Recent Replies
@isaacgreene Yes, my interest in the topic of limits (thanks to Wendell Berry, Ivan Illich) has had me aware of/interested in Schumacher for years, but I finally just took the plunge and ordered a copy. Much of what he wrote here in the 70s (esp. re: natural capital/ecology/technology) feels prophetic when looking at the subsequent 50 years and the climate crisis.
@isaacgreene I appreciated these reflections - thank you! I recently reread Blaise Pascal on distraction, and he would agree that the market for distraction is deeply rooted in the human condition.
Edit: I clicked through your link to L. M. Sacasas’s article to see him building significantly on Pascal. Apparently we’re all just putting Pascal on repeat these days! And for good reason. :)
@ablerism @mbattles Agree as well, and I don’t think love shows up later in the book, either. It’s our inconsistency in love (part of the “crooked timber” of humanity) that both inclines me toward the anarchist squint (distribution of power as means of preventing its abuse) and keeps me at only two rather than three cheers for it (since only if men were angels would no government be necessary).
@ablerism Interesting! I found Two Cheers a bit uneven (I loved Seeing Like a State, so had high expectations), but still good. My headspace (so far as I’m aware) comes from seeing the remarkable neighborhood resistance to Operation Metro Surge up here these past weeks, which has me following several threads related to localism.
@isaacgreene Yes, it’s been on my list for a long time but I just finally got a copy. I find myself wishing intensely that this perspective had been heeded in the 1970s instead of just barreling forward on the current trajectory for another 50+ years.