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20 Feb, 12 tweets, 4 min read
it seems nobody I’m following has tweeted about Al-Ma’mun. This guy was like the Pericles of Baghdad, and in a sense we have him to thank for the Baghdad House of Wisdom, creating space for Al-Khwarizmi and friends to translate Aristotle, invent algebra and so on
Both Pericles and al Ma’mun associated with extremely cool women
apparently he liked watermelon 🍉
open minded, emphasised education
“by fully opening the mind... many wonders, including peace, are possible”
benefit the entire world
🌍
the thing I really want to understand is – how exactly did al-Ma'mun persuade the aristocracy to become obsessed with arts & scholarship? could it be as simple as "the most powerful guy is into this, therefore we are too"? or is it more complicated?
also uh how horny was he exactly
also thinking more broadly about how many geniuses throughout history (and now, in the present) were never able to develop and flourish because they didn't have a Pericles or Al-Mamun or Cosimo etc supporting them

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More from @visakanv

visa is AFK working on @introspectVV Profile picture
21 Feb
“grift until rich & fuck off” is an adorably unimaginative way of thinking about the world
I can tell you precisely what I would do if I wanted to grift, get rich and fuck off. I’m a political blogging veteran and a marketing professional, I know how to do it
worth quoting each tweet again
Read 7 tweets
visa is AFK working on @introspectVV Profile picture
21 Feb
my most arrogant thought might be that I believe I know a better approach to communicating than most people - and part of this involves not saying it out loud, but there’s a part of me that feels it’s dishonest not to say it. You see the kind of self-created stress I am under?
you don’t need to take it from me – I didn’t invent this way of being, I simply learned it from studying skilful people throughout history. It’s all free and public information, anybody can look it up, study, contemplate, become skilful, acquire status, experience bliss
people figured this stuff out hundreds of years ago. anybody can learn it
Read 5 tweets
visa is AFK working on @introspectVV Profile picture
21 Feb
I think my years studying the rise and fall of businesses for content marketing purposes prepped me surprisingly well for studying the rise and fall of ancient cities. It feels quite familiar
the first part of my process is to just collect all the interesting anecdotes and stories. when did it start, how did it start, who was involved, what were the challenges, what are the notable elements... this is to 1st get a vague picture, which is invariably wrong in many ways
because stories get warped by marketing and PR. the role of luck gets diminished. competitive advantage / unit economic type things - the boring, ugly, tedious stuff - gets downplayed, while the pretty, sexy, exciting stuff gets emphasised out of proportion
Read 6 tweets
visa is AFK working on @introspectVV Profile picture
21 Feb
i haven't slept in ~24hrs so i'm a little delirious but i just wanna say out loud for tmr visa that we did good today and i'm proud of us
talking about this in case it's too cryptic and makes tmr visa go "what the fuck were you talking about"
somebody said that I have "a reverence for silliness" and they just shot me thru the heart with that one 360 noscope
Read 4 tweets
visa is AFK working on @introspectVV Profile picture
20 Feb
a vague, broad question I'm pondering – historically, how did cities get wealthy?

I'm most familiar with merchant/port type cities, having been born and raised in one, but surely there are other ways? conquest would've been a thing at some point... innovation, more recently...
Read 4 tweets
visa is AFK working on @introspectVV Profile picture
19 Feb
i'm reminded that, in some ways, to some degree, my tweets were kind of about as good as they are now, but few people noticed until there was more social proof
I still think this, is in a particular sense, my best tweet – I recurringly mention this but hardly anybody else seems to agree with my assessment 😂

I mean this is a pretty decent tweet and it got 3 favs. these days I can post "titty" as a standalone tweet and get like 100 favs. it's challenging to keep perspective
Read 5 tweets

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