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I recommend reading the wonderful series The Culture, by Iain M Banks, which deals, among other things, with this exact problem, the problem of god-like AI Mind

I recommend reading the wonderful series The Culture, by Iain M Banks, which deals, among other things, with this exact problem, the problem of god-like AI Minds making our hobbies (or struggles) superfluous. Start with the Player of games. A short introduction to the culture of The culture can be found here, written by the author himself: http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm Yes, the Minds can do everything but (pan-)humans still enjoys doing things for their own pleasure. Like for example learning to play an extremely difficult instrument while a Mind avatar taunts him by perfectly playing the same instrument. The Player of Games still plays games, although he couldn't ever win against a Mind. And, should this be not enough, one can always leave The Culture and try and find meaning in the short, brutish lives of primitives people.

anigbrowl 4y ago
I think you seriously missed a point there - spoilers follow, so hide this comment if you don't want to see them. InThe Player of Games, the inciting incident for the main plot is that the titular character cheats, accepting help from an AI to maintain his reputation of ludic brilliance against an emerging rival who exhibits greater natural talent. Subsequently, he is gently blackmailed into participating in a game on a distant planet where life is nasty, brutish, and short to an extreme degree, but where he is accepted as a guest because of his great reputation. The Minds have chosen this method to destabilize the current balance of power and bring the planet in question out of a particularly repugnant developmental minimum. It's ultimately revealed that even the initial moral misstep was not exploited but rather engineered by the Minds from the outset, and that the great player was never more than a pawn in their own games.
- GeoAtreides 4y ago
  Yes, but before he choose to cheat, he played for the fun. He didn't wake up one day and, understanding machines do everything better, gave up. No, he followed his passion for playing games. Then his pride got the best of him, but that is not relevant to the argument. The idea is people had their hobbies and passions and didn't care Minds could surpass them in everything.

anigbrowl 4y ago

I think you seriously missed a point there - spoilers follow, so hide this comment if you don't want to see them. InThe Player of Games, the inciting incident for the main plot is that the titular character cheats, accepting help from an AI to maintain his reputation of ludic brilliance against an emerging rival who exhibits greater natural talent. Subsequently, he is gently blackmailed into participating in a game on a distant planet where life is nasty, brutish, and short to an extreme degree, but where he is accepted as a guest because of his great reputation. The Minds have chosen this method to destabilize the current balance of power and bring the planet in question out of a particularly repugnant developmental minimum. It's ultimately revealed that even the initial moral misstep was not exploited but rather engineered by the Minds from the outset, and that the great player was never more than a pawn in their own games.

GeoAtreides 4y ago
Yes, but before he choose to cheat, he played for the fun. He didn't wake up one day and, understanding machines do everything better, gave up. No, he followed his passion for playing games. Then his pride got the best of him, but that is not relevant to the argument. The idea is people had their hobbies and passions and didn't care Minds could surpass them in everything.