100 questions for 2022
on tech, cause prioritisation, system design, and meaning
Each December, I try to verbalise my thoughts into writing, and pen down 100 questions to capture my curiosities from the previous year. These range from questions about meaning and existence, to the future direction of technology; from reforming social systems, to re-evaluting personal values.
Some questions include working hypotheses, which will be refined through 2022; others, I hope to ponder and reflect on in the coming year. Behold:
On life & meaning
Is true permanence possible? Have we ever witnessed true permanence? Can sensations (eg: love) be permanent?
Is everything breakable?
Is anything truly irreversible?
How many lives do we live in our lifetime - when we dream, or live through the sound of music?
What if our base reality is music, and we’re just vibrations travelling along through the passage of time? How can we design our world so more people can hear the music?
Is rhythm a social construct, or a universal truth? If it is the latter, does it support the idea that math forms the basis of the universe?
If people derive purpose and meaning from work, how can humans continue to be creative after we have automated most of it away?
If we have unlimited time to focus on ‘what matters to us most’, are leisurely intellectual pursuits, volunteering, or cultivating new skills in a non-urgent, low-stakes environment enough to give life meaning?
If there are infinite versions of us, diverging at each possible life choice to live out and traverse different possible trajectories, is it possible to ever find the those versions of ourselves? Are they separated from us by space, time, mental strength, or something else?
We often think about advanced lifeforms existing in foreign space - parts of the universe we haven’t mapped out yet. Could there have been advanced lifeforms that existed in ‘foreign time’? Civilisations more advanced than ours that existed in the past, immortalised only in mythology?
Is our life’s goal to make the journey less unpredictable?
On identity & immortality
Is immortality a burden?
Is it possible for our species to continue existing in flux, or is either extinction or immortality a necessary outcome?
How long can identity persist over time?
Is identity a product of the collective world’s perception of who we are, or of our own perception? Are they any different?
What is the best way to think about identity? Some perspectives I’ve encountered over the years:
You are the sum total of everyone other than yourself - the world is made from mirrors, or filters through which light passes, and you are the resultant reflection; you enrich your existence by creating a more beautiful world
The world is just sensations; your body is the manifestation of the sensations you have claimed
We are approximations of our intentions
Is it possible that we’re all just 3D deepfakes generated by a Master GAN, part of a complex simulation administered by some parent version of ourselves?
On knowledge
What is the best way to identify where on the Dunning-Krugger line you would fall given your current knowledge on a given topic? Is it worth designing such a test for select knowledge areas, so people can have more epistemic awareness?
Is there a quantum basis to feeling like you simultaneously know everything but nothing at all?
When is it appropriate to stop refining theories based on new information, and regard them with a sense of finality or degree of conviction?
What are the bounds to certainty?
Is it because I am more confident in my beliefs about the world that I have fewer questions, or is this an indication that I am not reading enough?
Is it possible to measure intelligence in an artificial being, given that it may have possible unrealised but sophisticated cognitive capacities? (eg: situations where it is not being trained or tested on tasks it could be very good at)
On the future of tech
Will our gateway to the metaverse be text-based (eg: through a search engine), app-based (through individual portals), or voice-based (eg: through instructing digital assistants)?
Will social AIs with GAN-created image personas ever pose a legitimate threat to creator/influencer businesses?
On the effects of technology
The world is more fast-paced, instantaneous, connected than ever before - what are the effects of shortening the loops of micro-existence, the chapters in the book of life; of overloading brains with information, of hijacking attention, of instantaneous context-switching, between news of a kidnapping, a baby shower, genocide, a new job, in a matter of seconds as you scroll through a feed?
We get hypnotised by our phones on an hourly basis - the greatest trick of them all was convincing the people that black magic didn’t exist. Sleek devices to draw you in, till your eyes are swirling and you are hooked. Colorful attractions to draw you into different apps, and dark UX patterns to get you to stay. You’re scrolling, scrolling, scrolling - BAM. A distraction draws you away from the screen, you swipe up quickly, lock your phone, and throw it across the bed. You feel terrible. You were thinking about something before, now you can’t remember. What happened?
Should people be allowed to ‘block’ people in virtual worlds? Could this lead to intolerance?
How can technology be designed to make people more tolerant? Will people be incentivised to use such a technology?
To what extent should technology be designed to be egocentric?
Should users be allowed to opt for authenticity on the platform: exposure to a diversity of views displayed as they come in, over a carefully curated echo-chamber designed to hook the user? What is the best way to strike the balance between user experience and representativeness? Is it possible to remain competitive without showing users what they like to see?
What are other ways in which intolerance might manifest on digital platforms?
Is it possible to solve the problem of attention theft? As we transition into an increasingly digital existence, we are torn between existing in the real-world and the metaverse. Logging off for sanity, connectedness, peace of mind, seems almost irresponsible because of the personal and professional obligation to be reachable; because technology enables it and design simplifies it, capitalism demands it.
Is is possible to design a world where individuals can opt out of the metaverse? Are we morally obligated to do this? Can someone who opts out of living in the metaverse be successful?
If the barrier to expression and action is reduced in the metaverse vs. the real-world, could this lead to a new, more extreme, unfiltered, visceral, almost feral, form of communication and interaction?
According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, language mediates thought. Does communicating through emojis, text, GIFs, memes, and abbreviations unlock new avenues of thought, creativity, and imagination? Or does their availability and ease of use reduce the complexity of thought, condition us through autotext to speak in similar ways, and restrict the boundaries of expression to a few, commonly spoken set of phrases?
On system design
How can we make air travel a less painful experience?
Is it productive to assign deterministic labels to people with mental health problems? Rather than saying you are XXX or you have YYY, could it be more helpful to reframe diagnoses to you are currently experiencing ZZZ in the cases where relevant, thereby framing the disease or challenge as conquerable? While a diagnosis is validating, reframing a conquerable problem as situational rather than dispositional could help the patient regain self-agency, and be instrumental in recovery.
How can we make emergency rooms and doctors’ waiting rooms a more comfortable experience for people?
How can we make them more safe? (Requiring a group of sick, vulnerable people to sit in a room for hours with other possibly infectious people seems intuitively problematic).
Why do we still use time? Is there a more efficient, precise way to catalogue our subjective experience?
On social systems
Is language and dialect homogeneity desirable? Why is it important to care about language diversity?
In the future, will wearing masks become a marker of belonging to a social or religious group?
Has the world begun to categorize and classify more? If yes, is there increased pressure to become part of an in-group or tribe in the metaverse?
Are humans getting more homogenous or archetypal? In terms of:
language: autotext and auto-email suggestions as language scaffolders, conditioning everyone to speak the same type of English
appearance: social media and influencer culture is another, more instant, personal, and pervasive avenue of spreading and establishing new beauty standards; AR filters impose a beauty ideal on your face.
politics: in the US, the social pressure to pick between and conform to one of two schools of thought (liberal vs. conservative) limits a citizen’s ability to effectively develop person moral convictions on intricate social issues. Citizens are shepherded into an ingroup based on their salient beliefs, and indoctrinated with the ‘correct’ beliefs of the group. Increasing polarisation between the two groups, and animosity towards the outgroup discourages individuals from questioning the group’s beliefs, engaging in discourse, or exploring alternate viewpoints, in fear of alienating (or being cancelled by) the group. What are some safe spaces that provide individuals with an unbiased platform to develop and explore personal, social, and political ideologies?
Why does sarcasm win, over kindness?
What is the significance of shapes in how we interact with the world? How might I classify, assign, or emotionally interact with an object differently if it changes shape?
Does the geometry of structures we interact with on a daily basis affect perception and action in a meaningful way? How do shapes of everyday objects affect how we interact with or think about them?
When travelling in Japan, I noticed I could identify specific geometrical structures as distinctly East Asian. In the case of manmade shapes, is design and architecture informed by land formations occurring in the surrounding natural environment?
Does the shape of an object have an impact on how people raised in the culture perceive or assign emotion to objects?
In Japanese culture, anthropomorphising objects is common - does this have anything to do with their shape?
How can we make web3 accessible to people who don’t have budgets to experiment with tokens or bet on NFT communities?
Are soulmates predetermined or created?
If soulmates are created, can anyone be your soulmate? If not, what determines the parameters for the subset that would qualify as potential soulmates? Is it possible to pre-empt or identify these parameters?
On personal and professional growth
How do you strike a balance between investing in the world vs. investing in yourself?
What is the best way to give back: time or money?
What % of time should I be thinking about giving back to maximise net impact?
How big of a role will ‘giving’ play in my life? (eg: career shift vs. part-time volunteering vs. donating or pledging a % of income)?
How can I create an environment to succeed at achieving my goals? And what’s the best way to think about what exactly I want to achieve?
Where will I end up settling down? Ideally, where do I see myself in 5 years? Should I know the answer to that, or have an emerging idea of where that could be? Can there be a right answer?
What’s one thing I want to change about the way I’m currently living? What are the things that are stopping me from making this change?
Many systems are dynamic equilibriums (eg: marketplaces, transfer of heat and energy, appetite for risk) - at the individual level, is it possible to achieve and maintain a static equilibrium, at an optimum point? External circumstances prompt changes in lifestyle choices; they ricochet back when external conditions revert. But the ricocheting becomes less over time as intentional life choices are made and implemented. Is complete equanimity achievable?
Could grad school be a good option for me? Is there a universe in which I want to go to grad school?
Big fish small pond, or small fish big pond? When is it the right time to move to a big pond?
On health & wellness
How can I increase the diversity of my microbiome?
What are the metabolic/energy costs to having a large head/big brain? Do these vary among humans?
How can I make my scalp healthier?
Can I focus on renewing my body at the cell level?
Given that ageing is necessarily the decline of the human body and mind, what are the best ways to slow down the process?
Why haven’t we solved for the common cold, flu, or sinus headaches?
Where can I find an indoor swimming pool in DC that is open on Sundays?
Does classical piano music affect the brain differently than other types of music?
Can humans overcome physical bodily damage with mental strength? To what degree do physical and mental strength enhance each other?
On inventing
Is is worth investing in / creating a personal ‘CRM’ to keep in touch with old friends - a machine-enabled solution to preserve human connection?
How useful could the following contraption be: a device that regulates thought flow, and caps the volume of sensory inputs that a person absorbs in a day. A simplistic version of this would regulate only the volume of thought flow, and indicate to a user when the target / maximum level of sensory inputs has been reached for the day, prompting the user to slow down, or rest, sleep, hydrate, or eat more than usual when exerting cognitively. A more complex version could distinguish between the types of inputs. Significant variation in inputs could indicate that a user is distracted and attention-switching, while the detection of a certain type of brainwaves could indicate a flow-state.
summary: a fitbit for the brain
functionality: users can analyse cognitive activity, speed of learning, attentional control, external stimuli intrusion, and productivity
applications: the device could integrate with a phone/smartwatch to disable notifications when a user enters a flow-state, sync with a smarthome to optimise conditions for productivity and learning, and become an in-house nutritionist for a user’s information diet.
What would you do if you had unlimited time and resources?
What’s one thing you would build if you had unlimited funding?
Can I invent something truly permanent?
If you believe that humans will one day be extinct, what’s one way you could leave a lasting mark on the universe as proof-of-existence for future life forms?
On prioritisation
What are the 5 most important problems facing the world right now?
What is the correct framework to use to assess which problems might be the most important?
Are problems that could threaten human existence necessarily most important to care about?
On ethics
Is violence ever justified? Under what conditions might violence be justified?
Is anger ever justified? Under what conditions is it morally permissible to use anger strategically?
Is intelligence the most relevant criterion when thinking about an entity’s moral status?
Is it possible to measure ‘suffering’ in an artificial being?
Does a human’s relationship with an artificial being affect its moral status (eg: if a human adopts an AI as a child, does this social relationship entitle an artificial being to full moral status)?
Is it reasonable to think that providing artificial beings with a moral status (or rights) could increase the likelihood of them becoming an existential risk to humanity?
Under what conditions is it permissible to lie?
Who should bear the risk in the case of an autonomous vehicle accident - the passenger, pedestrian, or bystanders?
Should the decision of which group to cause harm to change depending on the number of people in, or the demographic of, the group? (eg: should the car swerve into a bystander to save 4 passengers? Should it harm an old person to save a young child?)
On value
Do NFTs have intrinsic value? Does art have value? Is there a difference in how we assign value to NFTs and physical art?
Are virtual objects as valuable as real objects?
Assuming there is no significant difference in the lived subjective experiences you will have between two worlds, is there a difference to living in a real vs. a virtual world? Why might you prefer one over the other?
Is living in a real-world or a base reality somehow more authentic?
If yes, does the possibility that we are living in a simulation make your current life less valuable or authentic?
Misc.
How does quantum superposition work? Can mental states exist in a superposition, only collapsing into something definite when required?
Is it possible to switch on/off heuristics in social situations?
Is taste in food entirely subjective? Can tastes or flavours of food be classified as universally good or bad?
Is itching evolutionary? Is there a way to prune away or unlearn evolutionary reflexes that are no longer useful?
I really enjoyed these questions! Here is a potential follow-on question about identity for #15-16: Is identity situational? For example, your self-perception may depend on the current social context (ex: close friend group, family, etc.) and your role within the group.
definitely stealing and remixing this... so many ideas popping in my head