A couple weeks ago, a player known as Marbler became the first person in history to beat Super Mario 64 without pressing the A button.
This achievement, accomplished in an 86-hour-long run and made possible by thousands of community innovations over 20+ years, culminated into Marbler becoming the greatest A-button-less SM64 player in the world.
Chances are, you don't care about Super Mario 64- a game which was released 28 years ago in 1996. Very few people do anymore, and even fewer would care about something as silly as beating an antiquated 3D platformer without jumping.
But it's very clear that someone does care. Marbler sure cares. I care, for all that counts for, and so do millions of people willing to sit through a 5 hour long YouTube documentary and the hundreds of people doing literal PhD-level research work to break the game in all the right ways.
I think part of the appeal of the A Button Challenge is its sheer absurdity. Whether it be sports or Guinness world records, people love to spectate others devoting their entire lives towards something fun and unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
But I'd like to raise the point that maybe, there's more to the story here— that these fun and unimportant niches are crucial for the functioning of a modern society, and we should spend more time pursuing them.
Let's go back to the world of Minecraft for a second. In case you're unfamiliar with the game, there are two main modes: Survival Mode and Creative Mode.
In Survival Mode, you spend the first few days fighting for your life against the hordes of monsters that come out at night. Unless you're really good at the game, the onslaught continues for a long time as the game's progression forces you into increasingly dangerous locations, from the dark caves to the Nether and End realms. There's always something to do, or somewhere to go, or dangers to be navigated.
Eventually, though, you'll find yourself frustrated at needing to dig for hours to find a few more diamonds, or the slow pace of travel. It's time to switch to Creative Mode.
At first, Creative Mode is awesome! You can get unlimited amounts of anything, fly anywhere, or blow stuff up to your heart's content. What took days to do in Survival Mode can now be done in minutes!
But then you start to get bored. When you're invincible and have everything, the easiest choice is to do nothing.
So you stare at the screen, and think, i'm so bored. what do i do? You now need to find your own meaning; to actively make a decision to build a castle or terraform the planet or design minigames for your friends.
Some people are gifted in navigating this transition, and come out with the most incredible creations you've ever seen. But even for them, being in the midst of such a drastic mindset change can be agonizing.
For most of written history, at least some chunk of humanity no longer needed to devote 100% of their waking hours towards basic survival needs. Right now, this chunk is growing dramatically (and I really hope it continues to do so!). This means a lot more people are now free to pursue the things they find meaningful.
There is a lot more work to be done on the survivability front. It's a great privilege that my basic needs are met. It shouldn't need to be. But in addition to speeding up the transition, we still need to figure out how to facilitate it in the first place.
Clearly, things aren't going as smoothly as they could. Mental health is at the forefront of young peoples' problems, social media is a minefield of capitalistic exploitation, and people seem to be generally unfulfilled by their work or straight up anti-work.
None of the above problems appear to threaten one's mortality- not directly, at least. As conventional survival widom suggests: maybe your work sucks, but at least you're getting paid; you doomscrolling Twitter for 5 hours a day is a choice; and when you're out of it you could just do yoga and don't be sad! Stop complaining about being in Creative Mode, you should be glad you're not fighting zombies right now!
The act of survival is inherently meaningful. When that meaning is gone, where do we go to replace the void it leaves behind?
In what makes humans unique?, I explored the connection between cumulative culture and human flourishing. One of the major takeaways from related psychology research was the intertwined, codependent nature of biological and cultural evolution.
Both types of evolution are vehicles for change driven by experimentation. Where biology enables genetic mutations, the human mind invents thousands of niches, games, and musings a million times as fast1. Our greatest ideas outlive our greatest humans.
We've all but outgrown our reliance on biological evolution. Through culture, our ideas intermingle endlessly; some form symbiotic relationships while others vie for dominance. It's hard to predict what society will deem as worthy of our collective attention (even more so with the Internet).
But as long as someone cares deeply about something— even if it's just one person!— it's important. That's how culture creates meaning.
Marbler's accomplishments strike me with a deep sense of inspiration- not in a "I could totally do that" kind of way, but more of a "whoa, humans are so awesome". If someone can pour that much effort into their favorite video game, what excuse do I have for not giving my all for the things I love, too?
Josh Miller from The Browser Company calls this heartfelt intensity:
heartfelt intensity is a variety of intrinsic motivation. Not the thing a person is motivated to do but the drive underneath it all that makes them tick, so potent it puts a bit of magic behind the eyes.
That thing that compels you all to obsess over the details others overlook, and do it with gusto — that’s heartfelt intensity.
If we want to foster positive cultural evolution, we need to create more spaces where heartfelt intensity is valued and encouraged. It doesn't matter how wacky or seemingly inconsequential the thing you're doing is: if you're willing to show up and give it your all, then the rest of us should care about it, too.
Going forward, I want to be more conscious of:
proactively encouraging others (and myself) to be more vocal about the things we care about. If you fall into a rabbit hole, take me with you!
acknowledging that we're in the midst of a major transitionary period and have the opportunity to figure out what we want to do with ourselves. It's the perfect time to be exploratory and redefine the status quo of success and flourishing, rather than accepting what's here now.
being optimistic about the future, and knowing that I'll have a role in shaping it.
Thanks for going on a little trip through philosophical gaming history with me over the last month! I've had a blast revisiting my old games and reflecting on the meaning they've given me over these years.
The next arc of Whimsical Wednesdays begins next week...
🏝️extras
food for thought: 50 things I know - Sasha Chapin
40. I know that freedom is earned by confronting things that embarrass and trigger you, over and over again, until you are cringe-proof in your desired environment.
stalk my online reading: Sublime
stalk my offline reading: bencuan.me/bookshelf
stalk me on twitter: @bencuan_
Despite their similarities, we must be wary about conflating biological and cultural evolution too much; many psychologists even deem it dangerous to overlook their many differences.