Dwarkesh Patel

And so

the first dream is idealistic.

Let's make better rulers.

The adoption is self-serving and propagandistic.

Hey, I'm a tyrant, but I can seem like something better than just a tyrant.

If I make myself look like Julius Caesar, then people will like and respect me.

Or in the case of Florence with the

dirt compared to everybody around us.

We're not even one of the important families of Florence.

We're like three ranks down even on the standards of merchant scum.

We're extra scummy merchant scum.

But if we can have Latin and Greek and quote Cicero and seem like the ancients, people will take us seriously and respect us and talk to us even if we don't have it.

So let me give an example, right?

So imagine that you are

an ambassador from France, and you're on your way to Rome because a new pope has just been elected.

And whenever a new pope is elected, every country in Europe has to send a special ambassador whose job it is to deliver a long-winded oration that says,

I am the wealthy, I'm the ambassador from a very wealthy country and a very powerful prince.

And he's so glad you're the Pope.

Congratulations.

Only have to do that for like an hour.