Relativistic Environment Principle

I was just thinking...

No matter how awesome of an environment you can think up, if you were born into that environment, you would think it was precisely as interesting as the one you were already in.

That is, while you can read books about space ships or wizards (or wizards flying spaceships...bound to be books like that somewhere) and think, "Cor, that must be a lot more interesting than where I am", if you were born into that setting you'd be just as bored with that as you already are with computers, jet planes and the ability to live in a house that never gets attacked by the Bug Beasts of Zanthorp.

If the universe is infinite, and thus all possibilities exist, then somewhere, someone is, at this very moment, being attacked by ninjas, wishing they could live in a world where they could live a quiet suburban life and perhaps write things into a blog now and then. Or they're watching the sky go from orange to purple and then to a light shade of pink, wishing they could live in a world where things could possibly stay the same for two days in a row without undergoing radical changes.


Perhaps the real issue isn't how much better we can imagine some other place being, but rather, how satisfied we can be with where we already are. Is satisfaction a result of your environment? Would changing the environment increase your satisfaction? Or is satisfaction an internal function and if you changed environments, you would simply bring that same level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with you?

Star Trek review

Short version:
I liked it.


Long version with possible spoilers:
Most of my favorite Star Trek episodes/scenes are from the original show. I liked Star Trek TNG and all that but there are some situations that you can really only get into when you have a belligerent captain who thinks that rules are for chumps. And that's Captain Kirk. I have long been waiting for a Star Trek that brings back Captain Kirk. I had hoped "Enterprise" would be that show, but when it wasn't, I quickly lost interest. Voyager and Deep Space Nine had some fine moments. DS9 in particular had some great episodes. But it didn't have Kirk.

This movie has Kirk.

That was most of what I needed to know about it.

Fist fights, phasers, photon torpedoes. Taking big, arguably stupid risks because you always think there's a way to win. That's Kirk.

As far as the acting goes, I'm not quite sure they got Kirk exactly right. Kirk was never quite THAT reckless and energetic. But I'm willing to give it a pass. The rest of the crew seemed spot on (although since when did Chekov become an expert at the transporter? Oh well, it's high time Checkov got some screen time anyway). Spock was Spock. McCoy was McCoy. Scotty was Scotty, albeit with more energy.

I'm also willing to forgive them the whole time travel thing, since they're doing something unusual with it...

Normally, I hate time travel. "Enterprise" using time travel as basically the first major plot was a huge mistake. Time travel is what you fall back on when all of the good ideas have already been used. Time travel is lame and full of holes.

BUT

In this case I see why they did it, and it's not a bad reason: they wanted to reset the Star Trek universe and not be stuck with old canon. Basically, this Star Trek does not take place in the same universe as every other Star Trek we've watched. Due to time travel, it takes place in a slightly different, parallel universe. It basically gives them license to change small things without every Trekkie howling about it. Well, they can still howl but now there's a simple one-liner explanation for all of it, which is "parallel universe -- different events set this universe down a different path than the other one, so not everything is going to be the same".

That, actually, is another good Star Trek creation: "Treknology". Taking the impossible and making it possible through a vague application of theoretical science. Light speed travel is impossible? Warp drives! Getting to the planet's surface is a pain? Teleporters! Shooting warp speed ships with lasers wouldn't work? Phasers! In this case, the Treknology of parallel dimensions is actually used against THE TREK FANS THEMSELVES as a way to sidestep all complaints about minor differences and oversights.

In a way, I have to sit back, clap slowly and say, "Oh... bravo. Well played, sir."

Count me as officially looking forward to the next movie or show using this cast.

Kirk, Spock and McCoy are back.

Conan, what is best in life?

I often sit around having existential thoughts. What is life? What's the point of it? Why are we so capable of dreaming of so much more than we'll ever have or ever see? What, if anything, comes next? If I could choose another life, anything I could dream of, what would I pick?

I've decided that this world is actually pretty fantastic. We can dream, and in doing so, we can get a glimpse of everything that could ever be. You can't have 25 different careers, but you can imagine them. You can't be a superhero but you can dream it, write it, watch a movie about it, read a book about it and play one in a video game and then be ready for the next dream. We see other people's dreams (through various forums of media) and they can act as a basis for more of our own.

Surely this is the greatest thing in the universe. We come with our own movie studio in our heads. It's like someone asked us what we wanted the universe to be like and we said, "I don't know, give me a little taste of everything."

I confess! I play a lot of games. Read a lot of books. Watch a lot of movies. Some would say this is "throwing my life away". Au contraire! I would say it's making the very best use of the very best part of it: the dreaming part. This explains a lot about me. I like to do things that give further fuel for my dreams; I don't like to do things that don't. People have told me I should travel more, get out more, that sort of thing. Why? My dreams don't involve France. I don't think that would change very much if I went there. They don't really involve dance clubs, either. Not That There's Anything Wrong With That. I'm just sayin', it's not fuel for my dreams, hence, I'm not interested. I don't want to go somewhere just for the sake of saying I've been or do something just for the sake of saying I've done it. Life is not a collectors game for me; it's a chance to dream. Time not spent dreaming or finding the fuel for dreams is time wasted.

The glorious part is how we always strive to make our dreams reality, in some small way. Not just technologically but socially and culturally, too. Surely we owe every advancement, every improvement to someone who spent enough time dreaming.

I can't seem to get enough of it. (Disclaimer: I am not a hermit. My best dreams involve other people!)


[completely unrelated, self-indulgent self-analysis follows]


I've also been thinking about the mind and memory. My memory is odd. Some things I can remember easily, some things I forget in an instant. I remember how to play as the "Core" from Total Annihilation, a game I haven't played in probably 8 years, but I can't recall my mom's birthday. I think I recognize the pattern...

I believe the mind trains itself to handle memory based on how you like to think.

I like to form, let's say, strategies. Strategies for planning my time, strategies for going to work, strategies for writing blogs, strategies for playing games, strategies for conversation. I don't favor the more concrete form of thinking that requires specific details to function. So I am terrible at remembering birthdays. Dates rarely fit into any of my strategies. I will remember YOU, as in your mannerisms and personality even though I probably forgot your name about 5 seconds after you told me. Your personality is important for future strategies but your name? That I can live without. So off it goes, to wherever it is irrelevant information goes. (Although if I'm specifically trying to make friends, remembering your name would be important to that strategy.) I think this explains why I can remember, in great detail, the type of person my next door neighbor was in 1984, but I've forgotten to return my Netflix video for like 6 days in a row. One is an important factor in a social strategy, the other is just a specific detail of day to day life and thus has a hard time holding a spot in any active part of my brain.


Sometimes I wish I had access to a second brain. I need a basis for comparison.


This part of the blog had nothing to do with anything, I've just been meaning to write it down (not that I kept forgetting, just that I had other things I wanted to do more....)

Why I Like Astronomy

I've always liked astronomy. I particularly enjoy reading about new discoveries or trying to understand the physics (as, apparently, so are the astrophysicists...), but that's not really the basics of why I like it.

I like astronomy because it reminds me that I am teeny-tiny and the universe is mondo-gigantor. More specifically, I think the problems of my life can always be put into perspective by realizing that somewhere out there, an unthinkably huge sun is exploding. Ones problems are always small in comparison to exploding suns. Flat tire? Exploding sun. Lonely? Exploding sun. If you want to trump an exploding sun, you'll have to find something else astronomical to compare it to.

Also, the sun is orbiting around the galactic center at about 220 km/second. Wherever you are now, it is 792,000 kilometers away from where you were an hour ago.


The point is it helps me maintain a perspective. My problems are not the end of the world.



Unless my problem is a giant meteor, in which case it might be the end of the world.




But anyway, I also like to look up at the stars whenever I get a chance because it reminds me that there are endless possibilities. We are on a small rock, hurtling through a massive universe. What will tomorrow bring us? Who knows! Science isn't even entirely sure what the majority of the mass in the universe is. Anything could happen tomorrow. Anything. It's hard to hold onto despair when you know that tomorrow could bring you anything.

Life's Philosophies III

I have another life philosophy... actually maybe "strategy" is a better word.

I call this strategy, "Don't Be Richie."

When I was in college, one of my friends started taking guitar lessons from a guy named Richie. Richie was close to our age. He apparently made the unilateral decision that he was now part of our overall friend group and he should invite himself over to hang out with us whenever possible. He'd run into us somewhere and hang out with us. Sometimes he'd show up at my friend's house, where odds were reasonable a bunch of us would be hanging out and he'd...hang out.

Richie was kind of ... awkward. As I recall, his major flaw would be that he would enter into every conversation with some completely different conversation. Like we'd be talking about the movie we saw recently and he'd jump in and start talking about his motorcycle. We sought to ditch Richie whenever possible and never invite him anywhere and do everything reasonable to discourage him without actually saying "go! away!". I think the best moment was when we were leaving my friend's house to go somewhere and passed Richie on the narrow road going the other way. We pretended to not see him and got the hell out of there. Everyone was basically nice to him when he was around but as soon as his back was turned it was all, "Holy crap, how do we ditch this guy?"

A thought floated through my mind at that moment. "Wait... we're all nice to him until his back is turned... and they're all nice to me when I'm around... dun dun dun!"

I immediately began Operation Don't Be Richie, which continues to this day. The cornerstones of this strategy are as follows:
* If someone declines invitations to three events in a row, stop inviting them to anything unless they specifically request otherwise. They might be trying to avoid me.
* Always give people an out when extending an invitation. "Would you like to go to a movie Saturday" is better than "Are you busy this weekend", since the latter question is actually a trap.
* Never invite myself anywhere, even if I really really want to go. Wait to be invited.

Through this strategy I can ensure that I am never Richie, or "That Guy" as people like him are more universally known.

Life's Philosophies II

Here's another one.

So there are times in everyone's life when they're scared, nervous, etc. Maybe it's concerns over bills, their job, the sound of a broken window at 3am, the left wing, which was there just a moment ago, no longer being present, whatever.

Religious folks have it easy. They get to pray to an all powerful presence and in doing so, they can feel at peace and conquer their fears.

Coming from more of an agnostic angle where there may or may not be an all powerful presence who may or may not be inclined to help in any way (Crom!*), I had to come up with some other internal rationalization.

My secret mantra? "Do the best you can." I think I want that on my gravestone: "He did the best he could."

I think I evolved this line of thinking through gaming (see also: "everything I ever needed to know, I learned from gaming"). I've generally felt that while you can't always win, there is no shame in losing when you are out of ammo, out of options and too tired to run anymore. There are times in everyone's Nethack career when they are shoved up against a dead end with 15 Orcs stuffing up the only exit, they have 1 hitpoint left and the only thing left in their backpack that can possibly be of any help is a scroll named "Ugloft Potel" because they haven't identified it yet. And sometimes it saves you and sometimes it just lights up the room so you can witness your death more clearly. But that's not important. The important thing is you did the best you could with what you had and nobody can ask any more of you than that.

This same line of thinking has carried over into my real life.

I maintain a relatively stress free existence by saying things like, "While I don't know what my career will look like in 5 years, or what that noise was just now or whether that left wing is supposed to come off at 30,000 feet, what I do know is that I will simply do the best I can and this is all anyone can expect."

I dunno, I just find a lot of peace in that concept.

There's a joke among competitive gamers that goes, "don't run; you'll only die tired". I've always felt that dying tired (and out of ammo) was the best way to go. You did the best you could and there's no shame in that.

* - I've been reading the Robert Howard "Conan" stories. I like the concept of Crom, the god of Conan's people. Contrary to the movie, you don't pray to Crom. Conan was quite specific about this. Crom doesn't care and if you pray to him, he'll send you doom for interrupting his train of thought. Crom only does one thing for his people: at birth, he gives them the strength to strive. "What else shall men ask of the gods?" What else indeed?

Life's Philosophies

(for lack of a better word)

Occasionally I hear things that seem like good, reasonable advice, like "make time for people who make time for you". I haven't decided if it's good advice or not but I like the direction it's going.

Once in a great while, though, I come up with a philosophy that sticks with me long term and directs me in a very day-to-day way. I think I have three main ones that drive everything I do, so I'll list them here. If you have tracked me here from other comments or blogs, you may be familiar with these already, but I thought it was time to put them all in one place:

1) Monsters are real.
2) Live life as if it was ideal.
3) Seek happiness, not perfection.

"Monsters are real."

When I was little, I thought monsters were big, hairy things with fangs that lived in your closet or under your bed. Now that I'm older, I wish it was that easy. I mean, a big hairy monster with fangs would be easy to identify and if it lived in the closet, at least you'd know where it was at. Now I know that real monsters are much, much worse than we ever dreamed of when we were kids.

Real monsters look just like people and they might be anywhere.

This isn't meant to be a basis for paranoia, which is something you can certainly develop by watching too much nightly news or reading too many history books, but it's important to understand that they exist. Terry Pratchett once mentioned that the important thing to teach children isn't that monsters are real (we are born knowing this), it's to teach them that monsters can be beaten.

I think that it's important to remind adults that they are real. We tend to forget. And then one day they show up and fly an airliner into a skyscraper.

Don't create unrealistic notions about the nobility and universal brotherhood of mankind. Not all of them think like you do.

"Live life as if it was ideal."

This is an important philosophy to have if you're going to have the previous philosophy. This one states that while there is a very small chance that the person approaching you in the dark alley is a serial killer looking to get a start on his career, you should treat him as if he was a nice person who would probably be fun to play Scrabble with. In an ideal world, he would, in fact, be a nice person who is fun to play Scrabble with and the only way you'll ever find out is to approach with that attitude in mind. Whereas if you treated him as a potential serial killer and, say, sprayed him with pepper spray and kicked him in the gemmies without provocation you would never find out about Scrabble.

To put it another way, don't let fears of negative possibilities ruin your life. Make your choices. Other people's choices are up to them. If they do wrong, then that's on them. If you assume they will do wrong and treat the situation as such, you will miss out on life's joys. If you always wear a raincoat and carry an umbrella you will never get wet but you'll also never feel the sun on your skin.


Incidentally, I wrap up these first two philosophies into one package I call "optimistic cynicism": the practice of approaching situations as if they were ideal even when I feel they aren't, which is most of the time.

"Seek happiness, not perfection."

This philosophy applies to everything from vacations to relationships to what you are doing right now this very second.

Are you happy where you are? Happy with what you are doing?

When I ask this, do you think of other things you could be doing? Things which might be more fun? Do you worry that you're wasting your time? Carpe diem? Are you seizing the day? Might you be able to seize it better if you were doing something else?

These are foolish questions. Dangerous questions. "Carpe diem" has to be the worst philosophy to hit our society in the last 20 years. Seize the day...bah!

Never ask yourself if you could be doing something better. If you could be someplace better. If you could be with someone better. If you are "living life to the fullest".

Ask yourself if you are happy.

If you are happy, then be happy. Don't waste that happiness by worrying about ways in which you might become happier.

If you like where you are and what you are doing then stick with it. "The perfect is the enemy of the good". You can find yourself old and miserable because you cast aside too many good things in the search of the perfect thing. By all means, throw away the things that make you unhappy but don't throw away the good just because you think you can find better.