While Vivek has personal reasons to denigrate the ivory tower of intellectualism, Dostoyevsky gained personal insight into the cold, hard reality of plebian life. After my middle class upbringing, I dallied in a variety of middle class employments, working in marketing, sales, computer consulting, and even in research. I inevitably was confronted with political machinations in all these careers, which clashed with my innate spirit of authenticity. As a youth I was not attracted to pontifications of intellectuals, or the edifications of spiritual masters. I read Jack London, Robert Service, Upton Sinclair, and the authors of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, who generally presented a nitty gritty of life on the ground, rather than rational justifications of life as elites.

Eventually I graduated from these pursuits when I bought a cheap house that required repair from the ground to the sky, and learned carpentry. Decades later, I am a humble handyman, able to tunnel underneath a structure that has suffered the loss of it's foundation, or seal it's roof against the insults of the mighty Pacific. I find every bit of the challenge of reason to be exemplified in the physical structures that insulate the least of us from the elements, and deeply enjoy the physical challenges of manipulating actual materials to meet those needs while producing an aesthetically pleasing mien.

I do not care for the political primacy that seems to be the underlying concern of oligarchs and their fawning supporters, scrabbling for the scraps their masters toss aside. I am deeply appreciative of the appreciation of my clientele, the untermensch, if you will, of humanity that creates the infrastructure of our lives, parasitized by oligarchs who consider them useless. It is that latter fact that strikes me most clearly of the pronouncements of Klaus Schwab and Yuval Harari, who talk about eliminating 'parasites' and useless eaters, seemingly without the least recognition that is they themselves that hammer no nails, lay no roads, nor provide any useful benefits to humanity while seizing the vast majority of the wealth and treasure humanity creates.

I can relate to Dosoyevsky, but it is not only for intellectuals I reserve my ire, but for oligarchs most of all. It is why I have increasingly celebrated the decentralization that obviates massive pools of capital and immense factories necessary for production. Table top means of production enable ordinary untermensch to create themselves the blessings of civilization, and to eliminate the parasitism that feeds intellectuals and oligarchs. This technological transcendence of parasitism is the seminal perfection of society, replacing Communism, Capitalism, Monarchism, and every form of Collectivism with merit of the creator of essential goods and services.

Now, on to the stars.

Thanks!