All of jb5's Comments + Replies

I too, never wanted to be a stupid teenager, although I never read any books about it. I never smoked, never drank, never used illegal drugs. But I also thought my parents didn't love me. Interesting partial overlap there.

Also, unless a new star has appeared in the last 38 years less than 38 lightyears away, there's no star in the night sky younger than you are, or me, or probably anyone else on Earth.

Like you, I feel maturity is a journey, one that too many people seem to give up very early. I notice at dating sites that some women write "I don'... (read more)

Nova-ing the star isn't IMO a guarantee of no future contact - there may be other starlines that aren't discovered yet. Also, the SuperHappies may improve their tech over time, and may find ways of no longer needing starline tech.

Also, if there are three civilizations, odds are there are a lot more. The SuperHappies have a better structure to compete and grow with whatever other galactic superpowers exist out there.

In essence, the "closed locked door" is an illusion in my mind. Not something to base strategy on. It is the kind of thing that p... (read more)

Some quick observations:

1. Playing MMOs gives me a sense of emotional accomplishment that single player videogames does not.
2. Playing videogames competitively against (or in teams) with other people also is far more satisfying as well.
3. I have found my purpose in life - do my part to make the human race and (to a lesser extent) the Earth essentially immortal (i.e. catastrophe-proof and generally self-sustaining).

#3 is such a big problem that I can't hope to attack it directly - I simply focus on improving productivity and technical innovation in such ways a... (read more)

There's so much to consider here. For me at least, for something to be fun, I have to know that there's a challenge. For it to be a challenge, there has to be the possibility of failure. There has to be scary parts, that remind you of failure. There has to be multiple real, meaningful, obvious paths that suggest fun in the short term, but disaster in the long term, that you have to look at and reject. There have to be rewards that are enticing, but incredibly rare and difficult, and other rewards that are easier, faster and more localized.

But more im... (read more)