Earlier this month in California I participated in this discussion with Robert Tracinski and Jennifer Grossman: * Why the polarized techno-optimism versus techno-pessimism? * What transformative technologies — e.g., artificial intelligences and robotics — are in the offing? * What is the role for good philosophy, e.g., Objectivism, in making and managing transformative technologies? Related: […]
Objectivism and Technological Trends Panel Read More »
I drew the first draft of this chart in 1997, when I began writing up my notes for what became Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault. The flowchart is from the end of Chapter 5 and summarizes the argument developed in that chapter. Click the image to enlarge. About those question marks
The evolution of socialist strategies, 25 years later Read More »
I participated in this 24-minute panel with with this excellent duo, Jason Hill and Kmele Foster, at the The Atlas Society gala in California, October 2022. How is individualism the moral and inspirational solution to the crudity of racism, against the collectivist guilt-and-resentment approaches of Critical Race Theory and DEI? Related: Ayn Rand on Individual
Real Diversity: Individualism vs. “DEI & CRT Read More »
Question: Are the apocalypse-types driven by the specific *issues*, or is there a background *psychology* driving them and the issues are secondary?
The Apocalypse types Read More »
Nietzsche has a reputation for being an individualist. But note this call for mass sacrifice—from his Genealogy of Morals: “mankind in the mass sacrificed to the prosperity of a single stronger species of man — that would be an advance.” (GM II:12) Nietzsche’s sometimes-yes-sometimes-not individualism is complicated. For more, check out my “Egoism in Nietzsche
Was Nietzsche individualist? Mass sacrifice version Read More »
I’ve learned that in Urdu my name is: اسٹیون آر سی ہِ کس. Professor Nazir Azad’s translation into Urdu of my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault will be published this month, October 2022. Urdu is the first or second language of 230 million people in Pakistan and India. Information about other
Urdu translation book cover of *Explaining Postmodernism* Read More »
In an interview, Foucault responds to a question about Marxist methodology in his writing: “[Interviewer] G.R. But does this reference in The Archaeology of Knowledge mean that, in a certain way, Marx is at work in your own methodology? “FOUCAULT Yes, absolutely.” (Source: Foucault, Michel. Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977-1984, New York:
Is Foucault a “Neo-Marxist”? Methodology datum Read More »
When my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault was to be published in Iran, the publisher notified me that a final step was necessary: getting a publishing license from the state’s censors. So the manuscript was submitted for approval to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. At the time, I had
Persian translation of *Explaining Postmodernism* and the censors Read More »