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Comment by syn0byte | Hacker News Reader

Fermi's paradox doesn't need a resolution besides the vastness of space. The concept of such logical extrapolations from a sample size of 1 irritates me to my core.

Devils advocate; I doubt that. "super-stimulating" ourselves into oblivion requires a level of willful complacence we manage to avoid, at least on the whole as a species. Otherwise things like Vegan diets wouldn't be fads because no one would willfully choose crappier food options for the sake of abstract reasons like "ethics" or "morality" that have zero impact on our daily lives.

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Not going against your general argument and I don't want to derail the conversation, but saying veganism is a fad is perhaps not a good example to give.

There is solid evidence against vegan diets being a fad, unless you regard a >3% yearly sales growth of vegan-labeled food or a roughly 600% increase in google searches since 2004 a fad[1][2], in addition to the roughly 500m-1b people who are on a mostly plant-based diet for cultural or practical reasons[3]. I'd wager that only a small percentage of people are in it solely because of ethical or moral reasons.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/562911/global-sales-grow... [2]https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0... [3] https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/

In addition, there is good evidence for vegan diets having a lower impact on the environment [1] and some evidence for health benefits [2]. For many vegans, their diet is not motivated solely by ethical concerns. So it's really not a good example for parent's parent :)

[1] https://josephpoore.com/Science%20360%206392%20987%20-%20Acc... [2] https://www.choosemyplate.gov/vegetables-nutrients-health

It also ignores the reality that many of us _do not like_ to be super stimulated by vapid and shallow experiences. I find there also tends to be correlative relationship between one's drive and intelligence, and their lack of eagerness to engage in things that are shallow grabs for stimulation.

Correlation is not causation

Interesting. I have found that there is a correlation with drive, but not intelligence.

I know many brilliant people with zero drive who hedonistically seek out the greatest stimuli they can find. When I talk with them about this, they say it is partly out of a feeling of depression/helplessness alongside feeling like you can’t actually change anything in the world so you might as well just enjoy the ride.

I’ve found driven people have more impulse control regardless of “intelligence” (however we may choose to measure this).

> It also ignores the reality that many of us _do not like_ to be super stimulated by vapid and shallow experiences.

Everyone likes to be super stimulated. That's what the phrase means. It's tautological. You may just like to be super stimulated by different things, but at the end of the day, it's just dopamine in your Ventral Tegmental Area.

> Everyone likes to be super stimulated. >> by vapid and shallow experiences

GP does not deny being super stimulatable. Just not by a beautiful face. Once AI reaches the level that it can be an intellectual mentor people like GP maybe sucked into infinite pointless learning just for the kick of it.

It’s already happening without AI (I read HN for mostly pointless stimulation; there is much more fascinating knowledge on the internet than you can understand in your lifetime)

I'm imagining a fact bot that shows you a really mind blowing fact in exchange of $0.25 at the press of a button.

The first fact is free. That's how confident they are that you'll become a paying member.

There is such a thing as over stimulation. I'm rather sensitive to stimulation and become uncomfortable quite quickly around bright lights, strong smells, loud films, large grouos if people, ect. The flush of dopamine causes too much stimulation and we sensitive souls become too aroused, our thoughts become too loud and overlap each other and we become confused, dissoriented and function poorly. It's quite uncomfortable.

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