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I’ve always felt like we need a more formal technology for implanting false memories. In the millennial generation, many people will probably live shitty lives
by xwdv 4y ago
I’ve always felt like we need a more formal technology for implanting false memories. In the millennial generation, many people will probably live shitty lives and will never be able to afford things such as a home, kids, travel or retirement. Perhaps the humane thing to do would be to implant happy memories when they are on their deathbed, so they could die peacefully remembering the good times they were never able to achieve.
- hirundo 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_for_You_Wholesale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_for_You_Who...
- AlecSchueler 4y agoNot sure if you're serious or joking? Surely the effort would be better spent to genuinely increase quality of life.
- renewiltord 4y agoWell, genuinely increasing QoL requires me to convince a large mass of people. Developing this technology only needs progress against nature. The former problem is generally intractable for me.
- coldtea 4y agoThat's like solving the problem of not having a meaningful relationship (and sex) with watching porn. It's a substitute alright. It's also not a solution, just a crutch.
- AlecSchueler 4y agoSaw that you got downvoted for your metaphor. I'm not surprised as HN is extremely defensive of porn, which I guess makes sense, sadly, given the demographics. But I wanted to go out of my way to say thank you for speaking against it.
- renewiltord 4y agoCrutches are useful tools. We still produce and recommend lots of actual crutches every day for a good reason.
- AlecSchueler 4y agoDon't think we use them as long term solutions over things like physiotherapy though.
- moondrek 4y agoThe video game "To The Moon" and its sequels/related media explores this premise.
- TrevorJ 4y agoPick 100 random people from 100 random times in history. Millennials will have objectively better quality of life than almost all of them. That isn't to say that we don't have a huge number of problems that should be completely solvable, but good grief, we need some perspective here.
- jessaustin 4y agoHow does this respond to parent, which didn't even mention other generations, cavemen, medieval serfs, etc? Who really benefits from this "perspective" you suggest? Not the millennials under discussion, nor 99% of anyone else. You certainly don't benefit from it, so why suggest it?
- pessimizer 4y agoI think it's supposed to explain that because the hardworking and underpaid are better off than cavemen, they will also obviously continue to be better off than cavemen, so all problems are therefore tractable, and also currently being solved. Also, that if you live better than a caveman you should show some gratitude and stop complaining. Something something Steven Pinker Dr. Pangloss.
- TrevorJ 4y agoLet me be more direct: suggesting that the life of the average Millennial is so uniquely miserable that the best approach is to give up trying to make things better, and implant simulated memories is one of the most myopic, selfish and self serving drivel I've heard in recent memory.
- jessaustin 4y agoHere you attempt to distract from the basic dishonesty of your inter-generational "whataboutism" through critique of something GP didn't suggest. GP's observations of the present and near-future are discouraging, but they're accurate. The cavemen and the serfs are not our opponents; our opponents are alive right now. GP speculated that we could be kinder to the dying (seriously, that's what you're arguing against), but didn't recommend surrender. [I had a suggestion for "action" here, but I deleted it before posting.]
- kjkjadksj 4y agoModern medicine gives you an opioid instead on your death bed.
- AnimalMuppet 4y agoIf we have such a technology, you think it will be used to comfort the dying, rather than manipulate the living? Wow, are you an optimist.
- spywaregorilla 4y agoWhy do people act like the tiny slice of life where you're dying is a really important part
- r2_pilot 4y agoBecause for most people involved, the tiny slice of life where you're dying is the only thing they empirically experience.
- spywaregorilla 4y agoI can't parse this sentence.
- NateEag 4y agoI think it's a convoluted invocation of the idea that everyone is dying from the moment they are brought into this world of struggle and entropy.
- NateEag 4y agoBecause death is terrifying at a primal level that almost can't be articulated. Anything that reduces the anticipated terror and misery is seen as desirable. That's mostly what cryonics is about, by the way. It gives hope at your moment of death that perhaps you'll come back someday. Oddly enough religion is not just about that, but it does serve that purpose often.
- coldtea 4y agoYeah, let's not fix problems, let's sweep them under false memory carpet. But why go all that far? If we want people to be happy "in their deathbed" or in life in general, we could always mandate euphoric drugs 24/7...
- chasd00 4y ago> we could always mandate euphoric drugs 24/7... or a Buy Now button
- xwdv 4y agoDon’t we already do that? We give people phones and apps and hyper stimulation to keep them as happy as possible. Go watch TikToks of people pulling funny pranks or big tits bouncing in your face for several hours and be happy. Or make videos yourself and get rewarded with likes.
- avgcorrection 4y agoYes, and this will be engineered by the... benevolent past generations which are already dead? The “zoomers”?