Pursuing the target

Adam Zerner
Sun, 03 May 2026 07:59:02 GMT

A group of people stand together at a point in the playing field. Each of them is pursuing a target.

Alice is pursuing the wrong target. This leads to her aiming in the wrong direction.

Bob is pursuing the right target. He has a lot of horsepower and is capable of blazing far down a long path. However, Bob has a poor compass. He ends up blazing far, but in the wrong direction.

Carol has a strong compass. Her aim is true. However, she doesn't have much horsepower to work with and ultimately doesn't get very far.

Dave has strong horsepower and a strong compass. Does this get him to the target? No. He lacks stamina. He gets about as far as Carol.

Erin has strong horsepower, a strong compass, and strong stamina. She even is pursuing the right target — in a macro sense. Day-to-day, she gets distracted by other, shinier targets. Erin lacks focus.

Frank has focus. He also has strong horsepower, a strong compass, and strong stamina. It seems promising, but he ultimately doesn't get very far. It turns out that there's only so far one person can go.

Grace learns from Frank's mistakes. She doesn't have his talent, but she realizes she doesn't need it. She decides to build a team. They set out towards their target together. This gets her closer than Frank, but still not close enough.

Heidi takes things further than Grace. She thinks it's stupid that they all keep starting from the same point on the map. Heidi wants to build off the progress of others. To stand on the shoulders of giants. She convinces her fellow travelers to work together to build a map of the territory they each are looking to traverse.

Unfortunately, Heidi's efforts don't prove to be fruitful. They instead lead to chaos.

Most travelers are too lazy or selfish to contribute. Of those who opted to contribute, everyone has different ideas of how to map out the territory, where they should explore further, and even what target they should pursue.

Ivan learns from Heidi's mistakes. He breaks off and tries the same thing as Heidi, but he only accepts contributions from travelers who are sufficiently qualified. And, more importantly, he figures out a way to incentivize contributions. It's not perfect, but it's something.

Judy has gotten fed up. She decides that the target isn't real and doesn't waste her time pursuing anything.

Judy's friend Mallory is kinda similar. Mallory also isn't pursuing a target. She says that the desire to want things in the first place is the root of everyone's problems.

Like Judy and Mallory, Niaj is another fringe member of the travelers. Niaj believes in the power of machines. She thinks the humans need help. Niaj wants to build a super powerful machine that can blast it's way through the territory. People generally don't take Niaj seriously, or even know that she exists.

Olivia is not one of those people. Olivia thinks that Niaj's machine will be created one day. However, Olivia is worried about the machine's compass. She recognizes that if the compass is even just slightly off, the machine will blast right past the target, leaving the travelers who board that machine much further from their target than they started.

Peggy is a little upset at this whole situation. She finds joy in identifying more local targets and making real progress towards them. But deep down, the main target still pulls at her, leaving her with a feeling of emptiness.

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