Weekly Wrap Up Week of 6 2 2023
Being what I've read, watched and listened to for the past two weeks
Took last Friday off from these updates to spend some time in the woods with my kids, but we’re back to our regular programming.
Books
The biggest updated is that yes, I finally finished Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah by Gershom Scholem, aka the Beast. Cynthia Ozick compared this book to a mountain range, and yeah, that checks out. It is as she said "not possible to ‘review’” such a work but I’m going to try at some point in the coming weeks.
Followed up Scholem with Low by Hugo Wilcken, a little palate cleanser of a book on Bowie’s seminal album. Review of that also forthcoming, likely Monday.
Now, we’re on to the second book in this false Jewish Messiah project — Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob. Clocking in at about 950 pages, this one is also no easy task, but I’m hoping it’s a bit less dense than the Scholem. We’ll let you know.
Articles
Shit’s getting strange in certain corners of the very online so-called “post rationalist” world. These are folks who are starting to find something a bit hollow in the the efficiency obsessed world of effective altruism and rationalism and are turning to more spiritual “woo” interests. This could get interesting.
Everyone hates buying a car. It is the worst shopping experience in America. But here’s the thing — it isn’t going to change anytime soon because car dealership owners are one of the most powerful political forces in America. They’re rich and organized and determined to keep buying a car miserable and shady. This article will make you mad.
Much of the interesting weirdness you see now in smart corners of the internet (rationalism, EA, life extension, AI risk, etc) got it’s birth from a relatively small group of geeks who clustered around the concept of “extropianism” and its related email list. Folks are digging into that archive. It all pretty, but it is all interesting.
Other
I’ve been waiting to get a really good, clear, argument from an AI doomer and it feel like it’s been hard to find and then Ajeya Cotra goes on Hardfork and just does an absolutely great job of being clear and concise. Honestly, I can’t help but think sexism has something to do with certain folks who are not clear and not concise have ended up as a face of AI alignment when other voices (like Cotra) are just frankly better.
Generally speaking I’ve lost a lot of interest in podcasts. That could be because I need to freshen the feed (leave a comment with some good ones to check out) or maybe the medium has kind of played itself out.
That said, Ezra Klein has had two excellent episodes lately on our teen mental health crisis and I highly recommend both of them to anyone with children. The first one, with Jean Twenge lays the blame directly on social media, especially when it comes to suicide rates in girls. I’m not 100 percent convinced, but I’m not 100 opposed either. The second, with Lisa Damour takes a more complicated approach, but is just as compelling. Both are really worth your time if you’re a parent.
Hi Sean
Have you listened to the podcast Apology Line? It's absolutely riveting. A man sets up an answering machine so people can anonymously leave apologies that they wanted to give, but for whatever reason, did not. He posts the Apology Line number on fliers around NYC. It is a fascinating social experiment with a more than tinge of true crime.