a difference in complexity comparable to that between cave-paintings and a motion picture or video game? Perhaps, like Mr Mind says, with a more intelligent brain we’ll be able to appreciate more complex stories? Maybe it won’t matter that the stories enjoy now won’t seem so great, because our equivalent stories will be so great?
How much value do you place on still valuing current-era stories post-intelligence boost? I’m reminded of that Ghandi not wanting to swallow a pill that would make him into a person who doesn’t mind committing murders.
I can only speculate. I feel like some of these kinds of concerns are touched upon at times in the fun theory sequence (possibly an understatement, you could consider the fun theory sequence to be a more generalised response to exactly these kinds of worries), among other bits and pieces.
I’ve also been having a few very similar worries. In relation to them, I’ve come up with plenty of half-formed ideas for solutions or potential ways around it, like the possible need to downgrade to current levels of intelligence temporarily to be able to enjoy current-era stories.
Here’s the thing though: will there be much point in engaging in such activities? Perhaps we go through some kind of massive intelligence boost, and our current modes of fiction suddenly seem so outdated, simplistic and as you say, banal. Perhaps they will only seem that way compared to however sophisticated way we enjoy ourselves in the future? Perhaps we might have access to completely different media, with a difference in complexity comparable to that between cave-paintings and a motion picture or video game? Perhaps, like Mr Mind says, with a more intelligent brain we’ll be able to appreciate more complex stories? Maybe it won’t matter that the stories enjoy now won’t seem so great, because our equivalent stories will be so great?
How much value do you place on still valuing current-era stories post-intelligence boost? I’m reminded of that Ghandi not wanting to swallow a pill that would make him into a person who doesn’t mind committing murders.
I can only speculate. I feel like some of these kinds of concerns are touched upon at times in the fun theory sequence (possibly an understatement, you could consider the fun theory sequence to be a more generalised response to exactly these kinds of worries), among other bits and pieces.