I want to do all of these.
Save the world. A great goal if you see a possible angle of attack, which I don't. The SIAI folks are more optimistic, but if they see a chink in the wall, they're yet to reveal it.
Help those who suffer. Morally upright but tricky to execute: James Shikwati, Dambisa Moyo and Kevin Myers show that even something as clear-cut as aid to Africa can be viewed as immoral. Still a good goal for anyone, though.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/1qf/the_craigslist_revolution_a_realworld_application/
Procreate.
Having children holds appeal to me, but only as something that seems worth experiencing eventually, not something I want to do in the next 10 years. It seems that if I am going to wait that long I might as well wait until genetic engineering or genetic selective implantation catches on. If I'm going to have children; I'd like to have superbabies. Superbabies also have a better chance of positively impacting existential risk.
Follow your muse.
I play the drums. Drum set, etc. I've been taking lessons in tabla for the last two years. I would like to be a rock star eventually, but I need to become independently wealthy first. You can't make money by making music anymore.
My startup is in the area of video game design, though I don't have any particular talent for video game design beyond the highest level (the big picture level). I guess I'll be better at the mechanics of game design once my game is actually finished.
Accumulate power, money or experiences. What for? I never understood that.
Not experiences, but accumulating power and money allow one to better achieve the other goals listed.
Advance science.
I'd also like to do this one, but it's probably last on my list of big goals. I also don't think I could make much of a difference now with my current intelligence, but I'd like to give it a shot in the future once we have some sort of drastic intelligence enhancement technology.
Having said that, I believe very strongly that people do not need a goal in life. Most people seem obsessed with the idea of doing something, but I think it's perfectly acceptable just to be without having to continuously do.
Sometime ago Jonii wrote:
When I'm hungry I eat, but then I don't go on eating some more just to maximize a function. Eating isn't something I want a lot of. Likewise I don't want a ton of survival, just a bounded amount every day. Let's define a goal as big if you don't get full: every increment of effort/achievement is valuable, like paperclips to Clippy. Now do we have any big goals? Which ones?
Save the world. A great goal if you see a possible angle of attack, which I don't. The SIAI folks are more optimistic, but if they see a chink in the wall, they're yet to reveal it.
Help those who suffer. Morally upright but tricky to execute: James Shikwati, Dambisa Moyo and Kevin Myers show that even something as clear-cut as aid to Africa can be viewed as immoral. Still a good goal for anyone, though.
Procreate. This sounds fun! Fortunately, the same source that gave us this goal also gave us the means to achieve it, and intelligence is not among them. :-) And honestly, what sense in making 20 kids just to play the good-soldier routine for your genes? There's no unique "you gene" anyway, in several generations your descendants will be like everyone else's. Yeah, kids are fun, I'd like two or three.
Follow your muse. Music, comedy, videogame design, whatever. No limit to achievement! A lot of this is about signaling: would you still bother if all your successes were attributed to someone else's genetic talent? But even apart from the signaling angle, there's still the worrying feeling that entertainment is ultimately useless, like humanity-scale wireheading, not an actual goal for us to reach.
Accumulate power, money or experiences. What for? I never understood that.
Advance science. As Erik Naggum put it:
Don't know, but I'm pretty content with my life lately. Should I have a big goal at all? How about you?