Existences Big Picture Big 8 Categories and Standalone Opportunities (the big 8)
We have created an index of existences big picture with a list of 8 categories and standalone opportunities. Its purpose is to make it easier for people to wrap their brains around the opportunities presented to them, to allow people the chance to have a clearer understanding of why the chance to exist is so important. It’s more detailed than “everything there is to do in existence” and its broader than your typical, “we can play basketball and talk to our friends and listen to music and think about philosophy and hope for space travel.” This list allows you to concisely imagine the scope and breadth of the incredible potential we are left here with.
Should people want it? It seems that people are bound to want all of the items because not wanting any particular one is a fallacy. So you could reject its pursuit illogically, but that is not really a rejection. Why want it? Because you cant logically not keep wanting, and if you keep wanting, you're likely to come across ever more of this list so long as indefinite life holds up. What would the best kind of indefinite lifespan be like? Can we even image that it could be good to live that long? It would be a life where there is a plethora of new diverse things to do, experiences to have. Even if we did get sick of some things, we would move on to others, and then later those other things would be good again. This happens to us on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis, and with the passage of time it becomes more and more apparent that the worn out experiences are desirable again, and so with indefinite life extension it seems the options are there for renewal indefinitely much more so. Even if we did hypothetically get bored of everything after say, trillions and trillions and trillions of years, we would have options like erasing portions of our memory, if the memory wasn’t lost in parts naturally already. Facing death is to understand the impending opportunity cost that it presents.
The big 8 is a list of the following opportunities that we can come to know:
- the nature of existence, ie infinity, consciousness, particle physics, are there other senses, etc
- if there is a god, gods, no god, or something else
- how we got here
- how the universe got here
- what all else is out there, ie hover ability, light speed, aliens, populated galaxies, dimensions etc
- all forms and extents of all pleasures current and undiscovered
- the fulfillment of all goals that time brings you to want, ie restaurant owner, pro football, climbing mountains etc
- universal elimination of fallacy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epTP-kafaoo
An expansion on each of the 8:
1. What is the the nature of existence? There are questions like what is smaller than the smallest known particle, what is the nature of infinity, is string theory or some other theory the explanation for things, how does gravity work etc. How can you so often engage goals involving things like whether or not to buy more applesauce, but not ever write pursuing the answer to this question into your priorities? If existence is a computer simulation on somebody’s desk, then we need to know that in order to plot out what we should actually be doing. There are so many profound idiosyncratic situations we could find out there that we can’t even think of yet. If the sub atomic particle “strings” are actually fluctuating in and out between dimensions then we’ll need to know that kind of stuff. In that example alone we just don’t know what figuring that out would do to change the way we set our priorities, it could mean anything. Maybe for example, we find out that we don’t move into the future, but that we create the past in our memories one day at a time. Maybe we find that there are wave lengths that cause people to have lower potentials, and that by adjusting it everybody becomes a super future pioneering entrepreneur, maybe we find out that our universe is also a part of a particle in a larger construct, whatever that construct is, and it would profoundly alter our perception of what priority is, for any of a number of reasons. If there is a particle that is shaped like and behaves like a fish or a z or hydrogen atom, then we want to know that. If the nature of infinity is that it loops inter-dimensionally in a way that we can plot out, then we need to know this to get the right priorities in order. These things affect our priorities. They affect the percent of time that we should be allotting to the contemplation of whether or not to obtain more applesauce.
2. Is there a god, gods, no god, or something else? People pretend to know, but that cannot, and has not ever been good enough. We have to actually know. If the god of the one of the Bible’s is real then we will want to know that asap so we can live in accordance with that scenario. If we don’t then it spells out very serious consequences. What might the fortunes and consequences of other scenarios even be? If there is more than one god then we will want to know that so we can figure out how to balance that and live within that frame of things. If there is no god it will be important to know that, not least because if religion is false then it shouldn’t be impacting the priorities of our world, from the encouragement of fallacious thinking, to suicide bombings, to impediment of stem cell research, the profundity of the list goes on. If there is something else like a flying spaghetti monster that created us in any of a variety of ways then we’ll want to know that and what its nature is, maybe it needs us to free it from some genie bottle so it can lay out the blue prints to half of the universe for us or something like this. It could be something completely different. There could be some complex, other worldly 7 dimensional convoluted system of determinism combined with spaghetti monster dinosaur god ghosts, and elements of free will, with some glitter and spice. We have no f’ing idea if there is a god, gods, no god or something else, and its life and world shapingly important that we do.
3. How did we get here? Did we evolve? Where we created? Did aliens plant us here? Are we holograms? Are we a figment of our own imaginations, or somebody else’s, or something else’s? Are we brains in vats? Are we in a computer program? Where we created, but also evolve? Do we evolve but some of us were created? Are some of us in a hologram and some of us planted by aliens? Are we an intergalactic reality show that mixes species together? Were we somehow always here? Are there countless theories within us always being here if that is the general case? Is it something we can’t even fathom? We have no idea. How can we be content to be here, but never know how we got here? I’ll tell you how, if we never think about it; think about it, your life depends on it. There are, again, just so many scenarios, these examples are meant as just that, examples. As an example here, some group of “people” may have hidden us away here in this galaxy in order to try to preserve their species from extinction by chance, by some cosmic predator, to try to diversify perspective and insight by isolating colonies, etc. The priorities we set depend on knowing things like this. We don’t know how we got here and the gravity of the reality that an answer exists but we don’t know makes it incumbent upon thinking beings to pursue the answer. We go over one important angle on this more in the section called, Some of the many reasons to not want to let people decay into oblivion.
4. How did the universe get here? There are countless avenues being explored, from string theory to, cycle theories, big bang, capture theory, creationism, was always here, times arrow, combinations of them, different theories with in string theory, many different cycle theories, existence could have somehow always been here, and many others. Did this place really just spring out of nothing? But how? What was before the nothing? Did that exploding speck emerge from another place or break off from something? And what? These aren’t just novelty questions asked in our youth and traditionally tabled ever more increasingly as most of us grow older into a more “practical” way of life. (practical aka beginning to compromise with imminent death) The possibilities of where an exploding speck may have come from in itself leads us down countless avenues. There are countless avenues in between these all, and countless more that we can’t even fathom yet. If we don’t live in terms of the big 8 then we are afraid to approach things like this. When we are afraid to approach them then our comfort zones remain limited. Don’t limit yourself, start thinking about it. We cannot excuse being trapped in a limited cave.
5. What all else is out there? You name it, is there hover ability? Will we be able to explore other galaxies? Are there aliens on another planet, on countless other planets that we could be hob nobbing with, or studying? Will there be fully submersible virtual reality? Invisibility? Mind uploading? Ways to gain super strength? Buried treasures? More creatures in the depths of the oceans? Buried treasures or abandoned libraries on other planets? Some kind of thing like light rays bouncing around in the universe that has recorded all of human history? Planets full of dinosaurs? Dinosaurs still here on earth? Will we be able to replicate them? Will people be able to fly like we drive now? The list is as endless as it is fundamentally important to the priorities that you set as a being - with the faculties that you’ve been endowed with and as a being - as an entity with the chance to exist. There is more to your existence than shadow puppets on the wall; you can choose to live in accordance with it.
6. What are the forms and extents of all pleasures current and undiscovered? Can you imagine being on your death bed never having had say, tasted a candy bar before? What if you had never felt the joy of sight, would you feel like you had missed out on anything? If we are lost in the woods or the desert, and have to go without water for a long time, when we finally get that first taste of water, as many of us have experienced, it is a mind blowing experience. It tastes so good it’s unbelievable. What do you think it’s like to have super intelligence, easier ways to learn more, mechanisms that prevent against feeling too crappy, and that fend against the body’s natural roller coaster of ups and downs coinciding; what do you think it’s like to have that as your sailing through the stars to talk to new kinds of creatures, with advances toward important questions like how we got here and if there is a god, gods, no god, or something else breaking on the news? And that’s just a weak example. Imagine for example that a set of “eyes” that we didn’t know existed opened up allowing us to see textures we never knew. We think the simple pleasures we already know are all that await us in a vast, potentially infinite existence? They aren’t, and the reality of this is something that we need to think about when getting our priorities in this shot at existence we have here in order.
7. What is it like to have the chance to fulfill all goals that time brings you to want? If we sat down and wrote out a list of every goal we could want to pursue, then if we were honest with ourselves most of our lists would be very long. They would be endless. As time went on we would be able to continuously add things. There is: archeology, own a restaurant, play pro sports, write a movie, raise a family, raise 10 families, captain a boat, do recombinant gene engineering, invent things that go deeper than electron microscopes, write a book, teach a class, fly airplanes, climb mountains, scuba dive, be a journalist in Egypt, be a reporter in Saipan, build bridges, build skyscrapers, study any of numerous aspects of history, invent things; there are countless places to go and countless people to meet, there are countless options, and when you’re done with them time will have unlocked the doors to hosts of new as of yet unfathomable opportunities. You can’t even set your priorities until you get a grip on the scenario. You have to work on getting out of the cave. You certainly can’t complete the list in a cave.
8. What is it like to live in a world that is moving toward universal elimination of fallacy? Without ill logic, and confusion, random solutions, and half solutions, without antagonism and one-upmanship, prejudice, hate, greed, sloth, vanity, willful destruction, flippancy, caprice, limited understanding in key scenarios, and all of those kinds of things that come along with the ignorance of not knowing how to spot fallacy, then what would the world be like? The less fallacy we have, the more good, and construction there will be taking place. The less fallacy we have the more facilitation for all of the rest of the big 8 there will be. If everybody is smart enough to avoid recognizable mistakes, if an understanding of fallacy becomes common sense for the world starting at the k through 12 level, then the things that will need to happen to make all of the big 8 happen, including moving toward the universal elimination of fallacy, will happen faster. You don’t want war? You don’t want vice in this world? You don’t want waste? You don’t want corruption? You want kids to enjoy learning? You want faster solutions? You want to end poverty and pain? You want to clean up as much negative and move in the direction of as much positive as possible? Moving in the direction of the universal elimination of fallacy is a cornerstone to all of those things. It facilitates those things. The path to those solutions begins with moving in the direction of the elimination of fallacy. Sociology, ethics, science, philosophy, history, psychology, politics, communication, much if not everything starts with an understanding of fallacy. Let’s work toward its universal elimination.
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When we have these things then we can finally set further priorities. We can’t even begin to set our true priorities in life until we know many of these things. Setting priorities without knowing these things is like the people in Plato’s cave analogysetting their priorities based on the shadows on the wall. Don’t try to pick everything apart, and guess, and take stands and sides on so many big obscure issues right now in this “cave” that is this tiny speck we call earth, in this traditional 21rst century lifespan. Wait until we have escaped, and have the time, the tools, and the space and perspective to get a proper grasp on them. For example, if you are one of the people in the cave, don’t believe your fathoming about what the shadows might be trying to say about the crick in your neck and how it applies to your sleep, how your sleep might be the control booth that guides the carryings on of things that happens in the cave etc. Don’t believe your guess that the cockroaches on the floor must be a part of the construction of this place, or that the ceiling is the uppermost portion of existence. You’re comfortable there, but you need to expand that comfort zone. Try instead to get the hell out of the cave and figure those things out in the proper context, with the proper tools and space, with open, liberated frame of reference. By helping people to contemplate the big 8 we gradually and incrementally begin to help them expand their comfort zones to existence, the universe, the big picture, that place where they truly live. Ask yourself, if you were in Platos cave, would you accept it, or would you want out? If you accept it then you’re mired in fallacy and we are coming for you, to help you out of your rut. If you don’t accept it then line the questions up, put them in your scope, and help unlock the door to Platos cave with the MILE key so we can all sit back and let time take its course as we all sail toward the unveiling of the entire big picture together. Life is so much more than our current traditional lifespan and lifetime. Life is the big picture; those lacking enough of the right kinds of fallacy know this and go the MILE to see about getting there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM
Edited by brokenportal, 01 March 2012 - 09:28 PM.
