Astral Codex Ten

Washington

4 min read

Washington

Article

Washington is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 4 times across 4 issues between May 06, 2021 and May 23, 2024. The archive places it in contexts such as “In colonial Virginia, wealthy landowners like Washington and Jefferson were almost always in debt”; “Objection: Mohammed, Washington, and Confucius shaped the future”; “we get Columbus, Einstein, Edison, Washington, MLK, Disney, Franklin, Jonas Salk, Margaret Sanger, Susan B Anthony, and Louis Armstrong”. It most often appears alongside America, Britain, Carthage.

Metadata

  • Category: People
  • Mention count: 4
  • Issue count: 4
  • First seen: May 06, 2021
  • Last seen: May 23, 2024

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Your Book Review: Through The Eye Of A Needle
May 06, 2021 · Original source
Personal loans were also another vital aspect of patronage. From what I’ve read on colonial Virginian and Roman landowners, a challenge with great agricultural holdings is their illiquidity. Even the most fertile farmland takes months or years to generate cash. In colonial Virginia, wealthy landowners like Washington and Jefferson were almost always in debt to British bankers. They perpetually bought on credit which they hoped to cover with the next harvest. Ancient Rome had few banking institutions, so personal loans to peers covered liquidity needs. These lateral loans fit in the wider system of patronage to weave society together.
Book Review: What We Owe The Future
August 23, 2022 · Original source
Objection: Mohammed, Washington, and Confucius shaped the future. But none of them could really see how their influence would ripple through time, and they might not be very happy with the civilizations they created. Do we have any examples of people who aimed for a certain positive change to the future, achieved it, and locked it in so hard that we expect it to continue even unto the ends of the galaxy?
A Columbian Exchange
October 07, 2022 · Original source
Coria: I realize it’s a big ask. It just seemed sort of dishonest or small-minded to not even mention it as a possibility. There are plenty of lists of the greatest historical figures. Taking this one, selecting for only Americans or America-related people, and removing people too similar to each other, we get Columbus, Einstein, Edison, Washington, MLK, Disney, Franklin, Jonas Salk, Margaret Sanger, Susan B Anthony, and Louis Armstrong. We could combine it with this list of people who saved the most lives, of which the Americans are Maurice Hilleman, Henrietta Lacks, Jonas Salk, and Norman Borlaug - I think a good consensus list for both influential and moral might replace one of Columbus, Sanger or Franklin with Borlaug, and keep the rest. That would give us eleven honorees - enough for one holiday a month, leaving room for Christmas.
Inline links: this one, this list
A Theoretical "Case Against Education"
May 23, 2024 · Original source
Education isn’t just about facts. But it’s partly about facts. Facts are easy to measure, and they’re a useful signpost for deeper understanding. If someone has never heard of Chaucer, Dickens, Melville, Twain, or Joyce, they probably haven’t learned to appreciate great literature. If someone can’t identify Washington, Lincoln, or either Roosevelt, they probably don’t understand the ebb and flow of American history. So what facts does the average American know?