RE: "The first person to live to [200, 300, 500, 1000] has already been born"
December 14, 2015 at 4:29 pm
(December 14, 2015 at 4:22 pm)Amine Wrote:(December 14, 2015 at 4:10 pm)excitedpenguin Wrote: I couldn't. You would have to read the book for yourself. It wouldn't be fair since he put so much effort into it.
I'm pretty sure after having read it your current reading list will seem trivial by comparison. If saying that can't get you to read it, sadly nothing will.
I think you're overestimating your influence on people.. you gotta actually make the case man. This is lazy. "Go read the book" is sort of a pet peeve of mine. If you're going to do that at least provide a compelling case. Yes, it is challenging, but that's life and people have to prioritize. I've felt the same way recently about Steven Pinker's Better Angels. I really wish people would read it, but it is not sensible for me to ever just declare by fiat that they need to listen to me despite any lack of argumentation. So I've been trying to put this 700 page book into my arguments, and it is hard, but it's better than just telling them to do something they almost definitely will not do.
Not that I don't want to read it. I do. But there are a ton of other books that I have every reason to believe are just as important for me to read, if not more so. Give me the reasons. That way even if I don't read it, I will have taken something from what you said about it.
Frankly, I don't give that much of a fuck whether you read it or not. So there's that.