Diciembre 18, 2004

43 Things

I'm not sure exactly what this is, and maybe nobody does other than its creators. It's a list of goals for life. You can add to your list, and see what others have added to their lists, and how many have put a thing on their lists. Ok, cool, but, I don't understand what each page means. the list keeps changing whenever you click on one item. I don't know if it's randomly picking an assortment, or if there's some algorithmic thing going on.

Its fascinating. I'm conducting an experiment: the biggest text on the page indicates the item that is in most people's lists. I keep clicking the biggest one and seeing how it flows.

get laid
live simply
be happy
take more pictures
love
get rich
fall in love
stop wasting time
work because i like to not because i have to

and then it starts getting circular. And notice that maybe 9 out 10 of these big things are things I agree with, but every once in awhile i get one that i either have already done ("Drive across the USA") or I just disagree with ("take more pictures" - no, i want to take less, or "Start a company that survives longer than 2 years" - i have no desire to do that, really).

Very very interesting. So simple yet so damn fascinating. It's like the world zeitgeist, or at least the zeitgeist of privileged people who have access to the web. You can search for things, and I cannot find "become a U.S. citizen" (though I do find "become an Egyptian citizen"), I don't see "get my green card," or "feed my family," though I do see that 29 people want to "survive," but that was probably entered as a joke.

Anyway, if you want to see my list, go for it. I of course need to add some stuff to it still.

By the way, I found this by looking at a friend's bookmark list on Del.icio.us

Ok now I gotta get off the web and get something accomplished today.

Posted by steev at Diciembre 18, 2004 01:47 PM