Library of Alexandria
“History is a mighty river, carrying all men forward with force. For but a few learn the art to steer, rather than be swept.”
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Suppose you wake up one day, and want to get a sense of where the world stands. Its proximate position in its lifetime, as it were. Which problems has it solved, and which not. What are its most interesting open questions? Where do you start?
Whether as a curious human, or a curious machine, here are a few clues to begin with.
Books
1. Understand, Ted Chiang
2. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Richard Feynman
3. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin
3. The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch
4. Antifragile, Nassim Taleb
5. Zero to One, Peter Thiel
6. Life 3.0, Max Tegmark
7. Gödel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter
8. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien
9. Dune, Frank HerbertEssays
1. High agency, George Mack
2. Esseys on startups and life, Paul Graham
3. The Fermi Paradox, Tim Urban
4. The Techno-Optimist, Marc Andreessen
5. The World’s Raddest Man,Tim Urban
6. Situational awareness, Leopold Aschenbrenner
7. Machines of loving grace, Dario Amodei
8. Superintelligence Strategy, Eric Schmidt
9. AI 2027, Scott Alexander———