The story of us - Wait but Why

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horsewoman
Posts: 659
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

The story of us - Wait but Why

Post by horsewoman »

https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/story-of-us.html

This is not exactly related to ERE, but I think that some people here might enjoy this series. In any event I cannot share those articles with anyone in RL because they are kinda hard to read (at least for a non-native speaker, I suppose) and WBW-articles tend to be excruciatingly long. But very interesting IMO. I've started to re-read the ERE book, and the introduction touches on some parts that are covered in the installments.

From the introduction:

"Hi. I’m Tim. I’m a single cell in society’s body. U.S. society, to be specific.
So let me explain why we’re here.

As a writer and a generally thinky person, I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking about the society I live in, and societies in general. I’ve always imagined society as a kind of giant human—a living organism like each of us, only much bigger.

When you’re a single cell in the body of a giant, it’s hard to understand what the giant’s doing, or why it is the way it is, because you can’t really zoom out and look at the whole thing all at once. But we do our best.

The thing is, when I’ve recently tried to imagine what society might look like, I haven’t really been picturing this..."



enjoy :)

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fiby41
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Re: The story of us - Wait but Why

Post by fiby41 »

The intelligentsia His mouth;
brāhmaṇo'''sya mukha'māsīt|
The administrators His arms became.
bāhū rā'janya'ḥ kṛtaḥ|
His thighs were the enterprising;
ūrū tada'sya yadvaiśya'ḥ |
Of His feet the maintainers were born.
padbhyāgṃ śūdro a'jāyataḥ ||
ṚgVeda 10.90.7

Fish
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:09 am

Re: The story of us - Wait but Why

Post by Fish »

@horsewoman - I found it an interesting and useful framework, thanks so much for sharing! Though the positive reaction might be due to my lack of erudition and confirmation bias. :P

I could not help but think of these forums during the discussion of Idea Labs in part 8: https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/10/idea-lab ... mbers.html

horsewoman
Posts: 659
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

Re: The story of us - Wait but Why

Post by horsewoman »

@Fish - glad you liked it, I was not sure how badly drawn stick figures would be received in this forum :)

I've shared the link while at part 6, and have just now completed part 7. That was painful, I hope I'm not in the attorney camp!
Part 8 needs to wait a few days!

Fish
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 9:09 am

Re: The story of us - Wait but Why

Post by Fish »

It took me about 2 hours to get through all 8 chapters, but the concepts were familiar and I was mainly interested in how the author stitched them all together to make a coherent framework. I find the overall presentation kind of lowbrow(*) but the framework is first class and I’m very surprised no one else has posted a reaction. I will gladly accept lowbrow when there are novel ideas and viewpoints presented!

(*) I have no problem with stick figures and crude diagrams, but its lexicon is unusually unsophisticated for the discussion of serious ideas. But here I am reading these ideas in WBW and not their original sources, so the presentation is to be commended for its entertainment value too.

The levels of thinking (part 7) is excellent as well as the discussion of idea labs and echo chambers (part 8). Future forum meta-discussions (e.g. ethics and atmosphere threads) will be more enlightened with this context. I don’t think ERE is a pure idea lab (we have our biases and will prefer agreement over truth in certain areas) but WBW reads like it could have copied Jacob’s guiding ideals for this place. (To be extra clear this is not an accusation of plagiarism but noting that Jacob’s operating principles for this place are eerily consistent with this recently published ideal.)

I’m really looking forward to reading the community’s reactions on this piece (check it out!)... and the upcoming part 9.

horsewoman
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

Re: The story of us - Wait but Why

Post by horsewoman »

Fish wrote:
Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:03 pm
(*) I have no problem with stick figures and crude diagrams, but its lexicon is unusually unsophisticated for the discussion of serious ideas. But here I am reading these ideas in WBW and not their original sources, so the presentation is to be commended for its entertainment value too.
I became aware of WBW a few years ago when they published a series about Elon Musk (SpaceX fangirl here!). In this case the topic was so interesting to me that I would have slogged through any kind of presentation just to get more info. The funny illustrations were an added bonus, since I love comics and graphic novels.
In my never-ending quest of acquiring more knowledge I try to read science articles too, but I often cannot bring myself to finish them, either because I get bored or it gets too cumbersome. My mind is not university trained after all. I think what WBW managed to do with this series is to get a complex concept across to people who would likely not be exposed to it otherwise. And present it in way that gives people like me the feeling that I have a shot at actually understanding it. The funny drawings make the info seem more approachable. I fully recognize that for people with a higher education this might have the opposite effect.

This could be the reason why not more people respond/read the series - they see the drawings and click away... Please don't, you are possibly missing out!

horsewoman
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

Re: The story of us - Wait but Why

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