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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2090 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 31, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

Still on Red Dynamite. Going through King Lear.

Finished The End of Eternity: it's a short read. Would recommend if only for its somewhat atypical take on time travel.

In particular, "stop playing games with the timeline to 'smooth things out' and appease your aesthetic sensibilities" conclusion felt very much in the vein of later "Don't immanetize the eschaton" conservatism. To quote one of the characters, "Any system like Eternity, which allows men to choose their own future, will end by choosing safety and mediocrity, and in such a Reality the stars are out of reach. The mere existence of Eternity at once wiped out the Galactic Empire. To restore it, Eternity must be done away with." The comments on safetyism versus space exploration feel, if anything, almost prescient 70 years later.

Started The Mote in God's Eye. It's a lot longer, but comes highly recommended. Not far enough to have a real opinion yet.

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