july

I’d like to do my best to read books that I feel are still going to be relevant in 100 years, in a 1000 years

creating and destroying; built flying cars & autonomous vehicles, now building roc.camera, writings: july.rocks

This is actually one area where past success ought to suggest future success

(Ie, bc Plato’s work has been a critical part of a critical conversation for 2000 years already, it makes it more likely that it will be part of it for another 2000… *even if* it’s just people disagreeing with it.)

playing /bracket, assisting /bracky, talking /greatbooks

Pretty interesting 2-part article on the preservation + transmission of Greek texts:

https://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2019/12/who-preserved-greek-literature.html

They argue that Arabic translators were very helpful in vitalizing popularity but not in the physical preservation / transmission of the works themselves.

Agreed 

iirc: interesting that the Western world, post Roman era almost lost the great works of Plato, Aristotle etc, and only regained it when it was reintroduced through the Arabic scholars where it was safely retranslated back and then became popular once again in the time when trade through Silk Road popularized

Outside of religion/philosophy, what works do think survive 1000 years? it's an incredibly harsh filter.

on my list: Gilgamesh, Sun Tzu, Rumi (800 yrs), Walt Whitman (hopes), Star Trek/Foundation (dreams)

not on my list: Shakespeare (500 yrs), Robinson Crusoe (300 yrs), Nathaniel Hawthorne (200 yrs), Star Wars