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Laws of Fun (2009)

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Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#31

Post by koboll »

motohagiography wrote: post #3

> 15. Trying to compete on a single flat playing field with six billion other humans also creates problems. Our ancestors lived in bands of around 50 people. Today the media is constantly bombarding us with news of exceptionally rich and pretty people as if they lived next door to us; and very few people get a chance to be the best at any specialty. This is why I say social media isn't fun, and it has always been a c…

It's funny, this reminded me immediately of something I've experienced recently.

I started making digital paintings on my iPad about a year and a half ago. And I'm not too bad; I've been drawing on and off all my life so I came to it already a decently talented artist. But there are so many artists I follow on Instagram who are so, so much more talented than me, to a degree I will never be. Thousands of them who were better than I am now way back when they were in high school, who have now catapulted beyond where I'll probably ever be and become professional artists with hundreds of thousands of followers who make a living off selling prints and merch. I post my art on Instagram but it feels like throwing mediocre work into a vast sea of bottomless excellence, and there's something fundamentally disheartening about that.

However, it's okay, because I've found a little corner of the internet where I'm king. A tiny subreddit for a silly game I play on my phone sometimes. There are other people making fanart for it, too, but only a couple dozen, and in only a year I've become good enough that I'm probably the most talented artist making fanart for it. My posts there get fifty times as many upvotes there as they do Instagram likes, they linger at the top of the (slow-moving) subreddit for days, and people absolutely shower them with compliments. It's tremendously motivating. All I want to do is create fanart for this game.

I think everyone can do this. Everyone has some talent, and there are so many diverse, fragmented communities out there that everyone can probably be king of some corner if they like. Social media can be demotivating if you think of it as one vast sea of seven billion people, but it also allows countless tiny niche communities to congregate and thrive. Go find one to conquer.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#32

Post by bob33212 »

koboll wrote: post #31
motohagiography wrote: post #3

> 15. Trying to compete on a single flat playing field with six billion other humans also creates problems. Our ancestors lived in bands of around 50 people. Today the media is constantly bombarding us with news of exceptionally rich and pretty people as if they lived next door to us; and very few people get a chance to be the best at any specialty. This is why I say social media isn't fun, and it has always been a c…

It's funny, this reminded me immediately of something I've experienced recently. I started making digital paintings on my iPad about a year and a half ago. And I'm not too bad; I've been drawing on and off all my life so I came to it already a decently talented artist. But there are so many artists I follow on Instagram who are so, so much more talented than me, to a degree I will never be. Thousands of them who were…

No one is as good as you are at being you. An optimistic approach to life allows happiness like this.

Similar themes in these posts.

https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans http://paulgraham.com/re.html

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#33

Post by tucosan »

elliekelly wrote: post #28
sixQuarks wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, social media may be fun for those who are the worlds most beautiful and rich

Is it though? I’m really not convinced it’s fun even for wealthy and beautiful people.

Imagine you're wealthy and beautiful, and the first thing that comes to your mind, is that you need to share it with the world.

I think it's quite telling.

I suspect l, that many interesting people are not on social media. They simply have better things to do, than waste their time on Instagram and tiktok.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#34

Post by slowmovintarget »

Xcelerate wrote: post #12

I’ve thought about this idea of what would make for a desirable utopia, and I can’t avoid the fact that either you would die at some point (which creates suffering due to the anticipation of the event) or live forever, which actually seems more horrific in a way — how could you possibly not go crazy after living trillions of years and thinking about the next trillion? The only real solution is to alter the human brai…

There's quite a bit of evidence that meaning is what makes one happy. Pleasure is a very tiny component.

Avoiding suffering doesn't guarantee you gain meaning. Suffering can diminish happiness, but one can be happy while suffering. This is not because one enjoys suffering, but because one is able to see it as having a purpose.

Drug addiction and other addictive behaviors can be linked back to self-medicating processes that are attempts at avoiding the mental agony of purposelessness.

How one gains meaning and purpose is a much deeper discussion.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#35

Post by bspammer »

slowmovintarget wrote: post #29
mLuby wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> either you would die at some point (which creates suffering due to the anticipation of the event) or live forever, which actually seems more horrible in a way We know death causes suffering, but we don't know if immortality causes suffering. Don't knock it till you've tried it. #FableOfTheDragonTyrant

I've always thought of that trope in fiction of immortal beings wanting to die as being silly. It seems like a case of the fox considering the grapes to be sour because it couldn't reach them, on the part of writers.

I'm somewhere in the middle - I think the human lifespan is miserably short and really wish it could be extended. The fact that I and everyone I love will likely die in the next 40 years sucks. I could probably easily fill 500 years without getting bored, and I'm not going to pretend it doesn't suck.

I do think being immortal would eventually drive you insane though. Humans can't grasp the mindbending vastness of infinity. If a genie offered me true immortality, or death in 10 years, I'm taking the decade. It's just too risky. Thankfully, not a problem I'll ever have.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#36

Post by _tom_ »

sixQuarks wrote: post #15
motohagiography wrote: post #3

> 15. Trying to compete on a single flat playing field with six billion other humans also creates problems. Our ancestors lived in bands of around 50 people. Today the media is constantly bombarding us with news of exceptionally rich and pretty people as if they lived next door to us; and very few people get a chance to be the best at any specialty. This is why I say social media isn't fun, and it has always been a c…

Well, social media may be fun for those who are the worlds most beautiful and rich

The ones best at appearing beautiful and rich. Google “Instagram reality” for the former and consider https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/style/baller-busters-onli... for the latter.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#37

Post by GuB-42 »

Reminds me of the premises of "The Matrix".

The Matrix was originally designed as a utopia. It didn't work out, so they ended up copying the world we are living in today.

Because to be fair, the description in the article is not that far from real life, at least for healthy people with enough resources to survive. That is: most of us on HN. And in fact even the poor and sick can often be unexpectedly happy.

Maybe we are simply very well adapted to our world.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#38

Post by Agentlien »

koboll wrote: post #31
motohagiography wrote: post #3

> 15. Trying to compete on a single flat playing field with six billion other humans also creates problems. Our ancestors lived in bands of around 50 people. Today the media is constantly bombarding us with news of exceptionally rich and pretty people as if they lived next door to us; and very few people get a chance to be the best at any specialty. This is why I say social media isn't fun, and it has always been a c…

It's funny, this reminded me immediately of something I've experienced recently. I started making digital paintings on my iPad about a year and a half ago. And I'm not too bad; I've been drawing on and off all my life so I came to it already a decently talented artist. But there are so many artists I follow on Instagram who are so, so much more talented than me, to a degree I will never be. Thousands of them who were…

I am not an artist but I work with a lot of artists and I'm always amazed at their skills. I used to sit next to a few concept artists and it was a treat watching them work.

I remember when two concept artists[0] were excitedly talking about how we'd just hired such an amazing concept artist, their big idol[1]. I looked up his stuff and it was of course astounding. But to be honest they're all just incredible to me.

[0] one of them was Oliver Fetscher https://www.artstation.com/oliverfetscher

[1] https://www.artstation.com/zabrocki

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#39

Post by mLuby »

bspammer wrote: post #35
slowmovintarget wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought of that trope in fiction of immortal beings wanting to die as being silly. It seems like a case of the fox considering the grapes to be sour because it couldn't reach them, on the part of writers.

I'm somewhere in the middle - I think the human lifespan is miserably short and really wish it could be extended. The fact that I and everyone I love will likely die in the next 40 years sucks. I could probably easily fill 500 years without getting bored, and I'm not going to pretend it doesn't suck. I do think being immortal would eventually drive you insane though. Humans can't grasp the mindbending vastness of inf…

Oh that's a good distinction to make: involuntary immortality (as with many superpowers) could easily be a curse, or torture.

Although like with zombie-powered generators, it's fun to think of ways to exploit a monkey paw's downsides.

Re: Laws of Fun (2009)

#40

Post by LukeBMM »

sweetheart wrote: post #7

One thing I’ve surprised myself by discovering more than once: you have a very bad idea of what you will consider fun. Something can seem right up your alley on paper, and end up being extremely underwhelming in reality, or vice versa. Don’t talk yourself out of trying something because you think you’ll dislike it!

I'd guess that explains at least 50% of Steam's sales as well as the handful of gems that get embarrassing amounts of play time.
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