> Can’t say the author’s fixation on reading long texts resonates with me
It’s an attention and working memory test.
I don’t think I’ve ever prided myself on focus. But signing off social media ten years ago has absolutely left me in a competitive place when it comes to deep thinking, and that’s not because I’ve gotten better at it.
> It wasn’t practical to convey knowledge in a short form previously because printing and distributing a blog post worth of info was too expensive
This is entirely ahistoric. Pamphlets and books published in volumes, where each volume would today be a chapter, was the norm. The novel is a modern invention.
> This is entirely ahistoric. Pamphlets and books published in volumes, where each volume would today be a chapter, was the norm. The novel is a modern invention.
I’d be curious to see some examples but I doubt these are anywhere near the size of a one or two page blog post.
The referenced example is principia mathematica
> I’d be curious to see some examples
Victorian-era serialised fiction [1]. The Federalist Papers. Everything on clay tablets. Technologically speaking, you don't get a lot of large volumes until the advent of the printing press and mass literacy [2].
> referenced example is principia mathematica
Published in the 20th century.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_(literature)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_books#The_printing_...