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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2558163 No.2558163 [Reply] [Original]

If all the major problems of human civilization were solved - everyone had spacious housing, ample energy, nutrition, necessities, and comforts, and furthermore, everyone was youthful and attractive with an indefinite lifespan - given all these things, what would you do with your time?

I've heard some people suggest that without struggle, life is bound to become boring. I don't believe this, but what *would* you do? Explore the cosmos? Build fantastic wonders like the hanging gardens? Play music? Play games? Have massive orgies? What?

>> No.2558164

Fap. Post on 4chan.

At the same time.

>> No.2558165

Be super nice to everybody!!

>> No.2558168

>>2558163
>If all the major problems of human civilization were solved
Cool, let's post about other things that will never happen.

>> No.2558171

>>2558164
If you could have all the physical attractiveness necessary to get sex, you'd still stay on your computer and fap?

>> No.2558175

>>2558171
No.

I would fap in front of a mirror.

>> No.2558176

>>2558168
It's just a hypothetical situation: a thought experiment. I guess some people are such rigorous pessimists they can't even grant for the sake of argument, in order to answer a question about dreams and motivations.

>> No.2558184

>>2558176
Sometimes I daydream about a world where you don't exist.

I call it "AwesomeLand"

>> No.2558189

I would create a tournament for remotely-operated gladiatorial robots.

>> No.2558208
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2558208

>>2558184

>> No.2558211

Capitalism solves this problem. Look how succesful it is.

>> No.2558217

Study the lives of men who have everything like Warren Buffett or Bill Gates. You will find your answer.

>> No.2558227

Sing, dance, listen to music, fish, and play go.

>> No.2558230

>>2558217
Well, they spend a significant proportion of their time on charitable ventures to help the destitute and suffering, which are irrelevant to the hypothetical. Furthermore, even Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are not "youthful and attractive with an indefinite lifespan." I think having literally all the time in the world would alter people's priorities.

>> No.2558234
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2558234

>my face when OP described TRS completely

>> No.2558245

>>2558234
TRS? Tiaras? I really don't know what you're talking about.

>> No.2558246

>>2558217
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates#Personal_life

Sounds like he spends most of his time in his beautiful home with his family, relaxing in his massive pool, reading delightful, obscure texts and thinking about the universe, playing various sports on land owned wholly by him - perhaps inviting his friends to play. He can go anywhere he wants and do whatever he wants.

>> No.2558256
File: 152 KB, 950x873, tasmaniaTRS.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2558256

>>2558245
Technocratic Republic of Sci, a possible superproject to conclude in 2039.

>> No.2558264
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2558264

>>2558234
This can be reached in a democracy too y'know. All you need is hang out less often with pretentious phonies convinced that the rest of the world is retarded and believe a bit less in innate intelligence.

>> No.2558262 [DELETED] 

>>2558256
How would we get rid of the boes?

>> No.2558265

>>2558262
If by Boes you mean Aboriginies, they were completely eradicated on Tasmania and not many have moved to it. Also in the smallest enclosed area there are no settlements/people, according to Google.

>> No.2558267

>>2558264
>convinced that the rest of the world is retarded
>believe a bit less in innate intelligence
Maybe I'm splitting hairs but isn't that the same thing? I think it would just be better to have an objective impartial view of human intelligence, behaviour and capbilities.

>> No.2558270

>>2558265
No I meant australians, that came out wrong.

>_>...

>> No.2558275

People would eventually resort to paying assassins to try to kill them, just to get the thrill of danger back into their lives.

>> No.2558281 [DELETED] 

>>2558267
Woops, what I meant is:

All you need is
1/hang out less often with pretentious phonies convinced that the rest of the world is retarded
2/believe a bit less in innate intelligence

>> No.2558286

>Play music? Play games? Have massive orgies?
this.

i wonder if it would get boring...it would basically be heaven...except real.

>> No.2558290

>>2558275
I'd rather just play a game that involved simulated danger. Why would I want to give up a life where everything was great? I really don't think people would go so far for this thrill, and even those who did would probably sooner try various sky-diving and hang-gliding tricks. Seems more a more fun form of risk than worrying at every turn that you might get sniped at.

>> No.2558294

>>2558290
You would eventually, if not because of some need to gain a greater thrill then just due to some error.

>> No.2558296

The first thing I'd do is have my capacity for boredom surgically removed. When you have until the end of the universe - which may never come - boredom's your worst enemy.

>> No.2558319

invent ridiculous dexterity challenges like pogo-stick juggling

play pub games like darts, pool and cribbage with trash-talking friends

breed/engineer new varieties of flowers

work on interstellar probes (even if they take a long time to build and a longer time to get to the destination, I could still see the results)

>> No.2558327

drugs

>> No.2558348

I would seek to destroy civilazation, just because I could

>> No.2558352

A related question: Do you think people would get gradually more adventurous in their sexual proclivities? Do you think http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImmortalityBisexuality has some basis?

>> No.2558368

>>2558348
That makes you evil, but not the cool type of evil, rather the Screwtape type who just wants to ruin nice things and be a massive stick in the mud.

>> No.2558378

>>2558348
And I'd force empathy into you, foiling your plans forever. Wa ha ha ha!

>> No.2558380

>>2558368
Well atleast life wouldn't be boring.

>> No.2558401

>>2558380
The intended point of this thread is that I don't think such a life would be boring. It just seems so to you because you're unimaginative.

>> No.2558405

Learn everything

>> No.2558447
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2558447

I would remake myself in poverful mechanical body and explore the cosmos. Land on planets and make the natives worship me for the ego trip. Burn giant troll face on the surface of the moon with lazers, just because I could. Engineer new inteligent lifeforms with horible faults in their biology, just to observe their painful strugle to survive. Seek unlimited POWERRRRRRRRRRR!

Basiclly, if given the chance, I'd try to become "god" in a sence that I would be tought to be one, if I would show up to current day humans. Power to destroy stars on whim, forge new life, maybe even travel trough time, if it is even possible.

And to make my near omnipotent existance truly infinite, I'd need to somehow either escape or nullify the eventual heat death of the universe.
Luckily I have plan for that, pick related.

>> No.2558490

>>2558447

The religious bioluddites will stop you and possibly even kill you at the moment you start trying to reach your posthuman godhood.

sadfrog.jpg

>> No.2558502

I would study and practice things like math and mixed martial arts, which I already do. I would also continue to work on personal artistic projects. People who say they need work to stay happy have been conditioned to be drones.

>> No.2558505

>>2558401
>life is bound to become boring.
So if I try and destroy civilization, everybody would have something to do because eventually if all you do has no danger/threat it will become boring, so I would take it upon myself to give excitment to the world

>> No.2558515

>>2558490

Not if I kill them first.

First I need to work under the radar, until I am so far, that they can't stop me. If they try, I'll just bob the earth to ash, using asteroids, that I have quite large ammount of, because one part of my plan is to start and own a lucrative asteroid mining busines.

So when I start pursuing my "godhood" I am in a position of power that allows me to seriously fuck up anyone, who tries to stop me.

Even if I somehow fail, I'll take the rest of humanity with me.

If I cant become god, then no one can.

>> No.2558518
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2558518

>>2558515
On the off-chance that crazy shit happens warn me so I can get the fuck off Earth before you begin the bombardment.

>> No.2558522

I would into space.

>> No.2558534

>>2558447
>Engineer new inteligent lifeforms with horible faults in their biology, just to observe their painful strugle to survive
God already did that

>> No.2558541

>>2558518

Of cource.

Actually, I should have added, that I am not oposed of the idea that other humans achiving "godhood", actually I would openly encourage that. Idealy, I'd like to see that every human becomes one of these "gods", but that, of cource is impossible, because the already mentionet bioluddites.

Hopefully no one has to be killed, but if some people try to stop this glorious trancendence to "godhood", they must be eliminated. For they are enemies of humanity, they seek to stop us reaching our true potential.

So in summary, people who wish to join this "godhood" I am ok with, people who wish to stay completely biological I am ok with, people wo try to force other people to stay completely biolocial, need to fucking DIE!

>> No.2558543
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2558543

>>2558534

I hoped somebody would notice that.

>> No.2558549

>>2558543
i hoped somebofy would comment on that.

>> No.2558553

>>2558549
I hoped someone would comment on the comment about that.

>> No.2558561

>>2558447
>>2558515
Sure is adolescent power fantasies in here.

>>2558505
>eventually if all you do has no danger/threat it will become boring
That may be true for you (though I doubt it) but I'm absolutely certain it isn't true for me. Risk can be exciting, but not all risks need to be existential risks. Starting an ambitious project with uncertain prospects provides a constructive sort of risk. Exploring the unknown provides another. I just don't see that one needs to be in actual, physical danger just to avoid becoming bored. You keep asserting this as though it were certainly true, but I find it rather dubious.

>> No.2558576

>>2558561

It is not a power fantasy, if the situation you yourself presented allowes that fantasy to be realised. And besides, what's wrong in the idea of human having godlike powers. If we can achive them through technology, why shouldn't we.

>> No.2558583

Life without struggle IS boring OP.

I've never been challenged by anything in my life and I'm constantly plagued by boredom.

>> No.2558591

>>2558561

Well, you asked what would I do with my time, given the situation you described, and I aswered.
I would seek to fullfil my power fantasies, because they express what I actually wished to be. The way you dismis them as immature, pusles me.

Do you think that humans should not be too powerful or something? Because, in the long run, if we were almost omnitpotent, our survival as a species would almost be guaranteed. And we would most certainly be able to do much more with our time. The artists could make whole planets pieces of art, the scientists would have the ability to wield great powers to fuel their effort to understad the universe and so on.

Is this somehow bad?

>> No.2558597

>>2558583

You just have failed to set yourself challanges you wish to overcome.

Life without strugle to survive is boring only for the simple minded.

>> No.2558608

travel to some planet
do minecraft in real life
upload pix of my planet on 4chan

>> No.2558617

i'd just study the things i like and never have the time to, like messing around with amateur robotics, learning to program in different languages and frameworks, read a lot of scifi books, and work out.

>> No.2558622

>>2558163
Perhaps go out and see nature.

In reality the woods give me a rash and it blows big time. :(

>> No.2558646

>>2558597

Any suggestions?

I have trouble keeping with something once I realize I can do it, and get bored quickly with stuff that isn't challenging.

>> No.2558660
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2558660

OP confirmed for a member of TZM/TVP

I like you OP :3

>> No.2558662

>>2558646

Try programming. Make games that you yourself would like to play.

That is what I'd do if I had the time and the money.

>> No.2558673

>>2558662

Programming and computers don't do much for me, at least wha I've experienced. I'll give it a try though, where should I start?

>> No.2560829

>>2558591
>"Land on planets and make the natives worship me for the ego trip."

>"Engineer new inteligent lifeforms with horible faults in their biology, just to observe their painful strugle to survive."

>"Even if I somehow fail, I'll take the rest of humanity with me. "

I do not see any problem with becoming a powerful being, in fact, there's something ennobling about the quest to improve ourselves. I do, however, see a problem with intentionally creating misery for one's own amusement, coercing other intelligent beings to worship oneself or attempting to destroy all of humanity, including the people who agree with your stance on technology, just because *some* people are obstructionist toward your goals.

The juvenile aspect is evident from the extreme hypocrisy (e.g. It's O.K. for me to coerce an entire planet to worship me, but it's wrong for anyone to coerce me so that I can't pursue my goals of unlimited power) and desire for disproportionate retaliation against people who have not done anything to you (the morality of puerile and vacuous action movies).

>> No.2560871

>>2558673
You could start by making a turn-based game with movement on a grid of tiles or a text based interface. The advantage being that you don't have to fret too much about the graphic design part of video game development, nor would you need to immediately understand how to implement physics or use 3D graphics tool kits.

In my opinion, the key to making good games is to concentrate on the mechanics first, graphics later.

>> No.2560885

>>2558163

Go read Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.

Eventually we'd have nothing to do but expand on what we already do.

Life would become, relatively, boring.

>> No.2560905

>>2558163
>what would you do with your time?

What ever I want. I'd spend my time sitting in on University lectures, going to the beach, camping, exercising, catching up with friends, reading books.
Absolutely anything I felt like doing.

>> No.2560928

>>2560885
I'll put that on my reading list, but I don't really see why something would become boring just because it "expand[s] on what we already do." One could argue that almost everything already fits that model.

One of the reasons I don't agree with the inevitability of boredom is that some activities admit of endless variety. Many games are exceedingly complex in their strategy, or include random circumstances with such variety that the same combination of events won't be seen again with any significant probability. Some mathematical structures have infinite detail (fractals), some potential spaces (like the potential space of possible designs for life-forms) are so vast as to be effectively infinite. I think people would value these intellectual pursuits more and more as society became more advanced.

>> No.2560932

OP's pic is shopped. why would there be a sign that says no birds? also, the sillouhete bird in the sign has the exact same shape as the actual bird. clearly a shop.

>> No.2561006

>>2560928

Relatively boring.

It is true that for some things there are many activities that have a large amount of variability to them. However, most people aren't going to experience the actual variability of the entire activity.

As a Rudimentary example, lets take a very complex video game. Lets say that the game automatically regenerates the world around you to an infinite extent.

Within this world you can do anything, and every time you enter it the surroundings change to produce much more 'variability'. However, there are some things that will most likely never change.

For example, the way you walk, the way you communicate with others, the way your representation remains rather static. A tree is a tree, dirt is dirt.

Over a long enough time period the world, no matter what i sin it, will become boring to you. Possibly because there is nothing 'new'.

If there are no major problems, then there is no real drive to crate anything 'new'. Thus the world becomes static, and boring. Relatively, of course.

>> No.2561058

>>2560932
It may well be shopped, but
1.) signs telling people not to feed gulls are not uncommon
2.) that's a highly stereotypical posture for a gull (which you'd want on the sign so the bird can be recognized)

The shape of the tail feathers being a perfect match does suggest a shop.

>> No.2561127

>>2561006
That's like saying that no matter what hand of cards you draw, it's the same because they're all pieces of pasteboard with images on them. It denies combinatorics (which tends to produce a profuse explosion of possibilities) and misses the forest for the trees.

As for the lack of peril and hardship removing the drive to create new things, is there any evidence this is true? It seems rather that societies in which people spend most of their time on basic survival needs stagnate and it's only when people can be relatively secure in these needs that their creativity comes out. Doesn't the desire to produce or experience novelty create some motivation of its own?