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Fixed point futurism

Concept by Venkatesh Rao @vgr

"Fixed point futurism" is a method for planning and making decisions where you adopt some "arbitrary" rules or criteria that you will stick to no matter what.

For example, "no matter where I choose to live it will be somewhere with access to either mountains or the ocean".

The "fixed points" that you decide provide constraints, narrowing your possibility space. This helps you to avoid the analysis paralysis of too many options, or the nihilism of pure optimization approach.

Figure out some things that are meaningful and important to you that you can draw a line in the sand on. Even if everything else is out of your control, these are the hills you've chosen to stand on.