A good goal for writers in the digital age is to be as incompressible as possible. This is related to, but not the same as, seeking density. 100 words that can only be compressed down to 90 by most reader is better than 50,000 which can be reduced to 1 tweet by most readers
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At the other extreme, James Carse Finite and Infinite Games is almost incompressible *despite* being highly redundant and repetitive
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But the people who *have* put in the work to read Carse have all been way more deeply influenced by it. I’ve read both. I never cite World is Flat except as a joke. I cite or use Carse almost every other thing I write. Often in a foundational way.
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Shall we call this the Velvet Underground effect? https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/03/01/velvet/ …
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Inequalities: ubiquity is not endurance endurance is not influence influence is is not consequentiality
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Compressing does not lead to incompressibilty though. If you write a very good summary of a book it could still be further summarized as “like that other summary except with this 1 extra point”. Incompressibility requires differentiation by adding integral original elements.
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The World is Flat was on my to-read list. Thanks for saving me from it.
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Other problems aside it’s too old now. Read some summary so you get a sense of it.
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that friggin book is over 600 pages
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And yet manages to say almost nothing uniquely memorable or good.
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