The NPC theory: “most people” don’t really have deep inner lives where they yearn for meaning and purpose, they’re just incentive-following automatons who will do whatever satisfies their hardwired drives. Just sheep following the trends.
It’s paired with a second, usually unstated claim. Most people are NPCs, but not us…not the ones having this discussion. We are the special ones, the real people who actually care about the world, who are really paying attention. The ones who are fooled by surface appearances.
They are selling you something: the red pill. You want to be one of the special ones? Let me guide you. Let me show you how far the rabbit hole goes. You’re not one of those complacent sheep, right?
It’s a kind of ugly theory in itself, condescending and powered by contempt. But the true sin is that it’s false. All people, not just most, have a rich, meaningful inner world, full of mystery and questions and love and concern.
That doesn’t mean we are all equally wise, discerning, driven by love vs fear, disciplined or knowledgeable. We are the same only in our deep desire for authentic flourishing and universal need to believe we are special.
Of course we all are truly unique and special. Just like everyone else.
@eshear I asked my co-workers what they would do if they had enough to retire to a nice middle class life. Every single one of them said they would take up some hobby and relax. I realized not all people are as driven as I am to produce and create things.
@binarybardo Is producing and creating things the only real source of meaning or purpose?
@eshear They need to exist, Without NPCs there wouldn’t be main characters Let’s be grateful, to have that purpose feeling. It’s our playground to shape the world however we want. The NPCs will just help us to achieve the desire WE have
@GuvenAkg Everyone thinks they’re the main character. But maybe that’s because in an important sense everyone is the main character.
@eshear I always thought the theory was that the rich inner worlds don’t exist until someone comes and queries for them and explores them, so they’re all procedurally generated and not grounded in some well-engineered “personhood”
@ipvkyte Does a language model lack a latent space when it’s not actively being queried? An ambiguous question.
@eshear Probably makes you feel good to lower everyone else. Definitely didn’t post this for the dopamine (incentive) of that. Definitely a deep thought
@eshear I’d argue that *most* of them have deep inner lives and they do yearn for meaning and purpose, but the system they are living in has crushed them so hard that they doubt absolutely everything they think of that is out of widely accepted trends.
@ivanfrombtc Not you though. You’re special, you’ve resisted the system somehow by luck or will or innate capability. Thank god right?
@eshear This is the right book for your topic, very worthwhile:
@ChrisXFRA Good book, but I don’t quite see the relevance to the thread?
@eshear While I agree with the hubris behind such a belief, why can't it be both tho? Why can't it be that it's condescending, hubristic while also having some truth to it, in that there are people vastly more aware than others Most likely, the truth is somewhere in between ?
@AmIPades People certainly *act* on their desire/need for meaning in different ways, and some people are relatively more alive, more connected to their purpose than others…
@eshear This was a risky tweet considering most people will not read the subtweets
@techno0ptimist It didn’t even occur to me tbh, I thought putting “most people” in scare quotes would make it obvious
@eshear I've never seen such confusion in one sentence. Almost every word is wrong. Try : Humans have ideas about what to do next. Sometimes they are thwarted. Sometimes they make mistakes but are usually able to pivot.
@highpiled_books I encourage you to read the thread!