THE FOUR ‘IFs’

HAPPINESS

>The secret of happiness, some say, is to age gracefully.
>One should attend to one’s health, and be a little wise.
>If one has a secret like health or wisdom, one can bargain with the world.
>One can grow up expecting that it won’t get much worse.
>You’re already old, you’ve already suffered.
>The pain is bearable, the conclusions are taken-for-granted.
>A little less suffering, that is all that is required.
>Moments of lucidity.
>With these tools, happiness is achievable.


EFFICIENCY

>First, banish confusion.
>Then, work out some standards.
>Then, replace them with systems.
>Rinse and repeat.
>Find the best logic.
>Take it to the extreme.
>Now work with custom tools.
>You have discovered the efficient world!
>See what is left of your agenda!


IMMORTALITY

>We have a choice: realization or delay.
>We have to force this choice, or we won’t get either one.
>It’s not that we want to delay.
>Instead, it’s that we must delay if we do not achieve.
>If delay is good, then eventually we may realize.
>If we set our standards high, we inevitably delay.
>What we want is actually immortality.
>And the exception is realizing imperfect things.
>The choice is immortal or imperfect realization.


PERPETUAL MOTION

>There is a spirit of perpetual motion, or there is not.
>But, as it turns out, the spirit of perpetual motion does not require a spirit.
>Matter that can move without net loss of altitude.
>That is sufficient for motion.
>One must solve the problem of proportionality.
>So no energy is required.
>Momentum, we know, is possible without velocity.
>In these terms, there is power in mass.
>Energy can be extracted because if it functions, there is excess.