4 ms·
A much more interesting read than I was expecting. My first reaction after a few sentences was "What a waste of time and effort." Then just spending a few min
by te_platt 15y ago
A much more interesting read than I was expecting. My first reaction after a few sentences was "What a waste of time and effort." Then just spending a few minutes thinking about what around me is more than a few years old kind of got to me. What around me is more than 100, 1000, 10000 years old? Where I live in Salt Lake there are hardly any human made structures older than 100 years, and none more than 160. The oldest building I've been to personally was in London, on the order of 1000 years old. It's humbling to think about how short of a span that is in human history. Almost disturbing to think about what I will do or make that will last 100, 1000, or 10000 years.
In 100 years I hope to have grandchildren who knew me still living.
In 1000 years it's a stretch that there will still be an accurate note of my existence.
In 10000 there may not even be a myth about the existence of any of us here.
- bgutierrez 15y agoThinking on such a long term scale is so weird that it seems hokey or even wildly eccentric at first glance. But crafting a message for generations beyond ourselves is too beautiful an undertaking to ignore.
- tectonic 15y agoAgreed, I think our dislike of long-term thinking leads to many of our most fundamental human problems.
- Eliezer 15y ago10,000 years from now, I'm going to remind you that you said that, and we'll both think it was pretty funny.
- te_platt 15y agoI hope so. What's really funny is I was reading through some of your articles on lessWrong just this morning and almost put in a caveat along the lines of "Assuming no singularity event".
- gort 15y agoOut of curiousity, how confident are you about the general idea of humanity surviving and in a good state? I know your work focuses on the idea that AI, poorly implemented, will probably destroy everything of value; so how confident are you that it will be well implemented?
- moo 15y agoIt's possible. Due to HN I recently found a relative who was alive 10000+ years ago. He was a mariner, was around 20 when he died. Was found back in 1996 in On Your Knees Cave, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. After a HN story on DNA Day and a 23andMe discount, found out my mtDNA is Haplogroup D4h3a. So we have the same maternal hereditary line, even though I'm like 91% european.