In a post apocalyptic setting, the world would be run by the socially skilled and the well connected, with corruption and nepotism ruling.
Wait, isn’t that a common description of the pre-apocalyptic setting?
IMO, the big draw of a post-apocalyptic (and distant past) fantasy setting is that there are simply fewer people to interact with, and less interdependence among them. Life and decisions are just plain simpler, which can (at this distance) overwhelm the details of the downsides. Also, plot armor—the hero in any fantasy has a HUGE advantage over any reality, as in the fantasy, God (the author/creator/narrator) actually cares about them.
In reality, the inequality (aka diversity of experience) of any two human lives in any world is trivial compared to the inequality of living vs not living. And in reality, most post-apocalyptic world-states contain zero humans.
Relatedly, is there any work being done to come up with distance measures for agent states (including any of momentary experiences, life-sums, or values)? We talk a lot about marginal and absolute value of lives and make comparisons of experiences (motes vs torture) - what, if anything, has been done to start quantifying?
Relatedly, is there any work being done to come up with distance measures for agent states (including any of momentary experiences, life-sums, or values)? We talk a lot about marginal and absolute value of lives and make comparisons of experiences (motes vs torture) - what, if anything, has been done to start quantifying?
Wait, isn’t that a common description of the pre-apocalyptic setting?
IMO, the big draw of a post-apocalyptic (and distant past) fantasy setting is that there are simply fewer people to interact with, and less interdependence among them. Life and decisions are just plain simpler, which can (at this distance) overwhelm the details of the downsides. Also, plot armor—the hero in any fantasy has a HUGE advantage over any reality, as in the fantasy, God (the author/creator/narrator) actually cares about them.
In reality, the inequality (aka diversity of experience) of any two human lives in any world is trivial compared to the inequality of living vs not living. And in reality, most post-apocalyptic world-states contain zero humans.
Relatedly, is there any work being done to come up with distance measures for agent states (including any of momentary experiences, life-sums, or values)? We talk a lot about marginal and absolute value of lives and make comparisons of experiences (motes vs torture) - what, if anything, has been done to start quantifying?
It turns out that measuring the distance between possible worlds is...complicated.