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Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
61–70 of 79 posts
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#62I'll echo the others saying that "a few terabytes" is utterly massive and could easily fit the English version of Wikipedia several times over, so this isn't much of a constraint. But to take a stab at it: 1. The Bible (original languages and modern translations) 2. All of (English) Wikipedia 3. Medical textbooks 4. nand2tetris 5. Anything not already in Wikipedia about fabrication processes and manufacturing, especi…
Why the bible and not other religious text? Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good. Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive.
Religious texts contain many lessons, fables, morals and parables about collaboration and cooperation, especially in contexts of extreme poverty, low tech scarcity, etc, the likes of which one would certainly be facing under this scenario.
Don't blame the tools for how people have historically used them. I do, however, agree that it makes sense to include more than just the bible, as almost every sacred text is rich in wisdom.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#63If multiple terabytes, you can store a lot of information. All Wikipedia is only 21.23 GB compressed as of 21 September 2022. The English Books from Gutenberg Library are around 40GB. With 1TB, you have already a pretty solid base to rebuild civilization. Then you can go deeper: As of last year, all Library Genesis for nonfiction is 40 TB and Scientific Papers are 78.5 TB. Total Library Genesis seems to be 220TB. Fin…
We have to make room for plenty of kitten videos though.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#64If multiple terabytes, you can store a lot of information. All Wikipedia is only 21.23 GB compressed as of 21 September 2022. The English Books from Gutenberg Library are around 40GB. With 1TB, you have already a pretty solid base to rebuild civilization. Then you can go deeper: As of last year, all Library Genesis for nonfiction is 40 TB and Scientific Papers are 78.5 TB. Total Library Genesis seems to be 220TB. Fin…
We have to make room for plenty of kitten videos though.
I hear kittens are always ready to make more kitten videos, as long as kittens survive we can rebuild those from scratch.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#65> inside a Faraday cage
So taking precautions for a giant solar flare/nuclear bomb EMP causing civilization collapse? Offline Wikipedia is a great recommendation, but I would complement it with prepper literature about survival and rebooting basic technologies. It might give you a guide about what to look for in your Wikipedia. Those books would also help you actually prepare for civilization collapse, because a computer won't keep you alive if there's no clean water or food.
Also, nothing beats community. If civilization collapses, your neighbors will be your best chance for survival, there's lots of weird and valuable knowledge when enough people cooperate, and then your computer would be very helpful.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#66Well if I could just impart one idea or concept it would be similar to Feynman's quote: >“If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made…
That naturally shows Feynman's bias as a physicists. A biologist would very likely answer that the concept of evolution should be first on the list of ideas to preserve. A mathematician will yet have another answer...
Yes well I don't think Feynman's answer is the one single thing to be passed down myself, I am talking about its generalization in a conceptual, philosophical or mathematical sense. As for if this differs from Darwinian evolution perhaps, and perhaps they will both be subsumed under a comprehensive evo-devo-eco theory which is then generalized to a discipline agnostic model. Since they are two pieces of this triad it is difficult to choose between them.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#67I'll echo the others saying that "a few terabytes" is utterly massive and could easily fit the English version of Wikipedia several times over, so this isn't much of a constraint. But to take a stab at it: 1. The Bible (original languages and modern translations) 2. All of (English) Wikipedia 3. Medical textbooks 4. nand2tetris 5. Anything not already in Wikipedia about fabrication processes and manufacturing, especi…
Why the bible and not other religious text? Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good. Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive.
> Why the bible and not other religious text?
> Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good.
Well, The Bible has the small advantage of being true.
> Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive.
...like The Bible? I defy you to actually follow the teachings of the NT at least and not get cooperation and collaboration for free.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why the bible and not other religious text? Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good. Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive.
> Why the bible and not other religious text? > Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good. Well, The Bible has the small advantage of being true. > Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive. ...like The Bible? I defy you to actually follow the teachings of the NT at least and not get cooperation and collaboration…
Do you support all the barbaric teachings in it, like stoning your daughter when she lost her virginity before marriage? Is that a truth we should blindly follow?
It’s better to come up with a new book which teaches ppl how to live in harmony and working together without instilling fear, guidelines based on science and using simple language.
You could say the human brain and the scientific process is God’s gift… use it rather than blindly following the words of some powerhungry and controlling folks from the past.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why the bible and not other religious text? Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good. Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive.
Religious texts contain many lessons, fables, morals and parables about collaboration and cooperation, especially in contexts of extreme poverty, low tech scarcity, etc, the likes of which one would certainly be facing under this scenario. Don't blame the tools for how people have historically used them. I do, however, agree that it makes sense to include more than just the bible, as almost every sacred text is rich…
Yes, but there is a lot garbage and harmful stuff included… it adds too much noise.
Take all the good stuff from those religions texts and create a new book using plain language.
Re: Ask HN: What content/knowledge is most important?
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why the bible and not other religious text? > Why include religion at all, which to me did more harm than good. Well, The Bible has the small advantage of being true. > Why not include books about how to cooperate and collaborate with other ppl and why it’s necessary for societies to survive. ...like The Bible? I defy you to actually follow the teachings of the NT at least and not get cooperation and collaboration…
Do you support all the barbaric teachings in it, like stoning your daughter when she lost her virginity before marriage? Is that a truth we should blindly follow? It’s better to come up with a new book which teaches ppl how to live in harmony and working together without instilling fear, guidelines based on science and using simple language. You could say the human brain and the scientific process is God’s gift… use…
> Do you support all the barbaric teachings in it, like stoning your daughter when she lost her virginity before marriage? Is that a truth we should blindly follow?
John 8:7 pretty clearly obsoletes that. So yeah, I'm still happy to follow what the Bible actually says.