Supermassive Black Hole Merger Energy Analysis

Here's my latest presentation analyzing the distribution of the forms of energy produced in the merger of supermassive black holes!

I want to jot down my thoughts on the next-to-last episode of The Good Place before the finale airs. But I’m glad I’m doing so after a few days to reflect on it.

Those who know my philosophy on such things might be able to guess that I had an extreme, visceral, negative reaction to the ‘solution’ that Team Cockroach concocted to the big problem facing the good place. I have never, ever agreed with armchair philosophers who claim that the shortness of our lives is what gives them meaning. It almost seems hipsterish - humanity has had an undying (sorry) obsession with living forever, but here’s this guy: “No, look at me! We should want to die!” Thanks, but no thanks. The contents of my life are what give it meaning, not its end. What the fuck is wrong with you?

So when the answer to the problem of ennui in the good place was, “We’re gonna let you end it all,” my response was, “No, no, come on, you’re better than this.” But with a little more time to reflect, I realized that there are major differences between a human - even an immortal one - and the residents of the good place.

My belief that living forever would still be worthwhile - and to directly contrast with what’s presented on The Good Place - still be interesting, is predicated on my belief that no matter how long one lives, there are still new things to learn, to experience, and to accomplish. Consider: whether you’re looking at literature, music, science, just about any field of human endeavor whatsoever, there’s more being created every single day than one could consume in a day. Last year it was reported that 500 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. And while most of it isn’t worth watching, those concrete numbers demonstrate the point. Sure, if you’re immortal you can say, “there’s always tomorrow,” every single day, but every day you’re just further behind. Those of you who, like me, have huge piles of unread books and unplayed video games know what I’m talking about!

But. BUT! I had to realize that all of that assumes that one is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. (Which, since I usually think about these things in the context of the modern scientific quest for radical life extension, usually aren’t on the table.) The residents of the good place are functionally omniscient, with Janets available to immediately answer literally any question. They’re functionally omnipotent, with green doors that can conjure any experience imaginable. And they can’t ‘accomplish’ anything, because all difficulties are obliterated.

All that led me back to another great work of TV that touched on the exact same theme: the Star Trek Voyager episode “Death Wish”. To recap, Voyager accidentally releases a Q (who comes to be known as Quinn to tell him apart) from imprisonment. His crime? Advocating euthanasia among the Q Continuum. John de Lancie’s Q shows up to argue that he’s gotta go back, and Janeway agrees to serve as an arbiter. In the end, Quinn makes the case that he has literally seen everything, done everything, so what’s left for him to live for? The key line in his closing arguments is: “Captain, you're an explorer. What if you had nothing left to explore? Would you want to live forever under those circumstances?”

Forever is a long time. Even though I might want to live for hundreds, thousands, even millions of years, given the opportunity, I don’t think I’d want to be hanging around by myself after the heat death of the universe. Again, nothing new to experience. The residents of the good place might not be quite to that point in their Jeremy Bearimy-y eternity - Hypatia’s not even 2500 yet! - but I admit, given the abilities afforded to them, time compresses.

All that said, I’m an engineer, and it seems there are better, if more difficult, solutions available than “stop existing”, especially for a show that’s always shit on nihilism. Maybe the good place isn’t so good after all (even if The Good Place remains amazing). I see life very much like a story. A story that gives its protagonist everything on page one and ends isn’t a great story. And while I don’t think the good place should load its residents with all the burdens of real life, there’s miles and miles between that and giving them everything for free. I fear I start to sound like some conservative economist, but perhaps it should mete out rewards gradually, or require some effort to achieve desired ends. There shouldn’t be assault or sickness or war or poverty, of course, but imagine a revamped good place: you want to learn something or create something? You have to study it, you have to do it yourself, BUT whenever you’re working at such a task, you’re always in a state of flow, and you always know you’ll succeed...eventually. It’s probably not for everyone, but as someone who’d be pretty happy remaining human but having plenty of time, I’d love it.

As with the heat death of the universe, forever is a long time, and even if the residents themselves had a real culture, sharing their own creations and discoveries along with all those being made on earth or elsewhere in the universe, eventually everything would be learned, would be said. Then...maybe. But man, it’d take a lot more Bearimys to get there and they’d be much more interesting ones.

H³

I tweated abt Hairy Horse Hashmarks beforE! jeebers! Getting run thru by nature! GAWD!
#onion #onoff #nono

CAT!

My doll is a cat but he still need shoes because he's a doll. cat. doll.

gawd

Y don't these ppl rember I have a doll and Disney and he needs shoes? GAWWWD

OMG!

Could you iagine some sad poor shity doll at shoelss at WDW??? I can't even...,.

Duh!

He's a doll, of course he needs shoes to go to Disney World!