The universe doesn’t care.
Life, such as humans, cares and does have a value system.
If possible, all amoebas, flowers, and humans would want to live like kings. That is the value system of life.
The quest for life is to exert that value against this cold universe that doesn’t care.
In this quest, each life and human is confined within their own reach and age. But life has this magic to summon more life, and discover tricks and trades among the alliance of lives — to arrange the energy of the universe according to their value.
Flowers borrow legs from bees to spread, and give pollen as food in exchange. Or, cells and bacterias marry to save on plumbing bills, and become mitochondria.
Humans accelerate the discovery of these tricks and trades with culture and tools, sculpting the universe further towards life and humanity’s value.
Tools like wheels transport heavy loads of atoms better than legs. Wheels didn’t happen with meatball lives, but it finally happened with human brains and clever arrangements of wood and stone.
Money and capital are also tools and tricks. They are the wheels and legs that convey information about energy and human preferences, and often store energy better than atoms.
Languages, memes, songs, and math are like that too. They shepherd human tricks and trades through space and time. They are humans’ bee-dance to tell where the pollen is, has been, or might be going to be.
Together, those human-created tools and tricks are like non-meatball forms of life with varying degrees of vitality. They join the alliance with the rest of meatball life to spread life’s value in this cold universe.
Among this alliance of life, competition is the shared love language. The VW Beetle is competing with insect beetles and the Beatles’ songs for Mother Life’s attention and her milk of energy.
Population growth expands this alliance of life. More bees and more humans bring more brains and GPUs to come up more tools, tricks, and trades. More life begets more.
Diversity strengthens this alliance of life. In fact, diversity is the very vitality of this union. It allows for a finer division of labor to organize the citizens of this alliance against the indifferent universe.
The Industrial Revolution is one such trick of organization. Fire, iron, and buried batteries from past lives free the current lives from the food stamps of the yearly sun. This momentary creative freedom breeds more brains and memes to unearth more tricks and treasures.
Science is another trick of organization. It orients brains and memes away from stories and opinions, but towards facts. And facts are the steel that made skyscrapers of memes and tricks possible, no more house of cards.
Cities and books are another such organizational trick. They are the pubs where brains and memes meet, so brain-bees can travel less to mix the pollen of memes. The internet and Reddit are the pubs on weekends.
Tools for atoms and tools for thoughts arrange the universe in favor of humanity and life’s value system.
And here comes AI.
— Ivan, 2023
宇宙不在乎。
生命，比如人类，在乎，并且拥有自己的价值体系。
如果可能的话，所有的变形虫、花朵和人类都想像国王一样生活。这就是生命的价值体系。
生命的追求，就是将这种价值施加于这个冷漠的、毫不关心的宇宙之上。
在这场追求中，每一个生命和人类都被困在自己的触及范围和寿命之内。但生命有一种魔力，能够召唤更多的生命，并在生命联盟中发现各种妙招和交易——按照它们的价值重新排布宇宙的能量。
花朵借用蜂蜂的腿来传播，用花粉作为食物来交换。或者，细胞和细菌结合以节省内务开支，变成了线粒体。
人类通过文化和工具加速发现这些妙招和交易，将宇宙进一步雕琢得更符合生命和人类的价值。
像轮子这样的工具，运输沉重的原子负载比腿更高效。轮子不是「肉丸子」生命能做到的，但它终于在人类大脑以及对木头和石头的巧妙编排中实现了。
金钱和资本也是工具和妙招。它们是传递能量和人类偏好信息的轮子和腿，而且往往比原子更能储存能量。
语言、模因、歌曲和数学也是如此。它们在时空中引导人类的妙招和交易。它们是人类的「蜂舞」，告诉彼此花粉在哪里、曾经在哪里、或许将会在哪里。
这些人类创造的工具和妙招，就像是不同生命力程度的「非肉丸子」生命形态。它们与其余的「肉丸子」生命一起加入联盟，在这个冷漠的宇宙中传播生命的价值。
在这个生命联盟中，竞争是共同的爱的语言。大众甲壳虫汽车、甲壳虫昆虫和披头士的歌曲，都在争夺生命之母的关注和她的能量之乳。
人口增长扩展了这个生命联盟。更多的蜂蜂和更多的人类带来更多的大脑和 GPU，发明更多工具、妙招和交易。更多的生命孕育更多。
多样性强化了这个生命联盟。事实上，多样性正是这个联合体的生命力所在。它允许更精细的分工，组织联盟的公民对抗冷漠的宇宙。
工业革命就是这样一种组织的妙招。火、铁和过去生命埋藏的电池，将当下的生命从每年太阳的「粮票」中解放出来。这一瞬间的创造性自由孕育出更多的大脑和模因，去挖掘更多的妙招和宝藏。
科学是另一种组织的妙招。它引导大脑和模因远离故事和观点，转向事实。而事实就是钢铁，它让模因和妙招的摩天大楼成为可能，不再是纸牌屋。
城市和书籍是另一种组织妙招。它们是大脑和模因相遇的酒吧，让大脑蜂蜂们不必长途跊涉就能混合模因的花粉。互联网和 Reddit 是周末开门的酒吧。
原子的工具和思想的工具，正在重新排布宇宙，使其更符合人类和生命的价值体系。
然后，AI 来了。
— Ivan, 2023