this statement stems from a book fetish, a desire complex where one treats books not as passive idea containers but rather totems, instantiations of the sapiosexuality egregore; within this frame, the act of reading is a form of worship.
they want to have read, not to read.
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RT @kitten_beloved
"I wish I read more books"
You actually don't, there is no barrier to reading books, it's free and easy
You just don't like reading, th…
https://twitter.com/kitten_beloved/status/1442563421879164928
curiously enough this phenomenon is an instance of Goodhart's Law, in that for them, books have become the optimization target themselves, rather than a proxy for being well-read; as such, it becomes more important to acquiring and showing off books than the ideas they contain.
there are, ofc, some overlaps between these games, as books can be used as pieces in each; in the latter game, however, they're but convenient proxies, rather than the game objects themselves.
people sometimes intend to play the latter game, but get caught up in the details.
I'm definitely no stranger to this, having engaged in plenty of book-worship myself, as anyone who's seen my many bookshelves would attest to; the difference is that I've never uttered the statement in the OP. there's no need to wish, when one does. and if one does not, why wish?
much better to be honest w/ one's self, considering whatever we're doing at any given time is the most rational action for our set of constraints; the issue is just that their stated constraints are divergent from the ones revealed by their actions. this mismatch causes distress.
if you find yourself repeatedly wishing you did something differently, but not actually taking any action to realize this wish, perhaps consider that you're deluding yourself; you might find out some interesting facts about your true motivations if you dig into this alignment gap
to be super clear, none of this is inherently bad; signaling ones proficiency at the game of books is highly instrumental to acquiring status within certain nerd-flavored circles. it's just orthogonal to the game of ideas, which some of these people claim to be playing.