The 'free-floating Intellectual' May Occupy Himself With

When Geologists Announced The Beginning Of A New Geological Epoch, The Anthropocene, Humans Destroying The Environment, One Of The Main Things They Pointed To Is The Use Of Plastics In The Earth. We Don't Think About It, But It Has A Tremendous Effect. But These Are Things You Don't See Right In Front Of Your Eyes. You Need To Think About Them A Little, To See What The Consequences Are. It's Easy To Put Them Aside, And The Media Don't Talk About Them.

American Society Is Now Remarkably Atomized. Political Organizations Have Collapsed. In Fact, It Seems Like Even Bowling Leagues Are Collapsing. The Left Has A Lot To Answer For Here. There's Been A Drift Toward Very Fragmenting Tendencies Among Left Groups, Toward This Sort Of Identity Politics.

United States Has Comparative Advantage In Military Force. It Tends To React To Anything At First With Military Force, That's What It's Good At. And I Think They Overdid It. There Was More Military Force Than Was Necessary.

The Neo-cons Constitute A Radical Reactionary Fringe Of The Planning Spectrum, But The Spectrum Is Narrow.

But On The Other Hand, In Discussion And Debate Concerning Social Issues Or American Foreign Policy, Vietnam Or The Middle East, For Example, The Issue Is Constantly Raised, Often With Considerable Venom. I've Repeatedly Been Challenged On Grounds Of Credentials, Or Asked, What Special Training Do You Have That Entitles You To Speak Of These Matters. The Assumption Is That People Like Me, Who Are Outsiders From A Professional Viewpoint, Are Not Entitled To Speak On Such Things.