138 ms·

No, we really should hate the players. They are keeping the game from changing.

by AJMaxwell 26d ago

genxy 26d ago
A small number of players set the rules of the game.
- account42 25d ago
  A players collectively choose that everyone must follow those rules.
rglover 26d ago
No sarcasm: play a different game. If you play their game, of course you'll suffer. But if you play a game they're repulsed by, you can win a life they'll never have access to: one filled with people who love and respect you and an environment where your best self and life can emerge.
- AlotOfReading 26d ago
  The parent comments are talking about how the game is negatively impacting society. Your suggestion is to check out and leave society to them. One of the many problems with that suggestion is that it's hard for your best self/life to emerge in a bleak future.
  - butlike 26d ago
    I think it's possible to "pick and choose" to some extent. I've found most of the bleak future stuff goes away if I turn off my phone, but since I need it to contact people in 2026, I try and give things their due, and, to the best of my ability, ignore the more unpleasant aspects of modern life. I think the landline telephone is a good example. It was fun to chit-chat with friends on the phone, but when a telemarketer called, I either hung up immediately, or said "stop calling," then hung up. It can be the same way in modern society. Weight the conversations with warm-bodied people higher, and stop scrolling as much (to put it overly-simplistically).
    - AndrewKemendo 26d ago
      You can’t ignore climate change
      - butlike 26d ago
        fair
      - datadrivenangel 25d ago
        Ignoring it is a tradition at this point in the US...
    - qwerpy 26d ago
      It’s done wonders for my free time and mood by deleting my Reddit account and restricting HN to toilet time. Instead of reading rage bait American news I do a daily scan of BBC. All those are sources of negativity and stress that bring nothing of value to your life. I invest my newfound time and energy into my family, hobbies, and health.
      - butlike 25d ago
        Nice. That feels like the correct way to me
  - rglover 26d ago
    That's not what I said. I didn't say anything about leaving society, I alluded to leaving their society. That's the thing: people keep giving these guys money and attention. If you take that away, they become more than irrelevant. Simplified: if they're going West, you go East. The more "small time" people reject this narrative that we need a bunch of elitist white guys shoving their mediocrity down our throats, the faster we rebuild a society they're barred from accessing.
    - AlotOfReading 26d ago
      I didn't say anything about leaving society, I alluded to leaving their society. That's the thing: people keep giving these guys money and attention. If you take that away, they become more than irrelevant. Can you explain how to do that without either drawing attention to them via discussions like this or leaving society altogether? I don't personally fund a16z, but my taxes do. Calls to coordinated action to stop giving them money also count as attention.
      - rglover 26d ago
        Leave Babylon behind and go build local businesses and communities in what they refer to as "flyover country." That's what I'm doing. Easy? Fuck no. But does it take their relevancy away from them? At the scale of everyone who isn't a coastal barnacle: big time. They view the rest of this country with disdain and indifference. I'm suggesting that others quit looking at these people as lords and sages to be placed up on a pedestal. Most of them are quite incompetent, skill-less, and frankly, not cool enough to want to hang out with (why they're making "jokes" about there only being two jobs left in the world in the future: Anthropic employees and hookers for Anthropic employees [1]). I'm sorry but I'm not taking direction from a bunch of dorks who can't get laid without paying for it. And I'd take a wild guess that given the climate, the lion's share of America is with me. [1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjrCFuEA1ds https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjrCFuEA1ds
        AlotOfReading 26d ago
        What does flyover country have to do with the present discussion? Kalshi is just as big a problem (or bigger even) in Nebraska as New York. Taxes going to Anduril happens whether you live in Malibu or Missouri.
  - hackable_sand 26d ago
    > Your suggestion is to check out and leave society to them Absolutely not. Their suggestion is to play a different game. You don't even have to play a game with win conditions. You can just play to play.
- nrb 26d ago
  What if their game is to flip the boards of everyone else’s games?
  - rglover 26d ago
    Then so be it. Hopefully they've considered all of the angles and can defend themselves against people being radicalized to the point of hunting them down. Turns out their obsession with moats was prescient.
- tavavex 26d ago
  You can, of course, distance yourself from their world and work on things they would never see as valuable. However, you can't check out of the most grand game we're playing, the game of life and existence. Those people desperately want to toy with things that could eventually prevent you from being able to live a life where you still have food, water and shelter. You can ignore it while they're still not all-powerful, but as their wealth and influence grows, you will eventually have to confront it.

No, we really should hate the players. They are keeping the game from changing.

genxy 26d ago

A small number of players set the rules of the game.

account42 25d ago
A players collectively choose that everyone must follow those rules.

rglover 26d ago

No sarcasm: play a different game. If you play their game, of course you'll suffer. But if you play a game they're repulsed by, you can win a life they'll never have access to: one filled with people who love and respect you and an environment where your best self and life can emerge.

AlotOfReading 26d ago
The parent comments are talking about how the game is negatively impacting society. Your suggestion is to check out and leave society to them. One of the many problems with that suggestion is that it's hard for your best self/life to emerge in a bleak future.
- butlike 26d ago
  I think it's possible to "pick and choose" to some extent. I've found most of the bleak future stuff goes away if I turn off my phone, but since I need it to contact people in 2026, I try and give things their due, and, to the best of my ability, ignore the more unpleasant aspects of modern life. I think the landline telephone is a good example. It was fun to chit-chat with friends on the phone, but when a telemarketer called, I either hung up immediately, or said "stop calling," then hung up. It can be the same way in modern society. Weight the conversations with warm-bodied people higher, and stop scrolling as much (to put it overly-simplistically).
  - AndrewKemendo 26d ago
    You can’t ignore climate change
    - butlike 26d ago
      fair
    - datadrivenangel 25d ago
      Ignoring it is a tradition at this point in the US...
  - qwerpy 26d ago
    It’s done wonders for my free time and mood by deleting my Reddit account and restricting HN to toilet time. Instead of reading rage bait American news I do a daily scan of BBC. All those are sources of negativity and stress that bring nothing of value to your life. I invest my newfound time and energy into my family, hobbies, and health.
    - butlike 25d ago
      Nice. That feels like the correct way to me
- rglover 26d ago
  That's not what I said. I didn't say anything about leaving society, I alluded to leaving their society. That's the thing: people keep giving these guys money and attention. If you take that away, they become more than irrelevant. Simplified: if they're going West, you go East. The more "small time" people reject this narrative that we need a bunch of elitist white guys shoving their mediocrity down our throats, the faster we rebuild a society they're barred from accessing.
  - AlotOfReading 26d ago
    I didn't say anything about leaving society, I alluded to leaving their society. That's the thing: people keep giving these guys money and attention. If you take that away, they become more than irrelevant. Can you explain how to do that without either drawing attention to them via discussions like this or leaving society altogether? I don't personally fund a16z, but my taxes do. Calls to coordinated action to stop giving them money also count as attention.
    - rglover 26d ago
      Leave Babylon behind and go build local businesses and communities in what they refer to as "flyover country." That's what I'm doing. Easy? Fuck no. But does it take their relevancy away from them? At the scale of everyone who isn't a coastal barnacle: big time. They view the rest of this country with disdain and indifference. I'm suggesting that others quit looking at these people as lords and sages to be placed up on a pedestal. Most of them are quite incompetent, skill-less, and frankly, not cool enough to want to hang out with (why they're making "jokes" about there only being two jobs left in the world in the future: Anthropic employees and hookers for Anthropic employees [1]). I'm sorry but I'm not taking direction from a bunch of dorks who can't get laid without paying for it. And I'd take a wild guess that given the climate, the lion's share of America is with me. [1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjrCFuEA1ds https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjrCFuEA1ds
      - AlotOfReading 26d ago
        What does flyover country have to do with the present discussion? Kalshi is just as big a problem (or bigger even) in Nebraska as New York. Taxes going to Anduril happens whether you live in Malibu or Missouri.
- hackable_sand 26d ago
  > Your suggestion is to check out and leave society to them Absolutely not. Their suggestion is to play a different game. You don't even have to play a game with win conditions. You can just play to play.
nrb 26d ago
What if their game is to flip the boards of everyone else’s games?
- rglover 26d ago
  Then so be it. Hopefully they've considered all of the angles and can defend themselves against people being radicalized to the point of hunting them down. Turns out their obsession with moats was prescient.
tavavex 26d ago
You can, of course, distance yourself from their world and work on things they would never see as valuable. However, you can't check out of the most grand game we're playing, the game of life and existence. Those people desperately want to toy with things that could eventually prevent you from being able to live a life where you still have food, water and shelter. You can ignore it while they're still not all-powerful, but as their wealth and influence grows, you will eventually have to confront it.