This was pretty good. I like what you’re doing here. Beyond the Reach of God is the very first essay I ever read on LessWrong, and it still remains to this day my favorite essay, and, in my opinion, the most important to understand. This may simply be because I still haven’t completely gotten over my “existential angst” phase from my teenage years, but I do think realizing that we live in an unprotected universe is one of the most important truths any human can face.
I actually wrote an extended version of Beyond the Reach of God a few months ago out of fun (and boredom), with a few paragraphs of my own tacked on. I haven’t shown it to anyone. I mostly extended the “universe-allows-horrible-things-to-happen” aspects of the essay and cut down the rationalist parts, so my version is twice as “dark” and depressing as the original. But I think it packs more of an emotional punch, at least for me.
Anyway, I really like what you’re doing here. Not much else to say.
This was pretty good. I like what you’re doing here. Beyond the Reach of God is the very first essay I ever read on LessWrong, and it still remains to this day my favorite essay, and, in my opinion, the most important to understand. This may simply be because I still haven’t completely gotten over my “existential angst” phase from my teenage years, but I do think realizing that we live in an unprotected universe is one of the most important truths any human can face.
I actually wrote an extended version of Beyond the Reach of God a few months ago out of fun (and boredom), with a few paragraphs of my own tacked on. I haven’t shown it to anyone. I mostly extended the “universe-allows-horrible-things-to-happen” aspects of the essay and cut down the rationalist parts, so my version is twice as “dark” and depressing as the original. But I think it packs more of an emotional punch, at least for me.
Anyway, I really like what you’re doing here. Not much else to say.
Thanks. Additional paragraphs wouldn’t be useful for this project obviously, but I’d be curious to see what you added.