Again, agreed for the most part. I just think you're underestimating the power of (board or otherwise) games, how they capture and reflect patterns of reality t

Again, agreed for the most part. I just think you're underestimating the power of (board or otherwise) games, how they capture and reflect patterns of reality that are not immediately apparent or not directly useful (or even verbalizable). There's this deep connection between curiosity, idle fun and problem solving. The idea of driving people to "sustained and detailed scientific studies" to tackle "existential threats"... that is just not how the world works. Innovation doesn't happen by committee. It happens by making weird connections in unexpected places. To be honest, I don't think you're giving enough credit to the evolutionary process that gave us our propensity to admire "games and stories". Dismissing it as "just navel-gazing", or just philosophy, in favour of rigorous science, sounds extremely perilous -- as if killing something fundamental to humanity.