At first there was nothing (as reported by all witnesses). But then, there was something. There were many things! The exact details are a bit fuzzy, but one of the few things we can definitively state, with utter confidence, is that *something* exists. Don't ask me what, don't ask me why, but I'm prepared to stake my entire reputation (bold, I know) on the fact that something exists.

If you'll tolerate that basic assumption, the question becomes: so what? Well, I have less confident statements to make on that topic, but I have some ideas. I think life, consciousness, existence, all of these mysterious experiences, revolve around a few key forces and, by improving our understanding of these forces, we can positively increase our impact on the universe. 

The most fundamental of these forces (perhaps of everything) is entropy. I cannot rigorously define entropy and there's a chance I completely misunderstand it, as I suspect is the case with many of my favorite concepts. But I've found my conception of entropy helpful and the way I think about it is as follows: 

1. Stuff can be arranged in an interesting or an uninteresting way.

2. There are more ways for things to be uninteresting than there are for them to be interesting.

Note: This is maybe the weakest argument, but by everything presently observable from the perspective of a human being, the ratio of interesting to uninteresting things certainly seems skewed toward the latter.

3. Change is a constant, impossible to prevent from always happening at some scale.

4. Time is infinite and relative but measures the window in/during which change can happen.

5. Given 3 and 4, stuff will always be shifting from being either interesting or uninteresting.

Conclusion: Without intervention, most stuff will remain and/or become uninteresting.

I, for one, at least most of the time, prefer interesting things to uninteresting things, so I would like to intervene on their behalf. How can we do that? Again, I have ideas. 

It has come to be my opinion that there are two forces we, as conscious beings, have access to, that allow us to intervene on behalf of interesting things and increase the overall level of interesting-ness in the universe. We can do this through intentional, concerted exercise of our agency and gratitude. Agency is what allows us to exert some influence over the shifting of things between interesting and uninteresting and gratitude gives us the fortitude to persist when our influence proves insufficient to produce what we intend. Access to each of these forces, by means of consciousness, is, at least from what I can see, what is special about being human.

That being the case, my resolution for the coming year is to more actively cultivate my ability to exercise both agency and gratitude, in hopes of more effectively intervening on behalf of interesting things in the universe. I want to do this more publicly than I've done things in the past as a conscious decision to force myself into new territory so, I'm planning on publishing essays, similar to this one, on this website, between 1 and 4 times a month. I plan on sorting things into one of three categories: 

• Food + Shelter: Thoughts about the present and past. How did I get where I am and how do I feel about it?

• Wealth + Power: Thoughts about the future. Where am I going? What will the world look like in 5 years? 10? 100? 1000?

• Learning + Development: Random things I'm learning about. L&D sounded better than miscellaneous.

Hopefully I will have interesting things to share but only time will tell. Additionally, while it somewhat pains me to say it, you can also follow me Twitter (@entrophobe) where I'll also (theoretically) be recording some thoughts.

Regardless, for the first time in a long time, perhaps ever, I think I have a clear idea of what I want to do, what I am uniquely able to do, and what I need to do. For that, I am grateful.  

If you've gotten this far, I appreciate you taking the time and I have one parting request. If you know me (at all), I'd love for you to fill out this survey. It could be done in under 2 min but can take as long as you'd like (rants are welcomed, even encouraged). 

My goal is to collect anonymous feedback from interactions I have, in hopes of better understanding what I do well and what I need to do better. It is truly anonymous (unless you identify yourself in your response) so I hope people have no reservations about vocalizing things that normally go unsaid. If I get enough responses (and the results aren't too damning 😅), I might share some analysis of them here. If you know someone that might have something to say, please share it as well. As with many things in life, the more data, the better.

Here's to an exciting 2024, filled with agency and gratitude, entropy is the only one guaranteed.

JackGPT ✌️

Post Script:

A brief timeline of the universe's fight against entropy (non-exhaustive):

- Pre-Big Bang - Nothingness (Universe: 0, Entropy ♾️)

- Year 0 - Big Bang + Gravity (Universe: 1, Entropy ♾️)

- Year ~9B - Earth forms + Water (Universe: 2, Entropy ♾️)

- Year ~10B - Life emerges? (Universe: 3, Entropy ♾️)

- Year ~13B - Consciousness emerges? (Universe: 4, Entropy ♾️)

- Year ~13.5B - Artificial Consciousness emerges? (Universe: 5?, Entropy ♾️)

Entropy is still up by infinity, but I'm liking the trend and am a sucker for an underdog. Let's go universe!