Dwarkesh Patel

And you have to give a gift to the Pope.

It has to be very impressive.

And you have to be a really important person.

You're like the most important person who can leave your country without causing a political crisis.

You might be the heir to the throne, for example.

And so you're on your way, or you might be a more minor ambassador, but you're at least minimum the son of a count.

And you're on your way to Rome.

You're heading along the length of Italy.

You're going to go through Florence.

It's on the way.

There's nobody there anymore.

worth talking to because it's just a pit of scum and villainy.

And in fact, also filth and depravity because of course, Florence is the sodomy capital of Europe.

And to Florentine is the verb for anal sex in several different European languages.

And in the laws of France, you can be indicted for sodomy on the grounds that you have ever once in your life even visited Florence.

That's considered evidence enough.

So you're on your way to this matchlessly filthy dive of scum and villainy.

And then you approach the city

And there are these statues and they look like ancient statues, the kind that are so lifelike that it's as if they're about to breathe and move.

You've never seen an intact new statue like that.