But What If We're Wrong?
Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
by Chuck Klosterman · first published 2016
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Thought-provoking essays on how today's assumptions and cultural judgments may look to future readers; pop-culture writing that prompts readers to question what they take for granted.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there's nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secure--until, of course, they don't. But What If We're Wrong? visualize
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I think hes talking about "But What If We're Wrong?" by Chuck Klosterman. Sorry to spoil the secret! edit: Its highly recommended. Also, its not an argument about quality. The author speculates about what kind of art produced in the present day that…
on “Isaac Asimov on How to Be Prolific” ↗…are. When you read stuff like this from an earlier era it’s always shocking just how different their frame of reference is, what’s considered important and what’s assumed common knowledge. The book “But What if We’re Wrong?” By Chuck Klosterman really does a great job looking at this question.
on “Experts Doubt the Sun Is Burning Coal (1863)” ↗I credit 2 books with helping (hopefully?) with the ability to question the overlap between what I see as truth and orthodoxy. But What If We're Wrong [1] by Chuck Klosterman and Against Method [2] by Paul Feyeraband. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_What_If_We%27re_Wrong%3F 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Method
on “Paul Graham – Orthodox Privilege” ↗Klosterman's guesses about how rock will be perceived in 500 years might interest you. It's in his latest, "But What if We're Wrong?" He's one of the best writers on pop culture, and tends to dive into the sort of arguments that would be home in a kitchen at a house party that's winding down. I don't say that to diminish them, they're…
on “Gene Wilder Has Died” ↗Really enjoyed: - 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer - American Wolf - Nate Blakeslee - Atomic Habits - James Clear - But What If We're Wrong - Chuck Klosterman - Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday - The Courage To Be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi - Elements of Fiction: Characters & Viewpoint - Orson Scott Card - The Elephant In The Brain - Robin Hanson…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗"But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past" by Chuck Klosterman was very influential in getting me to step back and question all my assumptions.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗…see what you see is the brother of that confusion. If you want a surprisingly deep meditation on popularity in art, Chris Rock's Top Five has some interesting dialogues on it. And Chuck Klosterman's "But What if We're Wrong?" is a good book basically about how unfathomable popularity is.
on “Surviving the Hits (2008)” ↗Chuck Klosterman's book "But What If We're Wrong: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past" examines this phenomenon, and while its difficult to make predictions (that's one of the takeaways) it's a terrific lens to look at both the present…
on “Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head” ↗…cancel us complete for this and hear out other wisdom we might want to pass. I think we're pretty poor at predicting what future generations will think about us. To that point I heartily recommend "But What If We're Wrong" by Chuck Klosterman.
on “The case for not sanitising fairy tales” ↗There's a good book called, "But What If We're Wrong?" by Chuck Klosterman that explores the concept of how things we consider the "best" or "worst" of contemporaneous common knowledge may change over time. One of his examples was how there are only a…
on “What Lasts and (Mostly) Doesn't Last” ↗his books "I Wear the Black Hat" and "But What If We're Wrong?" are really good. but I don't give a shit about team sports
on “Chuck Klosterman on why we've never actually seen a real football game” ↗Been reading Chuck Klosterman's book, But What If We're Wrong?. Which is partly that thought. The things that get remembered in the global consciousness are not always the people or things we'd expect. It's possible that we have a "genius" right now that will be…
on “Geniuses of the past were aristocratically tutored” ↗I originally replied to a child of this post, but if you are interested in the book, I think its "But What If We're Wrong" by Chuck Klosterman.
on “Isaac Asimov on How to Be Prolific” ↗…in the US. I'm not sure it was even the most widely known Queen song until Wayne's World. The recent biopic (and associated promotion) is undoubtedly giving it a brand new bump. Klosterman argues in "But What if We're Wrong?" that future generations will have a pretty random understanding of our pop culture, judging from how poorly we tend to understand the past.[3] Given enough time, some semi-random song like Bohemian…
on “Millennials still recognise songs from music’s 1960s-90s golden age, study finds” ↗But What If We're Wrong? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_What_If_We%27re_Wrong%3F The premise of the book is that most of what we believe is likely to be wrong, but to avoid delusions in our perceptions, Klosterman advises…