584K views · Oct 25, 2022 · 1:15:47 · 3 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2023–2025
A 2017 documentary filmed at the Santa Fe Institute in which novelist Cormac McCarthy talks with SFI's David Krakauer. They discuss isolation, mathematics, character and the nature of the unconscious.
Why Hacker News points people here: It is one of the few long, candid interviews with the famously reclusive McCarthy, and commenters share it whenever he comes up.
“This is my favourite interview with him so I will take this post as an excuse to share it.”HN comment, 2025
“This is my favourite interview with him so I will take this post as an excuse to share it.”
Commenter's favourite interview with McCarthy
Thanks for posting, he was a really interesting guy. This is my favourite interview with him so I will take this post as an excuse to share it. this video
“This is a nice interview;”
A nice interview with McCarthy
God I will miss his writing. I finished (and adored) The Passenger a few weeks ago. Rest In Piece. This is a nice interview; this video
“Worth a watch if you're interested in McCarthy”
McCarthy among scientists at Santa Fe Institute
Worth a watch if you're interested in McCarthy: this video The gist is that he liked smart people. He was good friends with Murray Gell-Mann and others at The Santa Fe Institute. I absolutely think he "liked science," I don't think he was cynical about it, though I do see where you could pick that up in his writing. According to Gell-Mann, McCarthy knew a lot about 20th century physics...not in terms of math but in a "history of ideas" sense, i.e. where major physicists stood on various questions.
