Re:We’re Optimizing Ourselves to Death (2019)
by mementomori on Sunday November 22, 2020 @07:17PM
(#25182335)
This is the core of my own development: seeing the world and life in this world (or even beyond) as an unbounded game rather than a zero-sum game. A lot of times it's the perspective that matters. Maybe at times when we are overly focused on the "how" of optimization and lose sight of the "why," the human mind/body/soul becomes unable to metabolize it, and flips out.
Re:We’re Optimizing Ourselves to Death (2019)
by heimatau on Sunday November 22, 2020 @08:01PM
(#25182560)
>when we are overly focused on the "how" of optimization and lose sight of the "why,"
I have full agreement with you except the quoted statement above. I would actually rephrase this to say: when we are overly focused on our own solution then we lose sight of other coherent variables/solutions that we didn't take into account. Some call this myopic, among many other terms. All our decisions don't exist in a vacuum, no matter how convincingly the perspective is.
I do appreciate how they concluded:
> When given the choice, we optimize.
>
> Then we work.
Yes. Please focus on this. Our humanity is mostly best suited to receive positivity. Accept the negativity (read: unideal outcomes) but move forward with the positivity on building a better world. On building a world that understands more. On building a world that expresses abundance and joy.
The author seems to equate that work is somehow inherently evil. I'd say this is only true if it's a zero sum game but if it's an infinitely unbounded game then I'd say it's profitable to everyone.