XavierFaux's Question of the Day #6

[ExaliaFaux]

It's been far too long since the last time! Sorry about the wait! Been getting busy with school, but I'll try to be more active for the community!

Anyways, Question of the day!  If you had all the time and energy and money and equipment and help you needed, what personal project would you launch?

If I had to choose one personal project that would benefit me it would be a type of auto-trader for crypto that can accurately predict or manipulate the market for profit! Having enough money to throw at crypto would help in such a personal project as well as time and energy to code would be awesome!

Though, in terms of a project that would be my kind of fun would be to build an AI/Neural Network that learns to play games of all types to the highest degree or at least at a very high level. I've been following channels like Zetris and Traias who built AIs for Tetris and it's super fun to watch! I've also taken inspiration from Mari/o and MariFl0w by SethBling. It got me thinking if there's a way to build up an AI to essentially learn and play all types of games! It would take a TON of time in terms of Neural Networks due to creating generation after generation and just like the auto-trader it would take some energy to code and make sure it's learning properly. Money would help continue the project by not needing to work anywhere else. I'd probably choose to make an AI over an Auto-trader if it meant that I would have fun making and watching the AI evolve, but in terms of what would probably make me the most money I'd choose the auto-trader.

[Guest Azoth]

Kind of hard to answer because the question is so open. I mean if you could build a crypto auto-trader, presumably you could make one for the entire stock market and make vastly more money, if that's your purpose. Which is generally the correct answer, since with practically limitless money you could then go on to any other project you want. While the saying goes that money can't buy happiness, that's because it can buy everything else.

To actually answer the spirit of the question, I would choose either a Mars colony or human genetic enhancement. Because:

a) Spreading to at least one other planet greatly decreases the risk of a species-wide extinction event

b) The rise of civilization has eliminated the process of natural selection in the human population. The only way to improve genetic fitness is with artificial intervention. The strong social stigma against this area of research is condemning humanity to the status quo when we could be so much more.

[MrCamper]

The thing is, if I had all of the money and equipment I needed I don't know why I would want to use it to make more money. 

In this situation I would rather do something that was less about making more money and was more about improving my quality of life.  An example of this is doing something to improve my social life which gets more difficult as I get older and have more personal responsibilities. I could start a project that includes my friends and family that will keep us happy and entertained. So one example I can think of is that a lot of my friends are very much into cars so this could be a way for us to start racing or building project cars together, which could itself become a business but it would be improving our social lives in the process.

This is the sort of thing I would do if I played the lottery and won a tonne of money and didn't need to work again. 

[ExaliaFaux]

7 hours ago, MrCamper said:

The thing is, if I had all of the money and equipment I needed I don't know why I would want to use it to make more money. 

In this situation I would rather do something that was less about making more money and was more about improving my quality of life.  An example of this is doing something to improve my social life which gets more difficult as I get older and have more personal responsibilities. I could start a project that includes my friends and family that will keep us happy and entertained. So one example I can think of is that a lot of my friends are very much into cars so this could be a way for us to start racing or building project cars together, which could itself become a business but it would be improving our social lives in the process.

This is the sort of thing I would do if I played the lottery and won a tonne of money and didn't need to work again. 

My thought process was that you'll only be able to use that money, time, and energy towards that personal project. Once the project is done, that time money and energy is gone. That's how I saw it anyways.

But your idea sounds wonderful! Yes it would be good to work a personal project around quality of life not just for yourself but your friends and family! That kind of project is selfless and really shows the kind of person you are! I'm a bit more selfish so my projects only really focus on my personal desires and not my friends. But your desire seems to want to line up with your friends which is awesome!