On Long Term Purpose/Goals

Some musings on and the framing of ambitious long term goals I want to see/help happen, inspired from various sources- especially (science) fiction, where a lot of inspirations first make their mark on people.

Thinking about goals beyond scales we’re used to

Long term purpose is a really hard concept to think about. It isn’t too hard to wonder why- the human consciousness, a product of a brain rooted in mortal, mammalian origins, probably did not evolve to be very good at pondering upon issues so alien to the environments our ancestors lived in, especially goals spanning multiple lifespans.

Shorter or medium term goals- what to work on, what to learn, what to take responsibility of- seem a lot more grounded and easier to pick in comparison, hard as they still are.

Much has been written on this for thousands of years and deliberated before in myriad forums. Every generation grapples with it- after all, existential crises are hardly a new phenomenon. But perfect answers to this question and its place in the larger project of philosophical inquiry always seem unattainable.

The exploration of possible answers to this question is really important, though, because a purely nihilist/absurdist worldview without goals paints a rather bleak alternative picture.

Personally, Kurzegesagt’s Optimistic Nihilism is something I find to be a good fit in tackling the question. It’s been years since they put this up on their Youtube channel and years since I’ve seen it, but I don’t think I’ve found anything better yet. There’s significant freedom in this line of belief. The universe may have no intrinsic purpose- but by the quirks and countless iterations of the evolutionary process that we’ve been furnished with an enlarged prefrontal cortex and deep storytelling capacities, we can just make up our own. That’s powerful.

So in a meaningless, random universe with unlimited freedom to make meanings (technically, one could argue there’s no evidence ‘free will’ exists to do so - a valid point- but that’s a discussion for another time)- why not pick the stories that most move us, make us wonder, and give us something to look forward to? From a techno optimist perspective, why not like those from the best of science fiction?

Elon Musk, the world’s (at the time of writing) wealthiest person with the stated desire to ‘spread the light of consciousness’, has mentioned the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as inspiring him before- and this book actually really embodies the ‘optimistic nihilism’ concept rather well. Many great ideas and missions seem to emerge from fiction. It’s amazing how much stories really move us humans- no wonder our ancestors came up with thousands of religions and myths to fill the voids of purpose and meaning that a human brain so adept at pattern matching and cause-and-effect modelling felt about life and the universe itself. There was a paucity of the scientific worldview in their times, but they did the best their brains could conjure up.

Speaking of Musk’s stated goal again, specifically the hedge against extinction events by getting self sustainable off-world human colonies on Mars up as soon as possible -SpaceX’s ultimate purpose- are examples of good and deeply inspiring long term goals. It’s purposes like these, where a mission is immediately apparent when thought of and clear engineering problems to solve that can be measured and objectively worked towards can be conceptualized, that can both really be sold to people and worked measurably towards and makes for a good kind of long term goal to pick. There is concreteness in such plans- something that simply stating trend-like goals like continued GDP growth and HDI improvements via mostly laissez faire free markets with only minor interventions now and then, don’t really emulate.

Now, I don’t want to start getting too sycophantic by referencing Musk too much- of course there’s loads of other people, organizations and institutions also trying to achieve grand aims. There are many grand goals associated with improving the economy, human development indexes and freeing up peoples’ times from unsavory labour. Many very grand and requiring significant effort and tribulations, but not a zero sum game to pick between from.

Anyway, one of the bad things about the world today is that good long term goals are not talked about often enough. Perhaps it’s something about the human condition today- a lot can be discussed about consumerism, briefening attention spans and the like, and the shorter time horizon based rhetoric politicians and the media tend to focus on. Many institutions in the world are reactive, not proactive.

But grand goals like these are important- they give us a sense of direction and meaning and can be great motivators. These can, and should, be part of the zeitgeist of our time.

The List:

A grand priorities list in no particular order.

Important techno-optimist long term goals to work towards and great things humanity should strive for.

I might edit/add to this post in the future.

• Reaching AGI and Beyond

Free humanity from mental labor plus help achieve all of the other goals. There will also be light shed on our understanding of mind and consciousness. And more than that, it’s the potential for new life, right? New kinds of alien consciousness, if we can make AGI that feels subjective qualia the same way we know we do. And then we can go further- intelligences the likes of which we cannot comprehend. Dyson sphere powered Matrioshka brains.

• Biological/Digital Immortality

Starting with longevity. By any means possible- genetic engineering, cyborg-like body augmentation, cloning, digital brain uploads. Death is an unfortunate barrier put in place by nature on living organisms. We can and should remove this barrier.

• Automated Basic Economy

Work should be a choice and not a necessity once we are capable of meeting all of humankind’s needs automatically. Fully automated luxury communism. Universal basic income should be a thing. We need lots of robots and software to make this happen. Food, basic goods and many basic services should be produced and carried out automatically. Humans will be free to work on things that cater to our wants more, and on self actualization.

• Space Settlement

Multiple independent human settlements/colonies, and as spread out as possible. In the event of catastrophes to any one, at least humankind will survive. Seedships destined for other star systems with habitable planets can be made and dispatched. Also make more human friendly environments through terraforming. Space habitats and living under a dome is alright, but a green-again Mars with rivers flowing through its ancient canyons again would be amazing. We can go even further- the galaxy, and others, are there.

• Interstellar Propulsion

To explore the universe. Alcubierre drives, black hole propulsion, antimatter drives- anything possible within the laws of physics that we can make, we should make, or try to.

• Maximizing Energy Production

We must ascend the Kardashev scale. Renewables like solar are great, but nuclear fusion is promising too. We need to get it working and unlock power to enact our will upon the nonliving universe, shaping it to serve our wants and needs.

• Understanding the Universe

The dedication of more resources, mind and compute to understanding the universe and the laws of physics. Accelerated science. There’s so much we’ve found out only recently in human history but also so much left. We need more sophisticated instruments -like larger and more powerful particle accelerators- and mathematical models. Cosmology, particle physics, and neuroscience in particular for the unanswered questions about the nature of the universe and consciousness.

• Pushing the Limits of Tech and Engineering

This one is more of a catch-all. Technology doesn’t just advance by itself. There’s real effort required in engineering things and making the possible happen- along with a great business model for growth and capital access. We need more big hard tech companies building spaceships, new materials, processes and robotics.