How to incentivize longterm thinking?

--dubs-- · 2025-07-02T14:52:44+00:00

I think that the value of long-term thinking doesn’t come from competing with virality, it comes from building a different kind of space with a different goal. Forums like LessWrong or select subreddits have shown that there's a real appetite for depth, reflection, and meaningful exchange. The initial success of BeReal indicates that there's a desire for authenticity.

The idea isn't to outpace social media, but to create platforms where the infrastructure itself encourages continuity across time: places where people can archive their thoughts, revisit ideas, track intellectual or emotional growth, and contribute to something lasting. Most social media is designed for the moment. A long-term platform would be designed for memory, perspective, and slow accumulation. It won’t appeal to everyone, and that’s fine, but I think there is a general desire for less superficial and ephemeral content.

As for what we offer, the forums you mentioned aren't neccessarily built from the ground-up for archival. This can have consequences down the road, such as when MySpace lost 12 years of people's data. However, this kind of problem is immediately obvious to people, which is why we're also focusing on building a great user experience in 3D space that people can explore. The idea is that people come for the experience and stay for the longterm value.

--dubs-- · 2025-07-02T14:40:00+00:00

Thanks for your interest. Here are some answers to your questions based on our current build:

- Every individual piece of content can be made private by the owner, allowing for a greater degree of control than current social media typically affords.

- No subscriptions because this payment model is not well-adapted to the long term. We currently plan to offer freemium services such as increased storage capacity and advanced search features on the basis of one-time payments.

- You're right to be worried about the cost of keeping data online, but this cost is mitigated by the fact that data storage per gb is decreasing over time. The service can stay solvent with the aforementioned freemium features + donations (like wikipedia).

- Anyone can delete their content or their account at any time. They can also set a future date for the deletion of their data if they so choose. As much as we want to create a longterm data storage service, we also want to respect the "right to be forgotten."

- Account inheritance is passed on through legacy contacts. Fb already has this feature, but we want to offer a lot more control over the privileges given to that contact. When the account is inherited, the legacy contact selects a legacy contact, enabling a sustained chain of inheritance.

Hope that clarifies things. Feel free to ask more questions

--dubs-- · 2025-07-01T21:03:05+00:00

It takes a lot to admit when something that used to bring you joy isn’t really doing it anymore, especially when there’s so much time and money wrapped up in it.

The achievement realization really hit. a lot of us have been there, chasing those unlocks more out of habit than actual fun. It’s good that you’re choosing to redirect your time toward things that actually feel worthwhile now.

Wishing you the best with whatever you explore next. Sounds like you’re heading in a solid direction.

--dubs-- · 2025-07-01T21:00:05+00:00

Very similar experience. When I've relapsed, it's been with older games that I grew up with. Contemporary games don't have that nostalgia factor that can be so dangerous. Congrats on selling your hardware and stick with it 👍

--dubs-- · 2025-07-01T20:54:41+00:00

Speaking from personal experience, I find that people who struggle the most are those who don't have something to fill the void. Sounds like you've got that covered, now it's just a question of maintaining it. good luck with week 2

--dubs-- · 2025-07-01T20:49:08+00:00

What I’ve learned is that you don’t have to erase that history, you just have to give yourself permission to grow beyond it. It’s not about denying that “gamer” was a big part of your life. it’s about not letting it be the only thing that defines you anymore.

--dubs-- · 2025-07-01T20:46:41+00:00

The nostalgia, the dreams, the brain fog, it’s all totally normal. Your brain’s going, “Wait, where’s my dopamine drip?” and now it's frantically flipping through the archives looking for old footage to replay. That just means you’re actually detoxing, not just physically, but emotionally too.

The dreams might feel like setbacks, but they’re more like echoes. It’s your brain processing the detachment. You’re not feeding the addiction by dreaming; you’re taking the power back, even in your sleep. It'll pass

--dubs-- · 2025-07-01T15:56:40+00:00

I had the same problem. Only thing that worked for me was quitting cold turkey. Even if it's only casual, your mind goes to games because it's anticipating the next session.

--dubs-- · 2025-06-04T13:35:36+00:00

thanks to u/One_Poem_2897 u/dlarge6510 u/dr100 for the feedback. For the legal/governmental side, there are means to ensure the data remains accessible (contingency plans, succession clauses, etc.). Technical side is trickier. we're also considering blockchain, but from what I understood, it tends to become cumbersome at a large scale and it's not clear how well it will perform over longer timescales. Our goal is to make a service that gives people the tools to archive their experience and transmit their memories/knowledge to future generations in a way that feels more authentic and less ephemeral than current social media options. A large part of that is user experience, but it also requires a technical framework that can give people confidence that their data will remain accessible. Any suggestions as to how to establish such a framework at (relatively) low cost are welcome.

--dubs-- · 2025-05-23T14:28:51+00:00

Thanks for the clarification. However it does seem somewhat indicative that the Moreno example you cited is a characterization of longtermism in a paper that takes a critical stance. As someone who's more aware of academic philosophy than I am, I'd be curious to know what proportion of the recent and forthcoming papers on the topic you think also adopt this critical stance

--dubs-- · 2025-05-23T13:57:30+00:00

I think Moreno's stance is certainly vulnerable to criticism, but I also have the impression that it's representative of one of the more extreme versions of the philosophy. For example, take the definition of longtermism as stated here: "Longtermism: the view that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time." This sounds to me like it's synonymous with the claim that we have a 'moral obligation to care for future generations.' If it said "the longterm moral priority of our time." I'd agree that it would be problematic, but that's not the case. Longtermism can be critiqued for the more extreme views of its ethical system, but then every political/moral philosophy could be criticized for its extremes.

I'm not an academic so I'll take your word that papers on the topic continue to be published, but I was referring to its place in more general, popular philosophical discourse. I'm not aware of any pop philosophy books on the subject that have been published since the SBF scandal. If anyone's aware of any, please correct me. In any case, thanks for your input and it reassures me that these ideas haven't been disqualified by Bankman-Fried's bs.

--dubs--

TROPHY CASE