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When 23 million people are talking about your little weekend project, you have changed the world. Maybe your definition of 'change the world' is too stringent.

When 23 million people are talking about your little weekend project, you have changed the world. Maybe your definition of 'change the world' is too stringent. Squeezable ketchup bottles changed the world too. Instead of being so uptight about how people use the phrase why you don't you start trying to create your own impact?

tensor 12y ago
Instead of being obsessed with entertainment and other forms of self gratification, it would be nice if people focused on important problems with actual historical consequence.
- IneffablePigeon 12y ago
  So playing and talking about a game means you never focus on important problems?
- enraged_camel 12y ago
  What if, 50 years from now, game design textbooks talk about 2048 and how it became a near instant hit in the early 2000s?
- chc 12y ago
  So, instead of engaging in some harmless recreation, you reckon it's morally superior to go on Hacker News and chastise people for engaging in harmless recreation? I think instead of being obsessed with criticizing others, it would be nice if people focused on just about anything else in the world. Games are not the loftiest goal in the world, but they do make people happy and engage their minds. Not everyone is going to cure cancer, and it is not reasonable to criticize them for not being that person. Yes, curing cancer would be grand, but we need plumbers too. Just because something isn't historically significant doesn't mean it isn't significant.
  - tensor 12y ago
    I'm not criticizing them for what they do, I'm criticizing them for the whole wooo I'm changing the world arrogance. Take it down a notch and get some perspective.
    - visakanv 12y ago
      The one thing more frustrating than "woo i'm changing the world" arrogance is "woo, i'm making a difference by helping the 'woo i'm changing the world' people get some perspective." If you don't like their arrogance, put them in their place by doing better.
      - tensor 12y ago
        I've already done better. I've contributed significantly to the first draft of one of the human chromosomes. I've helped prepare parts for the LHC by cleaning them to remove contaminants, and I've made several open and novel contributions to science. I'm now working on changing a small area of society, but I don't make any arrogant claims of changing the world in doing so.
        rantanplan 12y ago
        LOL, one of the best come backs I've seen on HN :) I enjoyed 2048, but yeah it didn't change my life in the slightest. And every other "world changing effect" they ascribe to it, could more easily explained with the "butterfly effect", than the significance of this game. UPDATE: Downvoting with someone you disagree is fun, but try at least offering an argument.
- kolinko 12y ago
  Oh, so you'd be one of the guys telling Zuckenberg to stop fooling around with stupid site with students' pictures, and start doing serious things? Or telling Jobs & Wozniak that their tiny computer for hobbyists is meaningless, and they should do some serious work with mainframes. Or perhaps you'd walk up to Picasso and tell him to stop painting triangles and squares, and get into industrial design? And scientific illustrations? See, the effect of a project can be estimated in hindsight. 2048 made some people interested in programming, and inspired a ton of other people. Who knows, perhaps some future Einstein in 20 years will say: "it all started when I played this stupid game, that had an open source, and I decided to play with it."
magpi3 12y ago
> When 23 million people are talking about your little weekend project, you have changed the world. How has 2048 changed the world?
- ewzimm 12y ago
  I hope you can come back to this comment years later with another perspective. If you read the comments on this thread, you will see how many people learned about github and FLOSS just from 2048. Its transparency and apparent simplicity have been huge draws for millions of people. It has changed the way lots of people think about software, and it has only been around for weeks. The fact that anyone would question that a project like this would change the world indicates that there's still a kind of meta-narrative playing out in people's minds that tells them that only established players can have any real impact on things. It may seem chaotic, but any weekend project could become just as influential as any software out there. We're still hopefully pretty early in the history of programming.
  - tensor 12y ago
    We still need large projects and always have. Your weekend project might win you the popularity contest and make you a millionaire, but will you still be in vogue the next year or the year after? We've already seen numerous of these changing the world entertainment products come and go, and yet the world is as it was, with the same basic problems continuing to get worse.
- visakanv 12y ago
  You'll never know. There could be some little girl who played it, loved it, picked it apart and ended up getting into programming herself, and she might be the cofounder of something that improves the lives of billions. You'll never know.
  - adwn 12y ago
    In that scenario, the little girl changed the world, not 2048.
tensor 12y ago
These days 8 million people talk about a monkey peeing in its mouth on youtube [1]. It doesn't mean the monkey changed the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI
- Theodores 12y ago
  8 million people chuckled - and I bet you did. Many of those 8 million had something unforgettable and bizarrely enlightening to share with their friends, or not, as the case may be (if they don't really have any friends). I would say that you underestimate that monkey, he has brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people and he fully deserves his own reality TV show. So, yep, he has changed the world. I much prefer the world to be changed by things like 2048, which is like an online version of the Rubik's Cube for our times. Contrast with the world-changing ways of the politicians. Bush, Blair and co worked very hard to take the world to war, yet, ultimately, they lost and it was all a complete waste of time.
- lelandbatey 12y ago
  "Changed the world" could have a variety of meanings. Taken literally, it could mean "altered or affected the world in any amount." Going with such a strict definition, nearly everything changes the world. The other extreme, the one people frequently have in mind, is "to change or alter many parts of the world very directly", such as the invention of flight. However, a better phrase for the feeling in developer circles I think would be "touched the world." Doing so, with the internet, is easy. Like building a public bench in a city park, many people may gain small enjoyment from it, and as the one who built it, all that small joy brings you lots of excitement.
- shairosen 12y ago
  If you want to get philosophical, the world is actually changing every second, with every interaction that happens. Besides, this game might just be a stepping stone for something bigger.
- frogpelt 12y ago
  Think about it like this: If the creator posted a link on the page for a worthy cause, he has the audience necessary to make a huge difference. Whereas if you were to start from nothing and try to create impact, it would be a major uphill battle. The hard part is reaching enough people. He has already done that. Another way to think about it: Richard Sherman is a cornerback for the Seahawks. Is he having an impact? Well, they just signed him to a $58 Million contract. And part of what he does with his money is fund the The Richard Sherman Family Foundation whose goal is to help as many kids as possible have adequate School supplies and clothes. So does Richard Sherman change the world by intercepting passes and talking trash after playoff games? You bet he does. People who have the platform to change the world are more likely to, in either a positive or a negative direction.
danoprey 12y ago
Personally, and of course you can define it however you want, I think something that "changes the world" needs to be both significant and lasting. Getting people to play one game instead of another for a few months isn't either. Squeezable ketchup bottles are much closer.

tensor 12y ago

Instead of being obsessed with entertainment and other forms of self gratification, it would be nice if people focused on important problems with actual historical consequence.

IneffablePigeon 12y ago
So playing and talking about a game means you never focus on important problems?
enraged_camel 12y ago
What if, 50 years from now, game design textbooks talk about 2048 and how it became a near instant hit in the early 2000s?
chc 12y ago
So, instead of engaging in some harmless recreation, you reckon it's morally superior to go on Hacker News and chastise people for engaging in harmless recreation? I think instead of being obsessed with criticizing others, it would be nice if people focused on just about anything else in the world. Games are not the loftiest goal in the world, but they do make people happy and engage their minds. Not everyone is going to cure cancer, and it is not reasonable to criticize them for not being that person. Yes, curing cancer would be grand, but we need plumbers too. Just because something isn't historically significant doesn't mean it isn't significant.
- tensor 12y ago
  I'm not criticizing them for what they do, I'm criticizing them for the whole wooo I'm changing the world arrogance. Take it down a notch and get some perspective.
  - visakanv 12y ago
    The one thing more frustrating than "woo i'm changing the world" arrogance is "woo, i'm making a difference by helping the 'woo i'm changing the world' people get some perspective." If you don't like their arrogance, put them in their place by doing better.
    - tensor 12y ago
      I've already done better. I've contributed significantly to the first draft of one of the human chromosomes. I've helped prepare parts for the LHC by cleaning them to remove contaminants, and I've made several open and novel contributions to science. I'm now working on changing a small area of society, but I don't make any arrogant claims of changing the world in doing so.
      - rantanplan 12y ago
        LOL, one of the best come backs I've seen on HN :) I enjoyed 2048, but yeah it didn't change my life in the slightest. And every other "world changing effect" they ascribe to it, could more easily explained with the "butterfly effect", than the significance of this game. UPDATE: Downvoting with someone you disagree is fun, but try at least offering an argument.
kolinko 12y ago
Oh, so you'd be one of the guys telling Zuckenberg to stop fooling around with stupid site with students' pictures, and start doing serious things? Or telling Jobs & Wozniak that their tiny computer for hobbyists is meaningless, and they should do some serious work with mainframes. Or perhaps you'd walk up to Picasso and tell him to stop painting triangles and squares, and get into industrial design? And scientific illustrations? See, the effect of a project can be estimated in hindsight. 2048 made some people interested in programming, and inspired a ton of other people. Who knows, perhaps some future Einstein in 20 years will say: "it all started when I played this stupid game, that had an open source, and I decided to play with it."

magpi3 12y ago

> When 23 million people are talking about your little weekend project, you have changed the world. How has 2048 changed the world?

ewzimm 12y ago
I hope you can come back to this comment years later with another perspective. If you read the comments on this thread, you will see how many people learned about github and FLOSS just from 2048. Its transparency and apparent simplicity have been huge draws for millions of people. It has changed the way lots of people think about software, and it has only been around for weeks. The fact that anyone would question that a project like this would change the world indicates that there's still a kind of meta-narrative playing out in people's minds that tells them that only established players can have any real impact on things. It may seem chaotic, but any weekend project could become just as influential as any software out there. We're still hopefully pretty early in the history of programming.
- tensor 12y ago
  We still need large projects and always have. Your weekend project might win you the popularity contest and make you a millionaire, but will you still be in vogue the next year or the year after? We've already seen numerous of these changing the world entertainment products come and go, and yet the world is as it was, with the same basic problems continuing to get worse.
visakanv 12y ago
You'll never know. There could be some little girl who played it, loved it, picked it apart and ended up getting into programming herself, and she might be the cofounder of something that improves the lives of billions. You'll never know.
- adwn 12y ago
  In that scenario, the little girl changed the world, not 2048.

tensor 12y ago

These days 8 million people talk about a monkey peeing in its mouth on youtube [1]. It doesn't mean the monkey changed the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI

Theodores 12y ago
8 million people chuckled - and I bet you did. Many of those 8 million had something unforgettable and bizarrely enlightening to share with their friends, or not, as the case may be (if they don't really have any friends). I would say that you underestimate that monkey, he has brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people and he fully deserves his own reality TV show. So, yep, he has changed the world. I much prefer the world to be changed by things like 2048, which is like an online version of the Rubik's Cube for our times. Contrast with the world-changing ways of the politicians. Bush, Blair and co worked very hard to take the world to war, yet, ultimately, they lost and it was all a complete waste of time.
lelandbatey 12y ago
"Changed the world" could have a variety of meanings. Taken literally, it could mean "altered or affected the world in any amount." Going with such a strict definition, nearly everything changes the world. The other extreme, the one people frequently have in mind, is "to change or alter many parts of the world very directly", such as the invention of flight. However, a better phrase for the feeling in developer circles I think would be "touched the world." Doing so, with the internet, is easy. Like building a public bench in a city park, many people may gain small enjoyment from it, and as the one who built it, all that small joy brings you lots of excitement.
shairosen 12y ago
If you want to get philosophical, the world is actually changing every second, with every interaction that happens. Besides, this game might just be a stepping stone for something bigger.
frogpelt 12y ago
Think about it like this: If the creator posted a link on the page for a worthy cause, he has the audience necessary to make a huge difference. Whereas if you were to start from nothing and try to create impact, it would be a major uphill battle. The hard part is reaching enough people. He has already done that. Another way to think about it: Richard Sherman is a cornerback for the Seahawks. Is he having an impact? Well, they just signed him to a $58 Million contract. And part of what he does with his money is fund the The Richard Sherman Family Foundation whose goal is to help as many kids as possible have adequate School supplies and clothes. So does Richard Sherman change the world by intercepting passes and talking trash after playoff games? You bet he does. People who have the platform to change the world are more likely to, in either a positive or a negative direction.

danoprey 12y ago

Personally, and of course you can define it however you want, I think something that "changes the world" needs to be both significant and lasting. Getting people to play one game instead of another for a few months isn't either. Squeezable ketchup bottles are much closer.