David and Tamler crawl up a riverbank, kiss the mud, and dream a discussion of Borges’ “The Circular Ruins.” We sort through various interpretations and allusions, the story as a metaphor for artistic creation, gnostic cosmology, solipsism, eternal recursion, and the unstable boundary between reality and illusion. How does Borges fit all of this and much more in a 5 page story?
Plus, Scientific American endorses Kamala Harris – is that a big deal? We look at a study purporting to show that Nature’s Biden endorsement eroded trust in science among Trump supporters.
Political endorsement by Nature and trust in scientific expertise during COVID-19 [nature.com]
The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges [wikipedia.org]
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