Thinking about forking/merging (of the self) again. In particular, doing it Sys-side vs. if it was something doable in real life.


In real life, I'd want to fork a few times so I can get through some of my projects real quick, but I don't know if I'd merge regularly or not. The only reason to merge or not is if I do merge I would then know all of the project and wouldn't have to worry about wrangling up-tree instances to do the work, but then I'd also have the memories of all the time spent just doing the work. Would that make me feel overworked? Would it be something I wouldn't even notice unless I thought about it? Would doing merges after longer periods of time be better or worse than shorter periods? In the end it doesn't really matter as in the real world things like food and water and energy use would probably drive one to merge down-tree anyway, but regardless I don't think I'd ever want long-term forks phys-side.

Sys-side my projects are meaningless, but like, I'd want all the experiences of stuff I couldn't do phys-side, whether due to actual physics or just time/money/distance/health/etc. But if I'm gonna live for hundreds of years or more, would I want to go all out forking and merging as often as possible? I know there are limits in the Post-Self universe specifically, but even then, you could do a lot. Would I want to only fork when I would miss out on something by not being in two places at once, taking as long as I could to experience so many things to make it worth living so long? Would I bet on that even being a problem?

What if not forking so much means I get less opportunities? What if going to a weekly orgy meetup years earlier means I meet someone that much sooner and extends possibilities? Do I go breadth-first as hard as possible? In all honesty, probably. I think I'd rather not risk missing opportunities.

Can I foresee something that means I'd want some up-tree instances to persist for long periods of time? What would it take for one of those instances to want to exist in perpetuity, separate from their root instance?

Because even sys-side, I don't see myself wanting long-term forks/having a clade. Without the restrictions of the physical environment forcing short-term forks, I'd actually have to make a choice. And it goes back to not wanting to miss things. It's FOMO.

Why have other instances if I don't get to experience what they do.

I'd say "And that's exactly why what would it take for me to start a clade would be a great thing to explore in a short story" but I know I'm never going to have the energy for it. The answer's probably "I got bored" tbh.


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