Sometimes I read old books and It’s painful because I know there is no one alive who could write as well as the old authors did because of declining iq/standards/literacy and it only stands to get worse as more and more writing is taken on by AI 

The upshot is there’s too many books for one person to read as it is so

The Farcaster formerly known as Kchamp. Books, beats, bodybuilding, bright ideas and beautiful things.

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I disagree about declining IQ and literacy.

And while taste is relative, I think what feels special about old books is that we get a glimpse of what it meant to be a mind fully immersed into the Gutenberg galaxy. That world no longer exists.

I exaggerate to the degree of declining iq but it is clear to me our cognition is changing 

You can get a hs diploma and not be asked to read a whole book

I exaggerate to the degree of declining iq but it is clear to me our cognition is changing 

You can get a hs diploma and not be asked to read a whole book https://archive.is/16qTu

I think there are numerous ways humans are attempting to achieve what you’re suggesting (transhumanism, reproductive tech) but as a non materialist I suspect they are playing with fire

Oof that hit hard.

It might even be that we're still at the stage in which tech is really making us dumber overall. But I have faith in that the end state will be one where Humanity's at the smartest it ever was, even if with a different cognition.

(We need to stop turning everything into a slot machine first though)