VitalAccurateThinking

If You Demand Magic, Magic Won't Help

Another gem from Overcoming Bias:

"I was pondering the philosophy of fantasy stories, and it occurred to me that if there were actually dragons in our world - if you could go down to the zoo, or even to a distant mountain, and meet a fire-breathing dragon - while nobody had ever actually seen a zebra, then our fantasy stories would contain zebras aplenty, while dragons would be unexciting."

And as a bonus, yet another diamond is added.

But don't forget that this is the Future, relative to the Dark Ages of a thousand years earlier. You have opportunities undreamt-of even by kings.

If the trend continues, the Future might be a very fine place indeed in which to live. But if you do make it to the Future, what you find, when you get there, will be another Now. If you don't have the basic capacity to enjoy being in a Now - if your emotional energy can only go into the Future, if you can only hope for a better tomorrow - then no amount of passing time can help you.

Thank you Eliezer.

posted by Jim VAT @ 9:21 PM