How Are We Supposed to Have Fun?

I’m interested in a more playful interaction with the world.

You can place constraints on yourself and in the challenge find ways to gamefully interact with the world in the same way that organisms interact with their environment to evolve and adapt.

Corporations and governments have allowed their lawyers to set the rules of rather large games. In their games they have even given passive aggressive labels to their decisions when they uses phrases like, “for the benefit of the shareholders.” We are awakening to the variety of games adults can play aside from the game of capital accumulation.

The individual can invoke personal play with space, freedom, time protection, and by allowing for the same conditions that allow deep creative work to get done. The individual can also invoke play by encouraging or participating in playful interactions with the world through the larger games’ constructs. Community is a form of a game.

Ideally, an individual is allowed to have playful interactions with the constructs so often that they can then begin to playfully interact with even these constructs. Computers have made this more possible than ever. Artificial Intelligence has the power to create new playful interactions. Mankind is close to playing out its fantasy to be a god powerful enough to make the world into his mental image.

Play is a series of experiments or tests we are hard-wired to run against our environment.

Play may be conducted mentally through fully functioning thought experiments such as those Einstein used to model concepts he could not readily interact with in the physical world.

Play may also be conducted through physical interaction with one’s environment.

Play may occur in isolation or in our interactions with others.

To have the time to play is a mental choice that takes no time. We can elect to play or not play. We can playfully interact with our environment or not do so through a shift in mindset only.

Because we play does not mean that we do not take things seriously because if you have ever seen the best play at their sport then you will see them doing everything to win the game.

None of this means the game must be conspicuous consumption by accumulation. Even mediation is a form of play.

In play there are losers but the loss is only temporary.

Fear of publication can inhibit play.

Fear of being ostracized from society inhibits play.

Ability at play is sharpened by play.

No one writes the book on play but each person can write their individual book on play and model their experience to you in hopes you can experience your own rules for playful interactions with your environment.

In play we must always learn to accept mistakes as they will be made regularly through engagement with new aspects of our environment in new ways. Through play we consider every interaction important but we aren’t always expected to set high consequences for our errors if they were made with good intentions and memorialized in lessons learned.

Armed with the knowledge we’re all imperfect it seems we should design rules that allow for more playful interactions with our environments.