[wallscratch]

This take seems a bit pessimistic about the longevity of society to me. If we still have tens or hundreds of thousands of years to go, just going with whatever was best by 2020 seems a bit ad hoc. Not that I know the future.

[danbolt]

If I had a time machine, I’d travel to the year 2300 to read undergrad essays how the Hamlet’s deliberations intersect with the ever-enclosing wall of Fortnite’s storm.

[cal85]

What do you mean by “just going with whatever was best by 2020”? I don’t think this theory implies that anyone’s ‘greatest’ status is final and permanent. Just that the mechanism by which such status is attained generally involves remaining culturally relevant for long enough to develop a kind of incumbent power. I don’t see any need for pessimism over this.