
Videogames And The Impossibility Of Escape From Planet Earth - mcav
http://rossignol.cream.org/?p=844
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ryanwaggoner
_Perhaps it simply is the case that we’re trapped on this planet, or in this
solar system._

When I read articles that discuss the vastness of the cosmos and the trillions
upon trillions of stars that inhabit our universe, and the likelihood that
there are perhaps billions of inhabitable planets out there teeming with life,
the emotion I feel most is not awe, but a deep sadness for all that we'll
never know or understand about the universe. Many of these galaxies are tens
of billions of light years away, so unless there's some pretty impressive
loopholes in the laws of physics as we understand them today, we as a species
will never know what lies beyond the tiniest fraction of our little corner of
the universe.

And that's depressing.

~~~
chops
As an individual who will likely not be around in 100 years or so, it's mildly
depressing to know that I won't see the next 500+ years of advancement.

As a species, I'm not worried. Who knows what discoveries will be made, and
what kind of subsequent technological achievements will be made in the future?
If the history of science has taught us anything, it's to not underestimate
the power of the undiscovered.

If you figure, there are a handful of things that we know we don't yet know
(grand unified theory). Just think of the things we don't know that we don't
know.

~~~
smhinsey
> If the history of science has taught us anything, it's to not underestimate
> the power of the undiscovered.

well said

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bitwize
_It doesn’t have to mean “exploring a jungle in the Congo”, or “exploring that
nice little village in Tuscany”, it could just as easily mean “exploring the
physics of this peculiar puzzle game”, or “exploring the inside of a psychotic
milkman’s imagination“._

This reminds me of the sort of artist whom we're implicitly supposed to regard
as brilliant simply by virtue of being audacious. They're always exploring
stuff and it's usually stuff you can explore from your own comfy chair without
much physical or even terribly much mental effort. Like, "A poet, sculptor,
and political activist from Portland, Oregon, H. Remington Jackass explores
the connections between race, gender, and the challenges to the nature of self
imposed by modern capitalistic society."

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dreish
Of course, the opposite of the "aliens just stayed home" hypothesis is the
hypothesis that we're the first species in the universe to acquire technology,
and that we'll spread throughout it within a few more decades, eliminating any
possibility for any other species to do the same.

Personally I doubt it's possible to exceed the speed of light. I think it's
more likely that we'll slowly spread throughout the Milky Way, and that while
simple life and complex-but-unintelligent life are likely to be pretty common,
the average distribution of technological species is probably something on the
order of one per galaxy.

Just a hunch.

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DanielBMarkham
The author says that exploring inner worlds instead of the real universe
"...It could be incredible, or unfathomably horrible..."

I think its much more likely over hundreds of years it will just slowly
degrade into complete inaction and senility -- a species reaching its old age.

~~~
stcredzero
Perhaps we are already sliding into senility:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=654578>

Maybe capitalism and digital networks are a dead-end? Perhaps we will just be
pulled into ever-faster cycles of incomprehensible introspection and cultural
remixing? Perhaps only a few species ever escape this trap, which is why we've
never seen any.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Yes a species has to be dynamic and chaotic enough to explore, yet docile
enough to somehow live with itself.

Too chaotic and you have lawlessness and lack of trust in contracts -- the
basis of economic performance. You can't trust the future. Too docile and
nobody truly takes risks which carry great rewards, such as ocean travel. You
stagnate.

It is completely possible that most species are unable to keep the right mix
long enough to conquer deep space exploration. Instead they just turn into
themselves and wilt, doing less and less and consuming more and more until the
species itself is homogeneous and unable to survive natural challenges like
plagues. I think we can see the beginnings of this already.

