In Defense of Nihilism

One of the most influential books in my life has been Robert Paul Wolff’s In Defense of Anarchism [stderr] [wc]. It clarified my politics, to me, and made me able to understand why it was that I was so suspicious of politicians of all stripes. Taken along with Popkin’s History of Skepticism from Savanarola to Bayle [stderr] [wc] it made me feel as though I suddenly understood some things differently and in a more powerful way: skepticism, nihilism, and anarchism are all an alternative to politics or philosophy as usually practiced. That’s a dramatic claim but please let me try to justify it.

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Give Me The Child and I’ll Give You The Racist

I know a few people who were home-schooled as kids, and who grew up to be fine, decent people. I even new one who was incredibly precocious and was tutored (in addition to a good private school education) by both father and mother. Everyone in my high school class knew he was going to be somebody in the sciences and, he is! Yay!

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Unknown Materials!

I saw a UFO, once. I was going north on I-70 outside of Pittsburgh and suddenly there was a gleaming shape in the sky, reflecting light, receeding slowly from me. It looked sort of conical and had a pair of leg-like things at the bottom, and blade-like things from the sides which curved down slightly.

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Fake Identity

There’s something about the internet mindset – the anonymity (or, I should say, “apparent anonymity”) on both sides, that brings out the worst in people. It seems to me as though half of the new internet entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to screw the other half. And both are trying to screw their customers.

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