Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I wanna live an NPC life

signalundefied.bearblog.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 279 posts

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#131

Post by a2ff6eeb0 »

ikesau wrote: post #2

To make the most facile counterpoint - the reason the Skyrim blacksmith doesn't care if the main character slays dragons is because they weren't programmed to. There aren't consequences either way. To the extent that this post is meant to be inspiring, it only works if you're an NPC in a static world that has no real consequences - where you actually can live your life in a static loop because nothing will change. Wh…

We're building AI so that it can take care of the dragon, as well as run the economy and do everything else for us. I think soon the only viable option will be to live the NPC life.

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#132

Post by catuscubitus »

kulahan wrote: post #79
savolai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure at all you actually read the piece. Your responses about having a job or inconvenience or expectation seem entirely unrelated. The text does not, for instance, encourage not having a job. It also does not encourage being nothing at all. Being nothing special is quite different. Recommended movie: perfect days https://youtu.be/wqUT9hQd1XM?is=v1x85FdKOK_zfu60

> do nothing after work. why do you have to do something after work? do something because you feel like doing it, not because you feel like you have to. Escapism. You SHOULD feel like you have to do some stuff. Our bodies are always aiming to relax, because conserving calories is an extremely effective survival method. We are hardwired to do nothing, in order to escape the burden of instead doing something.

Call that conserving energy. Contrary to commonly-held belief, calories are a very ambiguous concept.

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#133

Post by talloaktrees »

Zhuangzi was fishing in the Pu River when the King of Chu sent two high officials to him. They said, “The king wishes to entrust you with the affairs of his realm.”

Zhuangzi kept hold of his fishing rod and did not turn around. He said, “I have heard that in Chu there is a sacred turtle that has been dead for three thousand years. The king keeps it wrapped in cloth, enclosed in a box, and stored in the ancestral temple.

“Now, would this turtle rather have died and left its bones behind to be honored, or would it rather be alive, dragging its tail through the mud?”

The two officials replied, “It would rather be alive, dragging its tail through the mud.”

Zhuangzi said, “Then go away. I too will drag my tail through the mud.”

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#134

Post by jknoepfler »

kulahan wrote: post #79
savolai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure at all you actually read the piece. Your responses about having a job or inconvenience or expectation seem entirely unrelated. The text does not, for instance, encourage not having a job. It also does not encourage being nothing at all. Being nothing special is quite different. Recommended movie: perfect days https://youtu.be/wqUT9hQd1XM?is=v1x85FdKOK_zfu60

> do nothing after work. why do you have to do something after work? do something because you feel like doing it, not because you feel like you have to. Escapism. You SHOULD feel like you have to do some stuff. Our bodies are always aiming to relax, because conserving calories is an extremely effective survival method. We are hardwired to do nothing, in order to escape the burden of instead doing something.

Or maybe people like to stare at the clouds while herding sheep. This is just bro-science half-baked evolutionary psychology bullshit.

Personally I enjoy listening to the birds with a book in my hands.

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#135

Post by Exoristos »

Erem wrote: post #114
phoghed wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t have a part to play of any value to anyone outside of your direct orbit. Nothing you can do will impact history. You will be forgotten shortly after your death. There is no afterlife, you’re nothing more special than a bug other than being complex enough to think that you are. Just live your life however you want, you only get one, and it’ll be brief.

How do you square this opinion with the fact that people actually do get voted into office and enact policies with grand repercussions on history and society?

"People" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#136

Post by phoghed »

idle_zealot wrote: post #118
phoghed wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t have a part to play of any value to anyone outside of your direct orbit. Nothing you can do will impact history. You will be forgotten shortly after your death. There is no afterlife, you’re nothing more special than a bug other than being complex enough to think that you are. Just live your life however you want, you only get one, and it’ll be brief.

The people reading this thread are not in your orbit. Yet you seem invested in convincing them of something. To care about the world and the people in it is human. To numb yourself to that is self-deception, and to advocate for that is harmful.

> Yet you seem invested in convincing them of something

Justify that

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#137

Post by detourdog »

sharmajai wrote: post #106
savolai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure at all you actually read the piece. Your responses about having a job or inconvenience or expectation seem entirely unrelated. The text does not, for instance, encourage not having a job. It also does not encourage being nothing at all. Being nothing special is quite different. Recommended movie: perfect days https://youtu.be/wqUT9hQd1XM?is=v1x85FdKOK_zfu60

Thanks for the movie suggestion, looks very interesting, will check it out. Also, the Pixar movie Soul has a similar message.

Another cultural reference to this idea is the song Heaven by Talking Heads. Nothing ever happens.

Annoyed that npc is not defined in the post. Non-playing character.

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#139

Post by Exoristos »

idle_zealot wrote: post #42
Exoristos wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Hades, yes. Vanishingly few of us actually control our fates or societies even to a small extent. The modern tendency to think like we do is a form of mania. By indulging it, we damage the only control we really have, our relative health and peace of mind.

Pretending that you don't have a part to play in the fate of society is escapism at best, and learned helplessness at worst. Democracy is explicitly a system that functions off of the sum of individual participation, and if the quality of that participation is poor it will produce bad outcomes even barring subversion by other powers. Pessimism like yours cedes control entirely to those who would take it through undem…

Political movements can certainly be an important factor of modern power given the right instigators, but transferring the importance to oneself is, again, damaging mania.

Re: I wanna live an NPC life

#140

Post by phoghed »

Erem wrote: post #114
phoghed wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t have a part to play of any value to anyone outside of your direct orbit. Nothing you can do will impact history. You will be forgotten shortly after your death. There is no afterlife, you’re nothing more special than a bug other than being complex enough to think that you are. Just live your life however you want, you only get one, and it’ll be brief.

How do you square this opinion with the fact that people actually do get voted into office and enact policies with grand repercussions on history and society?

Did you? Are they reading this? Until they do it remains true in fact and not just in spirit.
Post reply on HN