6 ms·

I think it'd be more fair to say that GEB is just philosophical navel-gazing with the appearance of some deep philosophical truth... When the actual truth is th

• generic92034 3y ago
  > a meandering and badly written mess with no point Yeah, that is just typical for Pulitzer Prize winning books. /s
• wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
  You seem deadset on proving original commenter right
  • _svoh 3y ago
    Do you have substantive critique? Because the fellow you're responding to is giving substance to his criticism, the parent comment is giving substance, the article is giving substance, and whether GEB has substance is apparently up for debate. If the person you're replying to is deadset on proving the parent right, you are dead set on proving nothing. Please tell us what you disagree with, and the particulars of why, or maybe leave the discussion to the adults.
    • pests 3y ago
      All this enlightenment but apparently you can't be polite.
      • jurynulifcation 3y ago
        Sometimes enlightenment is about knowing when to be impolite.
    • wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
      Haha well I made one point, which was self-evident, the rest I'll leave it to the adults.
      • jurynulifcation 3y ago
        So you're deadset on not making a point
        • wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
          Mainly this part is funny: OP: In that regard, both books are good for techies to read because every now and then it's good to read something that drags you out of your comfort zone and futzes around in all kinds of obscure nooks and crannies before getting to the mother fucking point -- if indeed it ever does. Getting to the point can be important, but there is more to life (and literature). Commentor: Philosophy at the end of the day is about arguing a point; it isn't about producing an aesthetic experience. (Even though this statement directly against original post, it's so obvious to author that he does not feel the need to explain, but goes on a tangent how bad the writing is) Me: Hahah the whole point of op is that there is value in not always having a point, but meandering... Response: It was a meandering and badly written mess with no point. Me: ... You: Leave it to the adults. Me: ... You: You're not making a point!!! (Considering the nature of the first comment and assuming you didnt do it on purpose, you ending with blaming me I'm not making a point is poetic to be honest)
          • jurynulifcation 3y ago
            I don't consider "there is value in not always having a point, but meandering" to be itself a point, mainly because you don't give a reason to suppose that that is the case or a reasonable case to consider. It seems itself to be rather meandering, circling a value and a raison d'etre without specifying either. It's the specification that makes it worth considering, as adults do know.
            • wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
• pohl 3y ago
  I can imagine it being received differently today, but I read it twice in the 80s. It blew my mind. Now you can’t swing a stick without hitting some referent or concept in its pages, but that’s the internet age, efficiently routing the arcane to hypernerds worldwide. It’s made the whole world boring.
  • jhanschoo 3y ago
    Thanks for the context. I'd recently tried reading GEB but couldn't get into it much since I already knew the formal version of the concepts it discusses about. I also have experience of an earlier time when expert knowledge was much less accessible, and where I treasured books like this that tried to compress every ambition within them, since they brought a lot of threads for further edification together in them.
• bazoom42 3y ago
  Why do you consider it “navel-gazing”?