Playing factorio in real life, for us, means being a definite optimist, understanding ways of creating, doing hard tech at scale, working with (intelligent) machines, using the means of abundant energy, organizing intelligence to advance civilization using the means of capitalism, by arranging atoms in novel and useful ways, letting only nature and free markets validate our conjectures, embracing universal knowledge creation principles of fallibilism, understanding nature and society, building the best factories in our solar system, and knowing that any good system takes (a very long) time to build.
Factories are physical places in spacetime which produce extraordinary value from resources at hands, and make lives fundamentally better (resources in, products out). The capability of our factories determine the capability of our civilization. And it is the backbone of any advancing civilization. It might be a good time to spend human-flops in this area because of the great stagnation. And because manufacturing is hard. Much harder than we think we can even imagine right now.
But how can something so mechanical, devoid of any divinity or supernatural certainty be the answer to one of the most important philosophical and historical questions which steered human civilization to where it is, directly, that is, the meaning of life?
The core idea, at the heart of striving to build factories, is, more generally, that of progress. And progress because it allows us to find better answers to better questions, and allows the diminishment of scarcity. It allows us (by giving freedom) to dive deeper into more creative and important objective/moral truths.
And what religious, life or moral philosophy fundamentally allows, supports and optimizes the idea of vast technological transformations? The idea of building a home on mars or unheard longevity? I want to live forever and travel the universe. What optimizes for that?
The ideas of techno-progress with a touch of fallibilism and optimism? Maybe. The richest man in the world uses the same computers as a middle class person. World class products for everyone, making everyone richer. Factories make that possible. The road from starting agriculture to building rockets, is almost entirely the story of building better hardware, and thus, better factories.
So earth is about to complete its revolution around the sun, which is our 19th one. This is a snapshot of principles we want to be guided by and want to keep in mind. Mediocrity is the default state for most - and that is a very jarring thought.
-
Fallibilism and intellectual humility. The idea that one can be wrong about anything at anytime. One needs to strive to get better explanations. Conjecture and refutation. Evolution does that, so who are we not to? It’s probably good to assume we’re fools, even if we are not (though we probably are).
-
The conditioning of society prohibits us from seeing the world clearly. Most of the systems and most of the people are wrong. There are always and will always be better ways. It is a good rule of thumb to assume all conventional wisdom is flawed, and work backwards from it. How to think differently?
-
(Definite) optimism is essential, is necessary. To be excited about the world, life and future seems a very rare quality. Lack of knowledge is the root of all evils. Problems are inevitable. Problems are soluble.
-
On being silently indefinite pessimists. Plainly going through life as dictated by most societies is inherently and necessarily pessimistic.
-
Do you know how the world really works? Be deserving by the virtue of knowing a lot. Be skilled. You probably can’t change the world unless you understand it well enough.
-
Curiosity as a philosophy is good. Perhaps read science fiction.
-
“There are enough smart people working on every possible permutation of code that your particular marginal addition is unlikely to accelerate the future by more than a few weeks, maybe months.” - Casey Handmer.
-
When there is a gold rush, don’t sell shovels. Sell AI robots which do the digging for you. You get the point.
-
An old school business does millions in business, while people go nowhere trying to build a B2B SaaS. “Something of somewhere is nothing of nowhere”.
-
Life seems black and white once you look from far enough. What to work on is really important. Yes, we want to allocate capital, organize intelligence and build valuable institutes.
-
Don’t be galactic micronations. Pursue crazy ideas but with good explanations backing them.
-
Where do you want to be when AGI comes? Be prepared to welcome it with open arms. Work to allow it to do wonders for us. Build infrastructure for that.
-
Dear activists wont save me, capitalism will. Capitalism and free markets preserves the values of error correction.
“Find someone with money who needs a problem solved and solve it, repeat"
- Casey Handmer
-
Learn from nature, not people. Free markets and nature are the only true validators. Physics and imagination are the only true limit.
"Kepler knew what we habitually forget-that the locus of possibility
expands when the unimaginable is imagined and then made real through
systematic effort" - Maria Popova
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There exists things like Elden Ring Also, if you are not from earth, and want to understand us earthlings, play The Last of Us Part 2.
-
Circumstances don't matter that much, possibilities do. And since there are infinite possibilities for things to create, for things to happen, life is infinitely great.
-
Humanity is still in its infancy. The traditions of enlightenment have just started. beginning of infinity.
-
The great stagnation. Energy abundance through through solar? Has it always been the sun?
-
There is a distinction between publishing research papers that take civilizations nowhere versus solving things like self driving.
-
Don't be cringe. Aesthetics are necessary.
-
Most people don't work hard, they just do easy and repetitive tasks over long periods of time.
-
Things take a long time to happen. The true discounted value of a company. A decade of work and the organizational capability becomes invaluable. Neuralink may become one of the most valuable companies in 20 years. Just like tesla became, in 20 years. Solving a near impossible challenge, while delivering shippable intermediaries.
-
Certainty theory that people chase certainty, in everything. That we scorn the abstract. Confirmation, hindsight, attribution and survivorship biases. It is a good idea to meditate on what certainties are we basing our actions on.
-
No amount of money can buy you a trip to mars today.
-
Contrary to popular belief, capital is cheap. There is too much money in the world.
-
If someone watches everyone’s life from universe’s perspective, what would he say about yours? Are you crazy enough? When was the last time you got ecstatic like this?
-
Money (entries in a sql database) can only take you so far.
-
Wealth allows you to allocate resources for the creation of new knowledge and more physical transformation.
-
Life is positive sum. You should be too.
-
We are privileged. Many aren't.
-
Local optimum of low expectation. Mediocrity or local maximas are alluring but evil. Meditate on how short life is, and the true place of oneself in the grand scheme of cosmic, luck, societal and evolutionary humility.
-
Sorry, but most people are noobs. Not in intelligence, but in motivations. And most people don’t do great things, not because they can’t, but perhaps because they don’t want to.
-
People are not rational. We are so much driven by biology. High vs Low rung. Please meditate.
-
Life is a playground. Also, does god exist? We don’t know. But the act of questioning probably holds more value than the answers.
-
Create more than you consume. The consumer class might be a plague. I admire those who make (or aspire to) my life on this blue dot better.
-
Meditation is learning by nature, not people. Self is a thought which never goes away.
-
Be full of explorative energy. Be a high agency person. Do things that are not usually done. Be authentic. Radiate a free flowing blissful energy. Embrace childlike adventure. Do not adhere to illusive rules of civility. Do not play along with the bullshit. Live The creative act. Be a nuisance, poke life and the status quo.
-
We are aware that most of our thoughts, principles and ideas are mostly influenced by what we see, and consume on the internet. We know and understand that we only see the winners (survivorship bias)
-
There is comfort in theory but life’s epitome should be that of action, not of learning. So back to work.
Maybe the meaning of life is to play factorio.
23 Dec 2023 - Amanjot and Sehaj See all postsFor those who don’t know, factorio is a game where you build and maintain massive factories in order to build a rocket to get out of the planet you crash landed in.
Playing factorio in real life, for us, means being a definite optimist, understanding ways of creating, doing hard tech at scale, working with (intelligent) machines, using the means of abundant energy, organizing intelligence to advance civilization using the means of capitalism, by arranging atoms in novel and useful ways, letting only nature and free markets validate our conjectures, embracing universal knowledge creation principles of fallibilism, understanding nature and society, building the best factories in our solar system, and knowing that any good system takes (a very long) time to build.
Factories are physical places in spacetime which produce extraordinary value from resources at hands, and make lives fundamentally better (resources in, products out). The capability of our factories determine the capability of our civilization. And it is the backbone of any advancing civilization. It might be a good time to spend human-flops in this area because of the great stagnation. And because manufacturing is hard. Much harder than we think we can even imagine right now.
But how can something so mechanical, devoid of any divinity or supernatural certainty be the answer to one of the most important philosophical and historical questions which steered human civilization to where it is, directly, that is, the meaning of life?
The core idea, at the heart of striving to build factories, is, more generally, that of progress. And progress because it allows us to find better answers to better questions, and allows the diminishment of scarcity. It allows us (by giving freedom) to dive deeper into more creative and important objective/moral truths.
And what religious, life or moral philosophy fundamentally allows, supports and optimizes the idea of vast technological transformations? The idea of building a home on mars or unheard longevity? I want to live forever and travel the universe. What optimizes for that?
The ideas of techno-progress with a touch of fallibilism and optimism? Maybe. The richest man in the world uses the same computers as a middle class person. World class products for everyone, making everyone richer. Factories make that possible. The road from starting agriculture to building rockets, is almost entirely the story of building better hardware, and thus, better factories.
So earth is about to complete its revolution around the sun, which is our 19th one. This is a snapshot of principles we want to be guided by and want to keep in mind. Mediocrity is the default state for most - and that is a very jarring thought.
Fallibilism and intellectual humility. The idea that one can be wrong about anything at anytime. One needs to strive to get better explanations. Conjecture and refutation. Evolution does that, so who are we not to? It’s probably good to assume we’re fools, even if we are not (though we probably are).
The conditioning of society prohibits us from seeing the world clearly. Most of the systems and most of the people are wrong. There are always and will always be better ways. It is a good rule of thumb to assume all conventional wisdom is flawed, and work backwards from it. How to think differently?
(Definite) optimism is essential, is necessary. To be excited about the world, life and future seems a very rare quality. Lack of knowledge is the root of all evils. Problems are inevitable. Problems are soluble.
On being silently indefinite pessimists. Plainly going through life as dictated by most societies is inherently and necessarily pessimistic.
Do you know how the world really works? Be deserving by the virtue of knowing a lot. Be skilled. You probably can’t change the world unless you understand it well enough.
Curiosity as a philosophy is good. Perhaps read science fiction.
When there is a gold rush, don’t sell shovels. Sell AI robots which do the digging for you. You get the point.
An old school business does millions in business, while people go nowhere trying to build a B2B SaaS. “Something of somewhere is nothing of nowhere”.
Life seems black and white once you look from far enough. What to work on is really important. Yes, we want to allocate capital, organize intelligence and build valuable institutes.
Don’t be galactic micronations. Pursue crazy ideas but with good explanations backing them.
Where do you want to be when AGI comes? Be prepared to welcome it with open arms. Work to allow it to do wonders for us. Build infrastructure for that.
Dear activists wont save me, capitalism will. Capitalism and free markets preserves the values of error correction.
Learn from nature, not people. Free markets and nature are the only true validators. Physics and imagination are the only true limit.
There exists things like Elden Ring Also, if you are not from earth, and want to understand us earthlings, play The Last of Us Part 2.
Circumstances don't matter that much, possibilities do. And since there are infinite possibilities for things to create, for things to happen, life is infinitely great.
Humanity is still in its infancy. The traditions of enlightenment have just started. beginning of infinity.
The great stagnation. Energy abundance through through solar? Has it always been the sun?
There is a distinction between publishing research papers that take civilizations nowhere versus solving things like self driving.
Don't be cringe. Aesthetics are necessary.
Most people don't work hard, they just do easy and repetitive tasks over long periods of time.
Things take a long time to happen. The true discounted value of a company. A decade of work and the organizational capability becomes invaluable. Neuralink may become one of the most valuable companies in 20 years. Just like tesla became, in 20 years. Solving a near impossible challenge, while delivering shippable intermediaries.
Certainty theory that people chase certainty, in everything. That we scorn the abstract. Confirmation, hindsight, attribution and survivorship biases. It is a good idea to meditate on what certainties are we basing our actions on.
No amount of money can buy you a trip to mars today.
Contrary to popular belief, capital is cheap. There is too much money in the world.
If someone watches everyone’s life from universe’s perspective, what would he say about yours? Are you crazy enough? When was the last time you got ecstatic like this?
Money (entries in a sql database) can only take you so far.
Wealth allows you to allocate resources for the creation of new knowledge and more physical transformation.
Life is positive sum. You should be too.
We are privileged. Many aren't.
Local optimum of low expectation. Mediocrity or local maximas are alluring but evil. Meditate on how short life is, and the true place of oneself in the grand scheme of cosmic, luck, societal and evolutionary humility.
Sorry, but most people are noobs. Not in intelligence, but in motivations. And most people don’t do great things, not because they can’t, but perhaps because they don’t want to.
People are not rational. We are so much driven by biology. High vs Low rung. Please meditate.
Life is a playground. Also, does god exist? We don’t know. But the act of questioning probably holds more value than the answers.
Create more than you consume. The consumer class might be a plague. I admire those who make (or aspire to) my life on this blue dot better.
Meditation is learning by nature, not people. Self is a thought which never goes away.
Be full of explorative energy. Be a high agency person. Do things that are not usually done. Be authentic. Radiate a free flowing blissful energy. Embrace childlike adventure. Do not adhere to illusive rules of civility. Do not play along with the bullshit. Live The creative act. Be a nuisance, poke life and the status quo.
We are aware that most of our thoughts, principles and ideas are mostly influenced by what we see, and consume on the internet. We know and understand that we only see the winners (survivorship bias)
There is comfort in theory but life’s epitome should be that of action, not of learning. So back to work.
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