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1. 1 On October 4th, 2008, james said:

   Thanks for uploading William Irwin Thompson to YouTube! I return again and again to Thompson and Gregory Bateson, in whatever form I can find them. When I was younger and more absorbent, I got lost in those two. Their ideas have kept me permanently open, intellectually nimble, curious and awed.

   Is there anyone you know of now who thinks and writes like Thompson did? Who is it that you read?

   Thanks in advance !

2. 2 On October 5th, 2008, John David Ebert said:

   Dear James:

   Have you read Slavoj Zizek at all? I’ve been reading his stuff lately and though he is a Marxist, he writes like Thompson in that he draws on a broad range of references from Hegel to the latest pop movies. He is incredibly erudite and learned, just like Thompson. He differs from Thompson, however, in that he is a Marxist and therefore also a materialist. But he is funny and witty and cranky.

   There is also Camille Paglia who is broadly learned and erudite with a sweeping interest in the humanities and a very sharp tongue. Her best days, however, I think are behind her. Try one of her essay collections.

   There is also Jean Baudrillard, who is a sort of French po-mo equivalent of Thompson. He is very readable and insightful about culture, top or pop. One of his best collections is called “Screened Out,” and it’s a good place to start, since his essays there are particularly readable and intelligible.

   And don’t let me forget Paul Virilio, another great French thinker. He is still alive and he is very good at commenting on technology, especially military technology and its recent transformations. Unlike Baudrillard, he is more of a traditional humanist. He is not difficult to read or understand and he is very insightful about media. If you like McLuhan, I recommend him particularly. Try “Open Sky” or “The Original Accident” or “City of Panic.”

   You might also try my book on movies which is heavily indebted to Thompson, who wrote the Forward for it. It’s available on Amazon.

   That’s about it, as far as I know. Nowadays well rounded intellectuals are few and far between. Academe has crushed them by insisting upon degrees and specialization and so the days of Lewis Mumford, Marshall McLuhan and Bill Thompson are pretty much a thing of the past.

   Publishers and greedy agents are also to blame, for they no longer take chances on intellectual writers since all they’re looking to do is make a buck. Integrity, as far as I can tell, can no longer be found amongst publishers or agents, so many intellectuals, such as myself, have had to resort to Print on Demand or self publishing, which renders you effectively invisible. The insistence on making money is essentially screening out and preventing new intellectuals who are not affiliated with Academe from emerging into the spotlight. If you are too intellectual, trade publishers will not publish you; and if you go to academic publishers, they will tell you your work is not academic enough. So we have lost that middle ground which once could serve as a forum in which public intellectuals (and I don’t mean journalists of the Thomas Friedman type here) like Lewis Mumford or Jane Jacobs could function.

   Hope this helps.

   Best,
   John David Ebert

3. 3 On February 18th, 2009, damon heneger said:

   I was interested in your views on two new movies coming out, the acting is rather inconsequential but the story line –here is my interest. Knowing and Watchmen.

   thanks
   damon

4. 4 On February 19th, 2009, damon heneger said:

   In addition to my last question I found this clip today on youtube by allen watts called “who guards the guards?”.

   Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL09_HtGRHU

   or

   thanks
   damon

5. 5 On February 10th, 2010, Kyle W. Elsbernd said:

   I’m trying to find your post called (roughly) “On stupidity in culture” mentioned in your interview with Josh Wagner pt.2. Where is it archived?

   Thanks again for an excellent resource. I shall be buying your book on amazon today.

   Kyle Elsbernd
   Wisconsin USA

6. 6 On September 5th, 2011, Stu Grimson said:

   Hi Mr. Ebert,

   A book you might find interesting is Brave New War by John Robb. It is written from the perspective of a military intelligence expert, and is 100% non-intellectual in nature, but it is a short and concise book that can be gone through in a few hours. It has to do with the democratization of disruptive capabilities. The increasing complexity of our civilization, combined with technological augmentations that allow individuals or small groups to command vast destructive power, is leading to a situation in which the prevailing social order is simply no longer to maintain itself through conventional means.

   Osama bin Ladin taunts the US in his 2004 speech by saying that he can send two mujahadeen with AK-47’s to a random mountain to fire off a few rounds, and half the US military shows up to chase them around. He is able to expend a few thousand dollars worth of resources that force us, due to institutional inertia and inflexibility, to enact a multi-billion dollar response. And yet our system requires that we respond in such a way. It is likely that developed economies will come to resemble societies like Mexico, in which the authorities preserving the status quo only have the resources to exercise direct control over certain portions of the territory, the rest of which is left to fend more and more for itself. The areas under control, inhabited by the rich and those in the system, will come to resemble walled apartheid communities, lifeboats of order amidst a sea of chaos, with armed guards checking for ID at the gate.

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