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This is terrible advice and analysis - but let's just run with it. If life is a game and dying with the most money and/or children is the optional end state, w

This is terrible advice and analysis - but let's just run with it. If life is a game and dying with the most money and/or children is the optional end state, well, here are some considerations: 1) The accident of birth is the greatest uncontrolled variable that affects long-term outcome. If you enter the game as the child of wealthy parents in a wealthy society, your chances of 'winning' are probably about 100X higher than if born to poor parents in a poor society. There are a range of other possibilities, of course - poor parents in a wealthy society (more opportunities), wealthy parents in a poor society (more risks), etc. If it's a game, it's hardly a level playing field. Then there's genetics to consider, which nobody really understands that well, though most seem to claim to. 2) As you move over the playing board, luck will play a huge role in the outcomes, certainly as much as skill will. The ability to discern between people that you should affiliate with and those you should not is certainly among the most important skills to develop. Another one is self-discipline - even if you happen to have above-average intelligence it won't count for much if you don't steadily apply it (though burnout followed by crash is the other side of that coin). Recommend listening to Carl Orloff's O Fortuna at this point (English & Latin): https://youtu.be/O5b7tgkdFH0 https://youtu.be/O5b7tgkdFH0 3. As far as having lots of children, and winning the genetic population dynamics part of the game, those fertility doctors who replaced all their client's sperm with their own come to mind. Donald Cline is the most notorious, but there are several others. Cheat codes? Seems to be some pathology in this 'life is a game' outlook. Life isn't really a game, a game is an entertaining diversion that can sometimes help develop one's skills. See 'the importance of play in childhood development'. Some people never exit this state, and we we have lots of overgrown children running around these days, starting wars and playing boardroom dominance games and cheating on their partners and so on. The transition from childhood to adult is not very well-managed in modern society. As far as practical advice, training and developing your mind and body is never a bad idea. Regardless, all roads lead to the grave - what kind of game is that? Life is a mystery, that's a better view IMO.

kiba 4y ago
1) The accident of birth is the greatest uncontrolled variable that affects long-term outcome. If you enter the game as the child of wealthy parents in a wealthy society, your chances of 'winning' are probably about 100X higher than if born to poor parents in a poor society. There are a range of other possibilities, of course - poor parents in a wealthy society (more opportunities), wealthy parents in a poor society (more risks), etc. If it's a game, it's hardly a level playing field. Then there's genetics to consider, which nobody really understands that well, though most seem to claim to. Sure, we're all accidents of birth and it's not a playing field, but that doesn't lead to actionable advice.
- photochemsyn 4y ago
  If it's a game, then clearly a winning strategy for the poor people is to steal / seize / obtain the resources from the rich people by any means available? Seems quite actionable, if perhaps socially destabilizing. War is a game, revolution is a game, bank robbery is a game? Perhaps, however, there's something fundamentally problematic with this 'life is a game' viewpoint? See Tom Cruise as 'A Player' in Tropic Thunder, that at least was meant as satire: https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8 https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8
  - phkahler 4y ago
    It's not a game that you win or lose. It's a classic arcade game - meant to last a variable but finite time. Score is only a rough metric. It's all about mastery along the way.
  - zeroonetwothree 4y ago
    There’s a reason we evolved a fairly consistent set of ethics. Crime actually isn’t a great strategy. It’s too easy to detect and punish. Now there are more subtle forms of ‘cheating’ that do work well but they require some modicum of success first. You can’t bribe the local government to favor your business if you don’t have one in the first place.
falcolas 4y ago
My question is, if life is a game and there's no rewards after death based on your performance (modulo belief systems held while playing), wouldn't you want to optimize to die with as close to $0 as possible? Even if you do believe in a reward system post-game, they all seem to heavily reward helping others, which is another reason to aim for $0.
- scottLobster 4y ago
  You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? I'm of the opinion that, barring another technological revolution, we're at the top inflection point of an economic S curve, at least from a global perspective. The insane growth of the past century is an anomaly, and future economic opportunities will be fewer and harder to access. Which means I need to build an Ark for my family to weather the coming flood. Fortunately I'm starting from a relatively favorable position as a US-based software engineer. If I can die with 10 million dollars from a lifetime of investments and work, that ensures my kids can take advantage of the fewer opportunities that will exist. And maybe my work can do some good for others along the way. And yes in the grand scheme of the heat death of the universe my family's welfare is meaningless. But that perspective only produces excess suffering for no purpose. If you require fundamental, universal, logically substantiated meaning to feel like life's worth living, that's vanity. No human has ever had that or will ever have that, why should you? Being comfortable with "I don't know" is part of being an adult.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    > You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? Corporations and the government are, short sufficient (0.1%) wealth to protect your assets upon death, finding ways to confiscate any left over wealth, and prevent it from transferring to children/spouses/charity/etc. Medicaid cost recovery, for example.
zeroonetwothree 4y ago
If you’ve played rogue like games you know that sometimes you get lucky and everything goes your way. You get the best starting traits, the easiest progression, path, etc. Other times it’s the opposite. But the goal is to make do with what you have. There’s no use complaining that you were born in worse circumstances, try to make the most of it. I was born in a poor third world country and had several serious medical conditions as a child (I almost died twice) as well as autism/ADHD (not diagnosed till later of course since no one in my hometown even knew of those things). But I have ended up fairly well off, with a family, in a rich country (earning mid 6 figures). If you had guessed whether it’d be better to be born me or a random American in San Francisco you’d probably have been wrong. Of course I was lucky to be born with some positive traits (smart, interested in programming) that helped as well. I’m not saying that everyone else should follow my path, but what’s the point in just complaining that your life sucks without trying to make it better?

kiba 4y ago

1) The accident of birth is the greatest uncontrolled variable that affects long-term outcome. If you enter the game as the child of wealthy parents in a wealthy society, your chances of 'winning' are probably about 100X higher than if born to poor parents in a poor society. There are a range of other possibilities, of course - poor parents in a wealthy society (more opportunities), wealthy parents in a poor society (more risks), etc. If it's a game, it's hardly a level playing field. Then there's genetics to consider, which nobody really understands that well, though most seem to claim to. Sure, we're all accidents of birth and it's not a playing field, but that doesn't lead to actionable advice.

photochemsyn 4y ago
If it's a game, then clearly a winning strategy for the poor people is to steal / seize / obtain the resources from the rich people by any means available? Seems quite actionable, if perhaps socially destabilizing. War is a game, revolution is a game, bank robbery is a game? Perhaps, however, there's something fundamentally problematic with this 'life is a game' viewpoint? See Tom Cruise as 'A Player' in Tropic Thunder, that at least was meant as satire: https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8 https://youtu.be/Omgf9WuGwq8
- phkahler 4y ago
  It's not a game that you win or lose. It's a classic arcade game - meant to last a variable but finite time. Score is only a rough metric. It's all about mastery along the way.
- zeroonetwothree 4y ago
  There’s a reason we evolved a fairly consistent set of ethics. Crime actually isn’t a great strategy. It’s too easy to detect and punish. Now there are more subtle forms of ‘cheating’ that do work well but they require some modicum of success first. You can’t bribe the local government to favor your business if you don’t have one in the first place.

falcolas 4y ago

My question is, if life is a game and there's no rewards after death based on your performance (modulo belief systems held while playing), wouldn't you want to optimize to die with as close to $0 as possible? Even if you do believe in a reward system post-game, they all seem to heavily reward helping others, which is another reason to aim for $0.

scottLobster 4y ago
You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? I'm of the opinion that, barring another technological revolution, we're at the top inflection point of an economic S curve, at least from a global perspective. The insane growth of the past century is an anomaly, and future economic opportunities will be fewer and harder to access. Which means I need to build an Ark for my family to weather the coming flood. Fortunately I'm starting from a relatively favorable position as a US-based software engineer. If I can die with 10 million dollars from a lifetime of investments and work, that ensures my kids can take advantage of the fewer opportunities that will exist. And maybe my work can do some good for others along the way. And yes in the grand scheme of the heat death of the universe my family's welfare is meaningless. But that perspective only produces excess suffering for no purpose. If you require fundamental, universal, logically substantiated meaning to feel like life's worth living, that's vanity. No human has ever had that or will ever have that, why should you? Being comfortable with "I don't know" is part of being an adult.
- falcolas 4y ago
  > You don't see leaving something for your kids/family to improve their lives as meaningful? I don't require a reward after death to want the best for my wife/kids. Lacking a family, why not charity? Corporations and the government are, short sufficient (0.1%) wealth to protect your assets upon death, finding ways to confiscate any left over wealth, and prevent it from transferring to children/spouses/charity/etc. Medicaid cost recovery, for example.

zeroonetwothree 4y ago

If you’ve played rogue like games you know that sometimes you get lucky and everything goes your way. You get the best starting traits, the easiest progression, path, etc. Other times it’s the opposite. But the goal is to make do with what you have. There’s no use complaining that you were born in worse circumstances, try to make the most of it. I was born in a poor third world country and had several serious medical conditions as a child (I almost died twice) as well as autism/ADHD (not diagnosed till later of course since no one in my hometown even knew of those things). But I have ended up fairly well off, with a family, in a rich country (earning mid 6 figures). If you had guessed whether it’d be better to be born me or a random American in San Francisco you’d probably have been wrong. Of course I was lucky to be born with some positive traits (smart, interested in programming) that helped as well. I’m not saying that everyone else should follow my path, but what’s the point in just complaining that your life sucks without trying to make it better?