The Beginning of Infinity
David Deutsch on good explanations, and why the growth of knowledge has no ceiling
Deutsch, a physicist who helped start the field of quantum computing, argues that progress has no ceiling because nothing limits how far a good explanation can reach. His theory of knowledge fills the first chapters. That is the part most readers come for. The middle runs through quantum computation, physics and evolution, and it stalls most people. Its reputation is that far more people own it than understand it. Those who get through it tend to say it changed how they judge every other claim they meet.
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Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Naval RavikantRecommends
Angel investor · AngelList and the Naval podcast
For epistemology he says read Deutsch and stop there, starting with the first three chapters of this one. The middle he calls a slog through quantum computation, physics and evolution, and that is where he thinks most readers struggle. He first read Deutsch years earlier and treated him like any other physicist, which he says was wrong.
Source: nav.al: Most Books Should Be Skimmed, A Few Should Be Devoured
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