Astral Codex Ten Podcast

Scholars search for the historical Jesus, but the Alexander Romance goes in reverse, making the story of Alexander the Great wackier. It was a best-seller for over a thousand years, endorsed by the Koran, embellished by the Talmud, and praised by a Mongol Khan. The podcast reviews the embellishments of the Alexander myth, from Alexander's mythical birth to his encounters with unusual creatures and philosophers. It also explores the divide between high culture and mass culture through the lens of literature, comparing Batman and Alexander the Great. Lastly, it examines the flaws and characteristics of the Alexander Romance, likening it to comic books and considering Alexander as the first superhero.

Topics discussed include personal experiences with Elon Musk, debates on his intelligence and mental health, insights on Tesla and The Boring Company, comparisons to other famous figures, and the feasibility of colonizing Mars.

Winners of the Book Review Contest 2023 are announced, including Brandon Hendrickson who reviewed 'The Educated Mind' and Daniel Böttger who reviewed 'On the Marble Cliffs'. The host praises their entries and shares details on prize money and contacting them.

Ashlee Vance, author of a 2015 Elon Musk biography, discusses the contradictions in Musk's character and the industry of Musk-bashing. They also delve into Musk's relentless drive, his approach to communication and PR, his motivation for SpaceX, his involvement with Twitter, and his past failures that have shaped his decision-making.

Comments On The Solano County City Ecorche writes: The Public's Radio article has a map in it that gives a better idea of the location. It looks like most of the land is closer to Rio Vista and does include a good stretch of riverfront. The land close to Travis is probably intended as industrial park rather than residential https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-last 

If you’ve read the finalists of this year’s book review contest, vote for your favorite here. Voting will stay open until Wednesday. Thanks to a helpful reader who offered to do the hard work, we’re going to try ranked choice voting. You’ll choose your first-, second-, and third-favorite book reviews. If your favorite gets eliminated, we’ll switch your vote to your second favorite, and so on. If for some reason I can’t figure out how to make this work on time, I’ll switch to first-past-the-post, ie only count your #1 vote. Feel free to vote for your own review, as long as you honestly choose your second and third favorites. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/vote-in-the-2023-book-review-contest  

Emil Kirkegaard proposes a semi-objective definition of “mental illness”. He’s partly responding to me, but I think he mangles my position; he seems to think I admit mental illnesses are “just preferences” but that which preferences are valid vs. diseased can be decided by “what benefits my friends”. I mostly don’t think mental illnesses are just preferences! I’ve been really clear on this! But Emil is right that I don’t deny that there can be a few cases where it’s hard to distinguish a mental illness from a preference - the clearest example is pedophilia vs. homosexuality. Both are “preferences” for sex with unusual categories of people. But I would - making a value judgment - call pedophilia a mental illness: it’s bad for patients, bad for their potential victims, and bad for society. Also making a value judgment, I would call homosexuality an unusual but valid preference: it’s not my thing, but seems basically okay for everyone involved. (I wouldn’t describe this as “benefiting my friends” - I’m against children getting raped whether they’re my friends or not. I think this dig was unworthy of Emil, and ask that he correct it.) https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/contra-kirkegaard-on-evolutionary

The American people deserve a choice. They deserve a candidate who will reject the failed policies of the past and embrace the failed policies of the future. It is my honor to announce I am throwing my hat into both the Democratic and Republican primaries (to double my chances), with the following platform: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/my-presidential-platform 

Tech moguls plan new city in Solano County Guardian: Silicon Valley Elites Revealed As Buyers Of $800 Million In Land To Build Utopian City. The specific elites include the Collison brothers, Reid Hoffman, Nat Friedman, Marc Andreessen, and others, led by the mysterious Jan Sramek. The specific land is farmland in Solano County, about an hour’s drive northeast of San Francisco. The specific utopian city is going to look like this. The company involved (Flannery Associates aka California Forever) has been in stealth mode for several years, trying to buy land quietly without revealing how rich and desperate they are to anyone in a position to raise prices. Now they’ve released a website with utopian Norman-Rockwell-esque pictures, lots of talk about creating jobs and building better lives, and few specifics. https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/model-city-monday-9423 

Finalist #16 in the Book Review Contest To tell the story of the fall of a realm, it’s best to start with its rise. More than three thousand years ago, the Shang dynasty ruled the Chinese heartland. They raised a sprawling capital out of the yellow plains, and cast magnificent ritual vessels from bronze. One of the criteria of civilization is writing, and they had the first Chinese writing, incising questions on turtle shells and ox scapulae, applying a heated rod, and reading the response of the spirits in the pattern of cracks. “This year will Shang receive good harvest?” “Is the sick stomach due to ancestral harm?” “Offer three hundred Qiang prisoners to [the deceased] Father Ding?” The kings of Shang maintained a hegemony over their neighbors through military prowess, and sacrificed war captives from their campaigns totaling in the tens of thousands for the favor of their ancestors.  But the Shang faced growing threat from the Zhou, a once-subordinate people from west beyond the mountains. Inspired by a rare conjunction of the planets in 1059 BC, the Zhou declared that there was such a thing as the Mandate of Heaven, a divine right to rule—and while the Shang had once held it, their misrule and immorality had forced the Mandate to pass to the Zhou. Thirteen years later, the Zhou and their allies defeated the Shang in battle, seized their capital, drove their king to suicide, and supplanted them as overlords of the Central Plains. If the Shang were goth jocks, the Zhou were prep nerds... https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-zuozhuan