How do you prefer to understand an old idea?
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only reading "state of the art" you miss some ideas altogether or get them mistranslated & mangled
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think about how bad social science is right now - common delusion that our ancestors were dumb, myth of progress
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then you read Veblen, William James, Plato, and go oh hmm (not so much Newton - genuine progress in math compression)
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My usual assumption is that a good social idea grows stronger from mistranslations and other noise
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rota used to talk about how math/physics tends toward progressive compression, while philosophy almost taboos it
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you can't really taboo. People invent things like cartoons and hitchhikers guides even at risk of death
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