[ExI] What would you do if you won the billion dollar plus MegaMillions Lottery, and are lotteries a bad thing?

[William Flynn Wallace]

Buy each of your old relatives a simple speech recorder.  Maybe they will
talk to it.  bill w

On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 11:52 AM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

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> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
> Of *William Flynn Wallace
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 23, 2018 8:48 AM
> *To:* ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] What would you do if you won the billion dollar plus
> MegaMillions Lottery, and are lotteries a bad thing?
>
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> >>…BillW talks about giving it away, which is aimed at
> self-actualization, which tells me he is already good in the comfort and
> safety part of the ladder.
>
> spike
>
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>
> >…Right - a few years ago when I was single I bought all the stuff I ever
> wanted - camera, stereo, PC, cooking gear, yard machines, plasma TV, and of
> course it was good that I never wanted a mansion, a yacht, etc. Now my main
> wants are books and I have enough money for those…
>
> Ja.  The internet changed everything.  It really did.  Consider a lotta
> people in their young to mid working years, dreaming of retiring and
> (what’s the classic things they dream of) going on a sea voyage.  Or going
> on the road in a motorhome, two classic busy-person dreams, ja?
>
> OK.  So.  What’s the first thing they discover?  Go on a sea voyage, great
> food, lotsa bods hanging out by the pool, fun fun it is.  For the first day
> or two.  After that… boooooorrrrinnnnng… because there is no internet
> connection out there at sea.  And even if there was, does it make a lick of
> sense to pay all that money to eat all that fine food and ogle the pool
> bods, then hole up in your cabin and surf the net?  Why not just stay home
> if you’re going to do that?  Go to a local upscale restaurant which is just
> as good, ogle the bods online, which is better.
>
> Go on the road?  Hmmm, ok so you get to see the country.  Sure, pardon me
> while I nap.  You can get on Google Maps and cruise wherever you want and
> not have the risk of some drunken yahoo slamming into your shiny new
> motorhome as you ride those country roads.
>
> Books you vant?  You vant zee books?  Vee hef zee books.  All the books
> you have time to read, right there in front of you right now.  They don’t
> even cost much, or if your eyes are tired, just get online and listen to
> Ted Talks, oh what a day.  What a time to be alive!
>
> >…You could not talk to her on the phone for long because she was deathly
> afraid of the telephone bill, even if I was paying.
>
> This is a big problem for people doing family history.  The people I
> really need to talk to are almost all over 80.  They have so much cool
> knowledge, but they generally don’t have or don’t use computers, and it is
> often such a struggle to get them to talk on the phone.  They treat it like
> a hot potato.  Costs money dontcha know.
>
> If you want to go visit in person, they love it: they will bal bla and
> yakkity yak your leg off all day, like there is no tomorrow.  But you call
> on the phone, short choppy sentences, gotta keep that phone bill down.  You
> can’t even convince them that your phone doesn’t charge by the minute,
> because theirs does which is why they seldom call out.
>
> I have one treasure chest of family history knowledge, age 88, whose phone
> still has the old rotary dial.  Their “long distance” calls still do cost
> money.  Their local phone company still supports the old ways.  West
> Virginia.  Mountain mama.  Don’t take me home, not there, please.  There is
> no convincing some of these old ones that most phones are not connected to
> the wall by a wire and don’t charge by the minute.  She has no computer,
> wouldn’t know what to do with one if she had it.
>
> Advice to the young ones among us: if you eeeeever think you might eeever
> ever take an interest in your family history, get on it now.  The old ones
> are passing away.  They know stuff.  Talk to them.  Call em, talk, listen,
> write down what they tell you.  If you are not interested now, or are busy,
> call, talk, listen, write it down, file it away where you can find it 30
> yrs from now.  I did.  The stuff I found out in my 20s is priceless and
> irreplaceable.
>
> spike
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