Dwarkesh Patel: uncertainty

Transcript context

…When I was younger, one of the science fiction books that really impressed me was Dan Simmons' Hyperion, especially The Fall of Hyperion. In there, he alludes to Kevin Kelly's Out of Control book, which strongly features the parable of “The Library of Babel.” From there, I got the collected editions of Borges’ fiction and nonfiction. I just read through them again and again. I was blown away by the fact that you could be so creative, with all this polymathic knowledge and erudition, and write these wonderful, entertaining, provocative short stories and essays. I thought to myself, “If I could be like any writer, any writer at all, I would not mind being Borges.” Borges has a short poem called "Borges and I" where he talks about how he doesn’t identify with the version of himself that is actually doing the writing and publishing all of this great work. I don’t know if you identify with that at all. When I was a kid, I did not understand that essay, but I think I understand it now.…

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