> Where are the da Vincis, the Rembrandts, the Bach or Mozart, the Homer or
> Shakespeare of this age?...
wow! this was a very thought provoking post . thanks!
mr. yudkowsky, you may relate to this story. when i was in college, my modern physics professor often referred to hofstadter's escher godel bach, an eternal golden braid. being a busy engineering student, i did not look up the reference at the time, but a year after graduating, i found a copy and started reading. it absolutely floored me. i was so freemed, i immediately read it again straight thru. i later decided that of all the books i have ever read, this one had the biggest impact on me.
recently i wondered about setting up a website where people could post an answer to the question: "if one book, which, and why?"
i would allow people to interpret the question however they liked, then answer it. as i looked into what would be required, it occurred to me that someone else might have already thought of this, so i did some surfing and sure enough, such a site already exists. so, i looked it over. out of curiousity, i checked to see if anyone else had picked hofstadter's escher godel bach, an eternal golden braid.
i found one person had picked egb. it was the person who had authored the website! {8^D
extropians, if one book, which, and why? spike