Seneca on the proper use of time

Perhaps a mistake to say it, but, I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it's all just a simulation in 4d anyway. At some point, the universe implodes back upon itself and everything will be gone. So, ultimately, it kind of doesn't actually matter one way or the other.

Which means we can kind of do what we want, decide what we most value, if we so choose.

I do the things I do because a) "Everyone needs a vocation" (if you have read the play The importance of being Earnest, you might understand that to mean "We all have to keep ourselves occupied somehow between now and the time we die", which is how I mean it) and b) while I see no particular moral imperative to "elevate mankind," it's fun to work on solving hard problems and work on opening up opportunities that can't exist without that "elevation." More complex things emerge from less complex underpinnings and then things can get interesting.

I have to be here anyway (unless I commit suicide). Might as well spend that time doing interesting things that I feel okay about. Because while my body is dust in the wind and, someday, even this solar system will no doubt be dust in some galactic wind, my quality of life -- my experience of it -- matters to me. And a lot of that stuff that people call "wisdom" or "virtue" has a proven track record of improving my own contentment.

/talking in public before lunch, usually a mistake