Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
I agree this is a problem. In retrospect, reading Yudkowsky's Sequences was far more valuable to me than reading various pre-1900 philosophers' works firsthand. https://twitter.com/PradyuPrasad/status/1757745612072894477
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Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
Though ironically I think ancient philosophy is *more* valuable than 1600s stuff. Ancient philosophy is like, "these are some ideas on living a good life I've acquired by instinct". 1600s was starting to make deeper systematizations, but we were very inexperienced then, and 21st century systematizations are better.
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Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
Ability to acquire ideas on living a good life by instinct is a faculty that hasn't improved much over the centuries, and so reading more foreign stuff (incl foreign in time) is good because you benefit from more diverse contexts.
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Simon
@simongoldberg
What are some of your favorite reads of the ancient variety?
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Travis π©
@travisblackburn.eth
Lindy
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dxxmsdxy
@dxxm
Itβs like how when I was a child, I intuited all sorts of structures and dynamics that I grew up to discover were considered promising, novel ideas. Empty minds have their own unique strengths.
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a1z2
@a1z2
Largely agree, however noting two exceptions (probably many more) from both eras: Aristotle and Emerson. Aristotle was all about systems and classifications, many of these texts have become seminal in various disciplines. Emersonβs insights into living a good life, evidenced by essays like βself-relianceβ
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mythin
@mythin
Definitely agreed here. The older religions had pinged upon a philosophy closer to a natural and neutral stance. Particularly like vedic , buddhist and sufi teachings, as well as spinosa who came way later
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Erik
@eriklarsson.eth
Valuable in that they put down in words concepts that form the bedrock of the philosophical discussion. For example; Heraclitus sees enduring being as cyclical change, while Parmenides views true being as unchanging, lying behind the appearance of change. Concepts that permeates huge parts of interpreting life.
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