Catallarchy On Neal Stephenson’s Subtlety

Lynne Kiesling

Jonathan Wilde has this wonderful and annoying tendency to articulate things about which I have been ruminating before I have fully formed my ideas. In this post he does so about Neal Stephenson’s “radical libertarian views … he writes about libertarian themes – technological empowerment, data havens, free banking, polycentric law, anonymous digital cash, holocaust prevention, Enlightenment ideals, cryptography, and distributed power – in novels that appeal to the mainstream without being overtly preachy.”

Yeah. What he said.

2 thoughts on “Catallarchy On Neal Stephenson’s Subtlety”

  1. This is where we realize how different we can be. Because me? I just read that post, and the Stephenson quotes, and . . . the man might be libertarian, but he could also be a communitarian kinda Catholic. Libertarians don’t have a monopoly on advocating distributed power, y’know.

  2. Excellent point! There’s a lot of gray area at the libertarian/communitarian “boundary”. Personally, I’d like to get him in a bar, buy him a whisky, and ask him that and a bunch of other stuff. Like, how did he digest all of that economic history in such a short period of time and still manage to get it about 85% right?

    I’m actually glad he’s cagey about his politics. I wish more “celebrities” were more so. Do I care if Susan Sarandon hugs whales/hates the Iraq war/wears hemp? Should I?

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