Prompt: Your Choice. Write about anything.
You know, I find it kinda funny that this post is promptless, as it means that I’m allowed
to write anything that I want but, unfortunately, nothing comes to me. “Anything” is not exactly
specific, and, as it would turn out, I kind of need things to be a bit more specific; I think we all
do to be honest. It reminds me of a lot of the drama that has been happening in the video game
industry: companies promising massive worlds and universes, with limitless possibilities and
complete freedom; and yet this hasn’t gone very well, with No Man’s Sky and Fallout 76 being a
couple of painful, relatively recent examples. Complete freedom is all well and good, but is that
really what we want? No matter how big a game is, no matter how many mechanics, there are
still only so many possibilities. Perhaps this is why Minecraft is so successful: because it is
simple.
This doesn’t just apply to video games either; this applies very heavily to real life. The
fact that religions exist proves this point. There are so many deities to explain why we’re all
here, so many deities to explain what we should do.
Philosophy is the art of finding meaning in reality, of coming up with a purpose. Why do
we need it? Don’t we want freedom? Don’t we want to be able to do whatever we please? Ah,
but are we even free to choose precisely what it is that we please? Are the desires we feel not
simply impulses, driven by biological instinct? The desire to live? The desire for sex? The desire
for food, and water, and shelter, and air? The desire for the instant stimulation that video games
provide us? The desire for happiness?
We do not control the presence of these impulses, though we can resist and defy them.
By merely existing, we are not truly free. Be glad for that.
to write anything that I want but, unfortunately, nothing comes to me. “Anything” is not exactly
specific, and, as it would turn out, I kind of need things to be a bit more specific; I think we all
do to be honest. It reminds me of a lot of the drama that has been happening in the video game
industry: companies promising massive worlds and universes, with limitless possibilities and
complete freedom; and yet this hasn’t gone very well, with No Man’s Sky and Fallout 76 being a
couple of painful, relatively recent examples. Complete freedom is all well and good, but is that
really what we want? No matter how big a game is, no matter how many mechanics, there are
still only so many possibilities. Perhaps this is why Minecraft is so successful: because it is
simple.
This doesn’t just apply to video games either; this applies very heavily to real life. The
fact that religions exist proves this point. There are so many deities to explain why we’re all
here, so many deities to explain what we should do.
Philosophy is the art of finding meaning in reality, of coming up with a purpose. Why do
we need it? Don’t we want freedom? Don’t we want to be able to do whatever we please? Ah,
but are we even free to choose precisely what it is that we please? Are the desires we feel not
simply impulses, driven by biological instinct? The desire to live? The desire for sex? The desire
for food, and water, and shelter, and air? The desire for the instant stimulation that video games
provide us? The desire for happiness?
We do not control the presence of these impulses, though we can resist and defy them.
By merely existing, we are not truly free. Be glad for that.
Word Count: 323
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