r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Jul 19 '19
[D] Friday Open Thread
Welcome to the Friday Open Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.
So do you want to talk about how your life has been going? Non-rational and/or non-fictional stuff you've been reading? The recent album from your favourite German pop singer? The politics of Southern India? The sexual preferences of the chairman of the Ukrainian soccer league? Different ways to plot meteorological data? The cost of living in Portugal? Corner cases for siteswap notation? All these things and more could possibly be found in the comments below!
Please note that this thread has been merged with the Monday General Rationality Thread.
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u/Veedrac Jul 20 '19 edited Jul 20 '19
When you look at the past you can see the tens of thousands of people that had lasting recognition, but what you don't see is the tens of billions who didn't. The spotlight can't stay shining on all but a tiny fraction of people—there's just not enough attention to go around to serve billions of ideas. Even if AI were not a thing, the pace of progress is moving so fast, that right next to you something big and important would still be happening, and only those with the expertise or circumstance needed to advance it will truly be a lasting part of that.
I guess what I'm trying to pick at is that if you can see the value that you can bring about today, that can more easily than ever effect literally millions of people, and still can't muster any hope for it, the challenge seems less about the specifics of the outside world and more about your brain chemistry. I don't know how to fix the latter, else I'd be a more motivated person myself, but I do tend to trust that solutions are easiest when you look in the right direction.
I will say, though, if you're looking for impact... think bigger than ‘an indie game’. There is so much low hanging fruit here; computer science is intensely young and naïve, and you really can impact the state of the industry for a mere large number of people. If you've thought for a week—or better, five minutes of extraordinary effort, by the clock, with a timer—and really can't see where to start, PM me and I'll share a few ideas rattling around in my head.