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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3365 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 1, 2023

Happy New Year!

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Happy New Year! So, what are you reading?

I'm on Korzybski's Science and Sanity. E-Prime has had a surprising effectiveness for me, and I have been interested in any links between Korzybski's system and Zen. I can already see that I'll find a lot that I won't agree with, but maybe I'll find some useful clues. General Semantics attempts a "non-aristotelean" way of thinking which is supposedly more harmonious with new sciences like quantum mechanics. It is one of those systems which didn't really take over the world, but did have influence, and seems to have generated some interesting people.

I just finished Harvey Sachs’ The Ninth about the historical context, both musically and politically, for Beethoven’s final symphony. It was a relatively short and enjoyable read, and nice to get more detail on the world and time in which it was composed.

I joined a book club, so I'm now reading Project Hail Mary though I hadn't really intended to. I read The Martian a while ago and thought it was fine.

I love the idea of book clubs, but hate how they require you to read certain books that might not otherwise be on your list. I know there's the argument that it helps you diversify your tastes, but there are just too many books out there that I won't live long enough to read that I hate spending time on one I'm not passionate about. So in my ideal world I have a book club, and I am the autocratic dictator who chooses every book.

Anyway, the book is interesting enough so far (I'm 1/5 in). It is a little weird to me though that it follows the same pattern of The Martian of "guy alone in space."

My book club is currently discussing short stories. It’s wonderful. I still get to discuss fiction, in person, with a group of people once a month. But the time commitment to prepare isn’t much more than an evening or two, to read, re-read and take down my thoughts.

Love that idea - and there are so many great short stories out there! I might suggest it when it's my turn to pick.

I was reading Project Hail Mary a while back myself but never really finished it.

I think the reason why I stopped is because Andy Weir's specific style of writing doesn't jive with me very well. The writing is very simplistic and is easier to parse than lots of other sci-fi, which is fine (perhaps even good) on its own. However, there's also a lot of very juvenile humour and characterisation, and this, along with the simplicity of the prose, ends up creating a goofy and immature vibe that feels particularly dissonant when it's contrasted with the extremely tense situations the main character is placed in.

Yeah, the writing feels very "informed by Internet culture." It's like it's trying too hard to be appealing to me, which I find off-putting. At least it's short and I can get back to my other books soon!

I've been reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. Tracking the efforts of 100 scientists sent on a mission to set up a Mars colony, it's exactly the kind of sci-fi I love - very grounded, full of technical explanations, philosophical arguments, speculations on the psychology of this unique situation, and political intrigue. I don't have the scientific background to know how much of it is accurate (Would hydrazine engines be the preferred option for Martian tractors? Can we really bioengineer microorganisms to such an extent? Surely the extremely fine Martian dust would be an immediate health problem and not just something you can shrug off as "yeah this will probably kill us in a few decades but that's Mars for ya"?) but it all sounds good enough to my layman brain. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Mars or hard sci-fi.

Also, I would like recommendations anyone has for a good book on the Franco-Prussian War.

I'm reading The Goodness Paradox. It divides violence into two categories: Reactive and proactive, and says that humans, compared to every other species, have vastly lower amounts of intraspecies reactive violence(violence because of emotional triggers, like someone insulting you or to display dominance) but also have vastly higher amounts of intraspecies proactive violence(plotting murder, going to war).

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