Ah, goals. As we grow up we had them given to us and we walked the well-trodden path that had led so many others to success.
Not a bad path at all. Learn, graduate, learn some more, marry, excel, raise kids, and retire. (should've mentioned the 'mistakes' phase, too)
I'm at that terminal word now: retirement. It may be that post-AGI/ASI people will need to consult with local retirees to get a handle on what's next for them and how to survive it without becoming a wire-head.
For me, my plans include living long enough to keep on living, and then an eventual trip to the Oort cloud to set up digs there. Bring a few fusion reactors with me and spin up a hab to play in.
For now I live in an RV and travel; having sold everything upon retirement. I keep up with the 8 kids I raised, keep my crank in software development, (neuromorphic computing simulations just now - training is not quite worked out, though) and care for my aged mother in a local assisted living facility.
Someday, though, the Oort cloud.
After that, who knows? Maybe download myself into a Coca-Cola-sized supercomputer and head out (relativistically) to a nearby star to see what's what. Or maybe spool out some Von Neumann probes and test out transmission travel. (I can all party together and trade memories every few millennia)
Lots of things to learn, do, and explore. Boredom will be just a lack of imagination.
Just to note that English country cottage looks very like the one that was owned by the actor Sir John Mills which had a 400 year old wisteria climbing it.
Thank you for sharing; I really enjoy your content. It feels honest, relatable, and thought-provoking. At some point, we might realize that we are all rushing down the infinite river, viewing the infinite gardens we built millennia ago. But we probably need to be sublime before we know it.
Anyone who resonates with this Shapiro gem needs to check out Substack’s leading voice on the importance of play, Dr Peter Gray. Start with Letter 1 and progress onwards. I’m a different parent/person because of it. Substack link below
Thanks for waking up in the middle of the night to write this awesome metaphor for the kinds of life we might choose to live, especially if AI goes right and frees up more possibilities for everyone.
Dear David, thank you for sharing this. I find your concepts of wild river versus gardening very intriguing. A mission-oriented game will become obsolete when the singularity is reached.
There is a fitting proverb among horticulturists: "A garden is never finished."
Your writing also reminds me of James Carse, whose style I find comparable to your interpretation of Bostrom's writing, and his concept of finite and infinite games.
Finite games are played to win—like a sports game, a career move, or wars.
Infinite games are played for the purpose of continuing to play them - life.
Walks in nature and just perceiving the world - those random sounds, patterns, uncaring fauna. The apparent randomness of nature really ground me after those daily takes on goal oriented life or existential worries about the future.
There is something about the randomness in nature which is just so grounding yet also so calming 🕊️
Until one day we have an AGI telling us it’s not all random 🙈 then the existential dread resurfaces …
Evolve is my word for the year and your post hit home for so many reasons. Seeing life as a garden instead of a river resonates. It’s hard for me to define how to tend my garden but I’m getting there - thank you. I also have a question about your learning community and how it could be useful to me personally as I’m in the legal world and I’m trying to plan and learn etc. Does it include legal services peeps too?
The dawn of AI may force this on everyone, but anyone going through retirement has already confronted these questions. I'm recently retired and shifting from goal oriented to "flow" oriented. I replaced a career in cybersecurity with music (trombone with a local jazz band), video editing (Part 107 drone license = a lot of video), and treating AI as a hobby. Gabriel mentioned "The Infinite Game" below, and it's a good starting point. I think we all need to be constantly prospecting for new skills and experiences. It sounds trite, but true. It's not the destination, it's the journey.
Ah, goals. As we grow up we had them given to us and we walked the well-trodden path that had led so many others to success.
Not a bad path at all. Learn, graduate, learn some more, marry, excel, raise kids, and retire. (should've mentioned the 'mistakes' phase, too)
I'm at that terminal word now: retirement. It may be that post-AGI/ASI people will need to consult with local retirees to get a handle on what's next for them and how to survive it without becoming a wire-head.
For me, my plans include living long enough to keep on living, and then an eventual trip to the Oort cloud to set up digs there. Bring a few fusion reactors with me and spin up a hab to play in.
For now I live in an RV and travel; having sold everything upon retirement. I keep up with the 8 kids I raised, keep my crank in software development, (neuromorphic computing simulations just now - training is not quite worked out, though) and care for my aged mother in a local assisted living facility.
Someday, though, the Oort cloud.
After that, who knows? Maybe download myself into a Coca-Cola-sized supercomputer and head out (relativistically) to a nearby star to see what's what. Or maybe spool out some Von Neumann probes and test out transmission travel. (I can all party together and trade memories every few millennia)
Lots of things to learn, do, and explore. Boredom will be just a lack of imagination.
Patrick
Just to note that English country cottage looks very like the one that was owned by the actor Sir John Mills which had a 400 year old wisteria climbing it.
He lived near Denham.
You may like my serialized novel about life in the Singularity and unresolved human emotions.
https://open.substack.com/pub/kyantan/p/0-god-of-the-game?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=ul1jy
Thank you for sharing; I really enjoy your content. It feels honest, relatable, and thought-provoking. At some point, we might realize that we are all rushing down the infinite river, viewing the infinite gardens we built millennia ago. But we probably need to be sublime before we know it.
Anyone who resonates with this Shapiro gem needs to check out Substack’s leading voice on the importance of play, Dr Peter Gray. Start with Letter 1 and progress onwards. I’m a different parent/person because of it. Substack link below
https://open.substack.com/pub/petergray/p/introduction-to-a-new-substack?r=nye2&utm_medium=ios
We are driven to express both intrinsically. Gardening & Gaming (virtual survival & carnage). We're gonna need better game development...
Thanks for waking up in the middle of the night to write this awesome metaphor for the kinds of life we might choose to live, especially if AI goes right and frees up more possibilities for everyone.
Dear David, thank you for sharing this. I find your concepts of wild river versus gardening very intriguing. A mission-oriented game will become obsolete when the singularity is reached.
There is a fitting proverb among horticulturists: "A garden is never finished."
Your writing also reminds me of James Carse, whose style I find comparable to your interpretation of Bostrom's writing, and his concept of finite and infinite games.
Finite games are played to win—like a sports game, a career move, or wars.
Infinite games are played for the purpose of continuing to play them - life.
Walks in nature and just perceiving the world - those random sounds, patterns, uncaring fauna. The apparent randomness of nature really ground me after those daily takes on goal oriented life or existential worries about the future.
There is something about the randomness in nature which is just so grounding yet also so calming 🕊️
Until one day we have an AGI telling us it’s not all random 🙈 then the existential dread resurfaces …
Evolve is my word for the year and your post hit home for so many reasons. Seeing life as a garden instead of a river resonates. It’s hard for me to define how to tend my garden but I’m getting there - thank you. I also have a question about your learning community and how it could be useful to me personally as I’m in the legal world and I’m trying to plan and learn etc. Does it include legal services peeps too?
Thanks a lot for this wonderful post, David.
I am so happy to have you back !
I've been feeling quite doomy lately, so I appreciate your articles very much. Thank you for the hope.
The dawn of AI may force this on everyone, but anyone going through retirement has already confronted these questions. I'm recently retired and shifting from goal oriented to "flow" oriented. I replaced a career in cybersecurity with music (trombone with a local jazz band), video editing (Part 107 drone license = a lot of video), and treating AI as a hobby. Gabriel mentioned "The Infinite Game" below, and it's a good starting point. I think we all need to be constantly prospecting for new skills and experiences. It sounds trite, but true. It's not the destination, it's the journey.
New mental model to live by !
And then there’s the whole section most of us ignore, which starts when we ask:
1. Who am I?
2. Where did I come from?
3. Where am I going after this stint on earth as a human?
4. What (if anything), am I supposed to be doing in this life?
Questions of the “garden” variety
Simon Sinek wrote “the infinite game”