Small Changes

You know that I’m all about distracting myself with games, and this IS a game, but it’s also not really a distraction. You get to change one moment in history, and you can choose between two options. You then learn the cascading effect of that single change.

The first time I played it, I quickly jumped into the thousands with karma. I was helping the world! But just as quickly, my great changes — things I knew would be good — had unforeseen negative consequences. In time, I pretty much botched the whole thing.

The point, of course, is that it’s easy to play armchair historian and point out all the things you would do differently, but we often make those choices without thinking through the full impact of the decision. Even actions or inventions that are clearly “good” can end up having a negative impact on future generations.

Play it and see how you do.