The Walking Drum
Louis L’Amour has been best known for his ability to capture the spirit and drama of the authentic American West. Now he guides his readers to an even more distant frontier—the enthralling lands of the twelfth century. Warrior, lover, and scholar, Kerbouchard is a daring seeker of knowledge and fortune bound on a journey of enormous challenge, danger, and revenge. Across Europe, over the Russian steppes, and through the Byzantine wonders of Constantinople, Kerbouchard is thrust into the treacheries, passions, violence, and dazzling wonders of a magnificent time. From castle to slave galley, from sword-racked battlefields to a princess’s secret chamber, and ultimately, to the impregnable fortress of the Valley of Assassins, The Walking Drum is a powerful adventure in an ancient world that you will find every bit as riveting as Louis L’Amour’s stories of the American West.
Stats for nerds
0recommend
5mentions
4people
2010–2024years
100% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- No, because none of those things involve creating a copy on a computer which will then be regurgitated w/o acknowledgement of what went before, and w/o any sort of compensation to the previous rights bearer.
Time was if a person read multiple books to write a new text, they either purchased them, or borrowed them from a library which had purchased them, and then acknowledged them in a footnote or reference section.
At least one author noted that there was a concern that writing would lead to a diminishment of human memory/loss of oral tradition (Louis L'Amour in _The Walking Drum_).
- > At least one author noted that there was a concern that writing would lead to a diminishment of human memory/loss of oral tradition (Louis L'Amour in _The Walking Drum_).
Really? I can't tell if you're joking, so I'll take it at face value.
See, I associate the earliest famous (I thought) expression of that concern with Plato, and before today I couldn't remember any other associated details enough to articulate them with confidence. ChatGPT tells me, using the above quote without the citation as a prompt, that it was in Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus, and offers additional succinct contextual information and a better quote from that work. I probably first learned to associate that complaint about writing with Plato in college, and probably got it from C.D.C. Reeve, who was a philosophy professor and expert on Plato at the college I attended. But I feel no need to cite any of Reeve's works when dropping that vague reference. If I were to use any of Reeve's original thoughts related to analysis of Plato, then a reference would be merited.
It seems to me that there are different layers of abstraction of knowledge and memory, and LLMs mostly capture and very effectively synthesize knowledge at layers of abstraction that are above that of grammar checkers and below that of plagiarism in most cases. It's true that it is the nature of many of today's biggest transformers that they do in some cases produce output that qualifies as plagiarism by conventional standards. Every instance of that plagiarism is problematic, and should be a primary focus of innovation going forward. But in this conversation no one seems to acknowledge that the bar has been moved. The machine looked upon the library, and produced some output, therefore we should assume it is all theft? I am not persuaded.
- You story reminded me of this quote by the Western author, Louis L'Amour:
“Up to a point a person’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and changes in the world about them. Then there comes a time when it lies within their grasp to shape the clay of their life into the sort of thing they wish it to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune or the quirks of fate. Everyone has the power to say, "This I am today. That I shall be tomorrow.” ― Louis L'Amour, The Walking Drum
I don't think it's completely as simple as he says, but anyone can improve themselves.
- "Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say , this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow. The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds."
Louis L'Amour, The Walking Drum
- I have lots and lots of stuff. Some I use regularly or at least often enough. Some I used to use and keep just in case, its not like its costing me. And some I got just in case, mostly science, math, and engineering books I found cheap and think I might get to some day (they are also a useful investment, I've been mostly living off of reselling some of them the last year that I've been out of work).
But I am not ruled by my stuff, I have in the past, and could again, just abandon most of it when I move again. What I know and can do is what is most important to me; and that is mostly what my belongings are actually about - books, tools, supplies for learning and doing.
"The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever."
-- Louis L'Amour, The Walking Drum
