5 ms·

Just a small reminder that everything you work for and thought important, everything you poured your soul and life into and consider your legacy, will die at so

Just a small reminder that everything you work for and thought important, everything you poured your soul and life into and consider your legacy, will die at some point after you. Sometimes only a few months after, when some random bean counter expressly breaks your wishes for some self-interested reason that you are no longer alive to dismiss as moronic. Very, very few people can leave a lasting mark and especially change the world for the better.

krisoft 4y ago
Well. It sounds like the museum was not financially self-sustaining (which is fine) and the founder did not leave a well endowed foundation to maintain it. That combination is deadly.
frozenport 4y ago
My contribution to the heat death of the universe is indelible due to the laws of thermodynamics.
- hgomersall 4y ago
  Indeed, the more one achieves, the more one contributes. One might even suggest it is the defining characteristic of life - a better way to increase entropy.
  - cornholio 4y ago
    The largest contribution then would be to set forest fires your entire life, or perhaps gas and oil fields if you have the skills.
    - nullc 4y ago
      I dunno, those forests were going to burn eventually anyways-- so is that a contribution? To really make your mark on entropy you have to bring things to a lower energy state that requires crossing a substantial barrier, such that it wouldn't happen on its own. The potential disaster outcomes considered for the LHC would be good candidates, especially https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        Now that's what I call ambition!
    - hgomersall 4y ago
      No, you want a stable ecosystem that can keep alive as much life as possible which can maximise entropy production over much longer timescales. It's necessary to maximise the whole system's entropy exhaust over time. Much better if we can get people to colonize new planets, or create a Dyson sphere or whatever.
- rbanffy 4y ago
  I’ve always sought to reduce entropy locally while knowing that my effort increases it on average outside my focus, but I made peace with that.
nebula8804 4y ago
Don't know about you but when I go use an old computer/videogame/candy/snack that I enjoyed as a kid, it usually does not evoke the same feelings as it did when I was first experiencing it. What I am getting at is that all the efforts were not wasted because for a moment in time, it evoked an incalculable amount of wonder, joy, and happiness to many people. The moment was bound to be gone for each person regardless of the status of the museum because it was not just the museum, it was everything that was unique to each person at the point in time. The Museum just happen to add a positive contribution to each person's moment.
- imiric 4y ago
  I'm not quite sure what your point is, but don't you think that there's enormous cultural value in places like the LCM that allow more people to experience that feeling of wonder for the first time? Just because that feeling wanes away after the first experience, doesn't mean that these places aren't very valuable to society.
  - nebula8804 4y ago
    I guess I didn't explain it well, sorry. I agree that LCM is very valuable to society. I think I accidentally conflated two separate points. My first point is that yes the memories made are a moment in time that the mind cannot articulate correctly in present time (hence nostalgia evoking feelings better than what reality was at the time) BUT and this is important, even if LCM goes away, the effort they did spent was not in vain because it created those moments for so many people. OP stated that everything you do will eventually die at some point after you. I disagree because we don't know if the positive impact that LCM created on someone could have then translated into a positive impact that a person who experienced LCM passes onto their friends and family. That positive impact could then traverse downwards. I had this same exact discussion with some guy manning the Atari 800 booth at a recent Vintage Computer Festival East event. He was showing off cool demos running on the computer and we talked about how after he dies he felt that no one will care about this computer equipment anymore. The love for this platform dies with him and his generation. It got me thinking that this item was made for a certain era which consisted of certain cultural elements that existed not only in the country where the item was designed, but also whatever thinking that was prevalent in specific components like the CPU design, computer science advancement at the time, marketing, etc. In other words, the computer was made specifically for people living at that moment in time. There probably wasn't much thought put into how different future people would perceive it because you don't know what the future holds and at the point of sale those people don't exist and don't matter. At the same time though the memories that the computer generated will not be lost forever. They could have impacted downstream events (eg. the children of person could have been motivated to go into tech thanks to the love that the computer generated for their parent who subsequently went into tech)
lordswork 4y ago
While the things we build will inevitably end at some point, the ideas they inspire in others will live on through their creations and so on. Exploring and executing on ideas is perhaps the biggest impact any of us can have on future generations.

krisoft 4y ago

Well. It sounds like the museum was not financially self-sustaining (which is fine) and the founder did not leave a well endowed foundation to maintain it. That combination is deadly.

frozenport 4y ago

My contribution to the heat death of the universe is indelible due to the laws of thermodynamics.

hgomersall 4y ago
Indeed, the more one achieves, the more one contributes. One might even suggest it is the defining characteristic of life - a better way to increase entropy.
- cornholio 4y ago
  The largest contribution then would be to set forest fires your entire life, or perhaps gas and oil fields if you have the skills.
  - nullc 4y ago
    I dunno, those forests were going to burn eventually anyways-- so is that a contribution? To really make your mark on entropy you have to bring things to a lower energy state that requires crossing a substantial barrier, such that it wouldn't happen on its own. The potential disaster outcomes considered for the LHC would be good candidates, especially https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      Now that's what I call ambition!
  - hgomersall 4y ago
    No, you want a stable ecosystem that can keep alive as much life as possible which can maximise entropy production over much longer timescales. It's necessary to maximise the whole system's entropy exhaust over time. Much better if we can get people to colonize new planets, or create a Dyson sphere or whatever.
rbanffy 4y ago
I’ve always sought to reduce entropy locally while knowing that my effort increases it on average outside my focus, but I made peace with that.

nebula8804 4y ago

Don't know about you but when I go use an old computer/videogame/candy/snack that I enjoyed as a kid, it usually does not evoke the same feelings as it did when I was first experiencing it. What I am getting at is that all the efforts were not wasted because for a moment in time, it evoked an incalculable amount of wonder, joy, and happiness to many people. The moment was bound to be gone for each person regardless of the status of the museum because it was not just the museum, it was everything that was unique to each person at the point in time. The Museum just happen to add a positive contribution to each person's moment.

imiric 4y ago
I'm not quite sure what your point is, but don't you think that there's enormous cultural value in places like the LCM that allow more people to experience that feeling of wonder for the first time? Just because that feeling wanes away after the first experience, doesn't mean that these places aren't very valuable to society.
- nebula8804 4y ago
  I guess I didn't explain it well, sorry. I agree that LCM is very valuable to society. I think I accidentally conflated two separate points. My first point is that yes the memories made are a moment in time that the mind cannot articulate correctly in present time (hence nostalgia evoking feelings better than what reality was at the time) BUT and this is important, even if LCM goes away, the effort they did spent was not in vain because it created those moments for so many people. OP stated that everything you do will eventually die at some point after you. I disagree because we don't know if the positive impact that LCM created on someone could have then translated into a positive impact that a person who experienced LCM passes onto their friends and family. That positive impact could then traverse downwards. I had this same exact discussion with some guy manning the Atari 800 booth at a recent Vintage Computer Festival East event. He was showing off cool demos running on the computer and we talked about how after he dies he felt that no one will care about this computer equipment anymore. The love for this platform dies with him and his generation. It got me thinking that this item was made for a certain era which consisted of certain cultural elements that existed not only in the country where the item was designed, but also whatever thinking that was prevalent in specific components like the CPU design, computer science advancement at the time, marketing, etc. In other words, the computer was made specifically for people living at that moment in time. There probably wasn't much thought put into how different future people would perceive it because you don't know what the future holds and at the point of sale those people don't exist and don't matter. At the same time though the memories that the computer generated will not be lost forever. They could have impacted downstream events (eg. the children of person could have been motivated to go into tech thanks to the love that the computer generated for their parent who subsequently went into tech)

lordswork 4y ago

While the things we build will inevitably end at some point, the ideas they inspire in others will live on through their creations and so on. Exploring and executing on ideas is perhaps the biggest impact any of us can have on future generations.