Comment by yjftsjthsd-h | Hacker News Reader

Comment by yjftsjthsd-h | Hacker News Reader

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I'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, especially the more "exotic" stuff - exactly how transistors work, photo-lithography, that kind of thing

I'm a little uncertain about the ordering of 4 and 5; building computer hardware is hard, but the mental models to use it are also unintuitive. On the other other hand, it only took us ~60 years to invent modern software the first time once we had the hardware, and Wikipedia hopefully already covered the mathematical background, so worst case we could probably reinvent everything else if we could preserve knowledge of how to fab transistors and simple microprocessors.

EDIT: I'm blanking on the name, but isn't there a set of textbooks that's basically "here's how to bootstrap a modern industrial civilization"? That seems tailor-made to this question, without needing to make people wander through wikipedia to stumble on little things like "levers" and "engines".

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.

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.

How about ancient Greek philosophies (e.g., Aristotle, stoicism)?

Yes, I think those are important… understanding the origins of democracy and the concept of eudaimonia etc.

> 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.

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.

> 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.

That was just one example of harmful content, there is plenty more.

Why follow a book with contradicting messages?

Why not create a new book with clear positive messages only that doesn’t confuse ppl or doesn’t encourage them to kill or oppress others.

>> Well, The Bible has the small advantage of being true

What does it even mean its true? It's so convoluted and inprecise that most of the texts require interpretation and works only as high level metaphors. This claim is as meaningless as calling it the good book.

I fail to see the relevance of the Bible, unless it is to showcase the breadth of languages and to function as a kind of Rosetta’s stone.

The Bible is probably available in most languages, so using a few hundred megabytes on that isn’t a total waste if you have the space.

Collar in the first place!

Sorry, what?

nand2tetris definitely.

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