6 Ways to Easily Change the World
I was thinking how easy it is to have an important effect on the world, and came up with this list. I kind of hate "N things!" entries, but they're common because they're easy to write and read. All of these things could potentially change the world quite a bit, and all can be done in less than 10 minutes. Yes, you CAN do great things without having to put in hundreds of hours on some dedicated masterpiece.

1. Encourage someone. After I watched this video I liked that guy so much that I emailed him and complemented him on his good work and on getting an evidence-based optimism out into the world. He wrote back saying that my email helped get him through a hard night of work. I try to make a habit of this: whenever I come across something wonderful, I tell whoever made it how much I appreciate them making it. It's so easy to do and has the positive effect of encouraging people who do things that you like to keep doing it, or to do more things that you will like.

2. Write a review on Amazon.com of a book (or any product) that you like. This is an extension of the above, but has the added bonus of convincing people to buy something that's good. For instance, I just today wrote quick reviews of John Gardner's translation of Gilgamesh and ubermensch's novel Raberata on Amazon.com. Hopefully, one day people will read those reviews and be persuaded to try the books, which they might not otherwise have done without those reviews. Additionally reviews can actually cause a person to enjoy a book (or any product) *more* or *in a different way* than they would have otherwise: for instance I emphasized that Gilgamesh was a life-affirming quest for immortality, not a story about man's inability to reach it (as so many paint it as).

3. Say something to or email or instant message a friend with some key word or message that would (to use a video game analogy) hit their critical point and thus push them in a better direction. I try to do that often with the people I most like, because I know how important friendship is, and it's so easy to do. But it takes some intelligence, what works with one person doesn't work with another. Some people like being insulted and called out on their weaknesses, other people like being praised, it varies quite a bit, based on a person's current lifestyle, personality, goals, the nature of your friendship with them, etc., and sometimes your attempt misses, but do it often enough and the person will probably be enriched in some way, creating some useful long-term effects on that person (and what they do, thus extending the effect in a chain reaction).

4. Edit Wikipedia, especially by filling in a stub or creating a new needed page. Wikipedia's a great resource and heavily-used enough that adding to it will have a long-term positive effect on many people. For instance, I created the Wikipedia page for Chris Crawford's Atari 2600 game "Wizard". Who knows what will come of it? Maybe somebody will read it and play it and apply it; maybe somebody will read it and then read Chris Crawford's excellent writings and apply those, or even join up with his army of storybuilders for his Storytron.

5. Answer someone's question on a forum, especially when their question isn't a stupid "they could have looked it up on Google" question. It'll save that person some time and perhaps even help that person accomplish something which they would not otherwise have accomplished.

6. Write a blog entry which would be of use to people (like um this one).

If you can think of more comment and I'll add them in.