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A review by sbenzell
The Future by Nick Montfort
2.0
lol it's not long at least
chapter 1: differences between 'future predicting and future making' -- [Seth: this is boring and pedantic, but hes laying a groundwork]
chapter 2 - 'Origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind' [Seth: yeah I've been meaning to read that book (after reading some much better summaries, such as Scott Alexander's) -- the connection to 'future orientation' seems a bit weak though and under-theorized]
chapter 3 - utopias and distopias [Seth: yay he's reminding me of lots of books I've liked without adding new insights; some weird choices of which to focus on though -- and completely shits on Bellamy's book despite that being the obviously most successful one? Now I want to read that book btw]
chapter 4 - Futurama [Seth: lovingly described, very clear he should have just written an article about how much he loves worlds fair stuff -- no real insights but plenty of fun anecdotes]
chapter 5-6 a worse version of "dream machine"
chapter 7: stuff that reminds of the phrase 'mirror, darkly' [Seth: Yes ofc 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Black Mirror' are great, but you completely miss their points. and saying a random corning ad was more effective than Bellamy's book????]
chapter 8: conclusions [Seth: Vapid platitudes]
anyway saved you the 4 hours
chapter 1: differences between 'future predicting and future making' -- [Seth: this is boring and pedantic, but hes laying a groundwork]
chapter 2 - 'Origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind' [Seth: yeah I've been meaning to read that book (after reading some much better summaries, such as Scott Alexander's) -- the connection to 'future orientation' seems a bit weak though and under-theorized]
chapter 3 - utopias and distopias [Seth: yay he's reminding me of lots of books I've liked without adding new insights; some weird choices of which to focus on though -- and completely shits on Bellamy's book despite that being the obviously most successful one? Now I want to read that book btw]
chapter 4 - Futurama [Seth: lovingly described, very clear he should have just written an article about how much he loves worlds fair stuff -- no real insights but plenty of fun anecdotes]
chapter 5-6 a worse version of "dream machine"
chapter 7: stuff that reminds of the phrase 'mirror, darkly' [Seth: Yes ofc 'A Scanner Darkly' and 'Black Mirror' are great, but you completely miss their points. and saying a random corning ad was more effective than Bellamy's book????]
chapter 8: conclusions [Seth: Vapid platitudes]
anyway saved you the 4 hours