and he liked multiplayer games
then
we're probably racing against a number of different life forms scattered on different planets to win at some big game
when i first thought of this, i thought the game might be something like
"finish physics aka the equations that describe how all of reality works"
seemingly simple and intuitive end point
(i liked physics a lot at this point)
but then i didn't anymore, and now i try to think more holistically and socially
so i figure now that if we're playing a game, it's to get off this planet and figure out shit in the next phase of the game
we'll fail the first phase of the game if we kill ourselves before getting off the planet
[insert motivational speech here regarding how we must settle differences and do something positive with our lives]
and figure out really specific shit about biochemphysengineering until we get easy sustainable energy and figure out how to keep ourselves physically healthy*
so that we can build simcity2k arcologies and send em off, bubbles of life
each bubble can be its own cultural experiment
people talk about ethnic, religious, and national/state cultures, but every family is a culture too
though of course we're just all mixes of each others strengths and issues
cultures should end up on some village-type level, though
i read recently that a minimum of 160 people would be needed to keep a decent gene pool in a hypothetical space colony
i think 180 would be nice though, throw a few gays in there
i'd like to think that by the time we could do that, we'd have some decent and varied ideas for governing 180 people (and their future generations), and we could try different ones out
could try them on earth first, but only rich and connected people can really try right now
so if you're like really super fucking rich, i implore you to consider investing in researching self-sustaining space capsules
if you have a lot of friends on top of that, you should move them all together to a community and figure out how to raise your children better together
raise everyone's children better
except i don't trust all rich people with friends, so don't try that without my permission, ok?
social engineering's a term that's been sullied with failed experiments and questionable definitions,
but we still gotta learn how to smooth it all out
and fly into space for posterity
phase 2 of the game will be really long because it takes a really long time to get to places with harvestable resources
though the capsules should probably have a terraforming procedure laid out in a manual for when they find planets
the manual™ must be passed down from generation to generation
it'll have a lot of wisdom and stuff
and the people in the capsules should be living pretty nice lives
exercising, reading, writing, acting, and philosophizing more efficiently than we've ever done it
well anyway the end of phase 2 requires contact with other life (because i say so)
hopefully not hostile
then team up to combine technologies and insights
repeat ad infinitum until some magic shit happens (phase 3)
i'm stuck at this point
but i mean, the universe is only 13.7b years old, there's plenty of time
i think there'll be someone to connect the little dots in this universe, even if it's not humans
and if not, it's ok, we're just a simulation anyway, and it was a good run
but it's kinda cool knowing our children will fly away from the sun before it envelops us
someone's children, at least
trying to connect the dots