Miller Envy

“Would an encounter at what we’ve collectively built/wrought in the next 5,000 years not be a glimpse of something bigger? Would it not inform your understanding of what humanity ultimately is, and how you fit into that? Or, put another way: If you were to watch a game in 7019, played entirely in the seventh dimension by an emergent AI for the entertainment of our collectivized brain, would you still get depressed by your fantasy team?”    — Sam Miller, for ESPN. (Hat tip to Canberra management.)

About two hours ago Jamie asked if I wanted him to do the update for today.  I told him not to worry, I had a theme and was about to start writing.

I was about to start, but first I wanted to finish reading the article Ryan told me about, by Sam Miller, about which would be the best games to go to if you had a time machine that could take you into the future.  The article, linked above (and here), lists the following destinations:

1.  2019:  World Series Game 4 (to get rich on bets when you get back to the present).
2.  c. 2035:  Mike Trout’s final game.
3.  2048:  All-Star game — so you can go to t-ball games now and root for the stars of 2048.
4. 2099:  The Marlin’s 81st game.  Not sure why the Marlins, and why mid-season, but the idea is to see what’s become of baseball in 80 years when, maybe, it might be on its death-bed as a major sport.  This section is mostly about appreciating the moments we are in since they are finite in number.  None of us will be around to watch baseball in 1999.
5.  7019: Opening Day.  Consider the changes (mostly progress) in human life since 5000 years ago.  Now, taking into account the exponential compounding effects of technological change, try to imagine what life will be like 5000 years from now.  The odds are it will be so radically different you will have trouble recognizing anything, or even understanding it. If they even still play something called “baseball,” would it offer you a haven of the familiar?

You should read the whole thing. But beware — no one ever gets out of the Fire Swamp alive, and the  Sam Miller Garden is nearly as dangerous. Because there are links there to other Sam Miller articles you might not have read. Like three radical ways to reform baseball. (One of which I am thinking about for the EFL — more next time).  Or his series this year chronicling the various Hall of Famers Mike Trout has passed in career value this season (including Edgar Martinez, in June — when Trout was “still younger than Edgar was at the end of his first full season.” ). And more.

That’s seven other articles I could not put down. I finally did emerge, still alive but starving for time AND supper. I apologize.

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