Communicator Aptitude - Fun Theory Summary and Writeup

By Leopold Brown @ 2023-04-20T07:43 (+3)

Aptitude Preface

I have been testing my fit for various aptitudes, and for my communicator aptitude I read a bunch of information about Fun Theory and associated material (thank you Eliezer Yudkowsky for writing most of it!). Any feedback, comments, etc. would be very much appreciated!

Article:

"Fun theory: because sometimes bribing yourself with a candy bar just isn't enough to get things done."
-Chat GPT

Background

Before we delve into Fun Theory, it's helpful to understand the problems that Fun Theory attempts to address;

Imagine a Utopia where we have solved every problem. The perfect Earth - where the coffee is perfect, the disposal never clogs, and the printers always work.

But what would you all day? How do we still live a fulfilling life when everything is so easy or already accomplished? Imagine far in the future, there is a super intelligent AI that can solve all of our problems. How do we still live a fulfilling life?

Won't we just work on more complex things?

When looking at the future, it sometimes seems as if there will always be something to work on - researching science, art, or even developing Fun Theory itself. However, something like a superintelligence could theoretically provide resources, research, and beautiful/meaningful art.

How Fun Theory addresses these problems

So, Fun Theory tries to address these long-term concerns. If everything comes easily, how do we still live meaningful and fun lives? It also tries to answer "how do we have more fun?" and "will we run out of fun?".

SIDE NOTE: Fun theory is also often used as a response to theodicy. It is difficult to use the "Problem of Evil" if one cannot imagine how God could not have made the world better. However, I believe this use of Fun Theory is focuses too much on proving others wrong instead of asking, "how can we still have fun in a future lacking real challenge?".

Some quick vocab

Eudaimonia is the ideal state of being from living a fulfilling and happy life - the "secret to happiness". And as you may have noticed, the secret to happiness is exceedingly complex - involving beauty, physical senses, community, challenge, personal development, and so much more. That, plus the 'so much more' is Eudaimonia.

Fun theory seeks to figure out what goes into eudaimonia and how we can ensure our future is not one of eternal boredom, but is instead full of fun and packed with human values. If the future has nothing worthwhile left to do, it diminishes any purpose we might try to find.

If life were a game, the concerning future is one where we can freely cheat. We can do anything and we have everything; and, we are bored to tears.

How to solve eudaimonia

Sustainable happiness

One theory on how to get sustained happiness is looking for goals that are always worth pursuing, and not just goals that are worth accomplishing. In other words, games that are worth playing, not just worth winning. For 'sustainable' human happiness, pursuing goals over time - perhaps forever - could result in long-lasting happiness.

Friendly AI

Eudaimonia is complex, and the values are difficult to capture - however, a superintelligence aligned with human values (a friendly AI) may be able to learn those values and ensure they are preserved and met.

A friendly AI superintelligence would theoretically make the future better than we could ever imagine - edible rainbows, cloud beds, etc. However, it is very unlikely that an AI would actually be aligned with human ideals.

What you should probably do about this

Currently, there is no shortage of games worth winning in our world right now - global health, AI risk, pandemic prevention... the list continues. For now, running out of problems to solve is not the most significant problem. Try to find eudaimonia right now, because we do not lack challenges, learning opportunities, community, and everything else that makes life worth living.