Hacker News Reader

Comment by wredcoll | Hacker News Reader

What's the alternative? Reading every single book humanity has produced so you can decide which ones to.. actually read?

Maybe there's some kind of a world this is feasible, but in the modern world, just talking about books, there are literally millions published every year. Hell, just trying to decide which movie to watch, there are probably several thousand "Real" movies produced every year, how do you decide which one to spend your precious 3 hours on?

View on HN

The alternative is to find people you trust, or who are widely considered trustworthy, and read what they recommend. The canon was invented to solve this problem.

Sorry, are you arguing that it's better to listen to a "trust worthy person" tell you what to read than to read a summary to determine what to read?

Yes. Because a "trustworthy person" is one who has demonstrated their authority, who has experienced the work in its full form, who has the taste and experience to make a determination as to its quality and usefulness, and who is capable of presenting reasoned arguments that support their opinion. Such people exist.

In the current climate, it may seem odd to trust the opinion of a fellow human instead of AI summaries and your personal predilections, but that is exactly what I am arguing we should do.

This reminds me a bit of the "philosopher king" from plato. If such a trustworthy person existed and could be found, that would be superior.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com