Ah, the dialectical materialist analysis of The Whole Earth Catalogue: "Brand . . . frames the opposition of capital and labor as a 'paradox,' rather than the conflict of material interest that it is." Love it. I believe Marx had difficulty with his Labor = Capital equation because in the final proof labor is always shown to be worthless. An obstacle rather than a resource. I'm talking out my ass here, so I welcome other comments.
I was just old enough (high school) to read through all the editions as they came out (the only one I kept was the compact Last with the R. Crumb cover), and I always felt a cold future-elite wind emanating from the catalog. That "gods" business didn't bode well at all. The catalog led me to Lynd Ward, the Lucis Trust Library, and a few other things, but most of it was clearly Not Meant for Me, neither then nor in the future--I was perfectly happy to be part of the rotting urban fabric, for starters. And I remember how I felt when I learned that Brian Eno was on the board of the Long Now Foundation. Hope they'll all be happy colonizing Mars.
Yes the Eno connection is a bit troubling… although it did result in an excellent original soundtrack for the documentary about Brand that came out a few years ago! Thank you for this comment, I’m now imagining the catalog that would have been Meant for Others…
Very much appreciate this essay on the WEC and Stewart Brand. The Crazy Town Podcast (disclosure: I am a co-host) dedicated a season to exploring the ideas of a number of "Phalse Prophets." We did an episode on Stewart Brand as one of the main proselytizers of Eco-Modernism: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-05-03/crazy-town-episode-71-ecomodernism/.
Unfortunately, I think Brand's influence as an ecomodernist, and ecomodernism itself as a "solution" to the systemic environmental and social crises we face, will far outlast that of the Whole Earth Catalog.
I'm glad you moved from the trite establishment trope of generational guilt and the scapegoating of idealistic hippies to the crux, corporate capitalism, which perverts everything, and everyone. What hasn't changed from Whole Earth days to dying earth days is the collective naivete' that it is the norm.
Ah, the dialectical materialist analysis of The Whole Earth Catalogue: "Brand . . . frames the opposition of capital and labor as a 'paradox,' rather than the conflict of material interest that it is." Love it. I believe Marx had difficulty with his Labor = Capital equation because in the final proof labor is always shown to be worthless. An obstacle rather than a resource. I'm talking out my ass here, so I welcome other comments.
I was just old enough (high school) to read through all the editions as they came out (the only one I kept was the compact Last with the R. Crumb cover), and I always felt a cold future-elite wind emanating from the catalog. That "gods" business didn't bode well at all. The catalog led me to Lynd Ward, the Lucis Trust Library, and a few other things, but most of it was clearly Not Meant for Me, neither then nor in the future--I was perfectly happy to be part of the rotting urban fabric, for starters. And I remember how I felt when I learned that Brian Eno was on the board of the Long Now Foundation. Hope they'll all be happy colonizing Mars.
Yes the Eno connection is a bit troubling… although it did result in an excellent original soundtrack for the documentary about Brand that came out a few years ago! Thank you for this comment, I’m now imagining the catalog that would have been Meant for Others…
Very much appreciate this essay on the WEC and Stewart Brand. The Crazy Town Podcast (disclosure: I am a co-host) dedicated a season to exploring the ideas of a number of "Phalse Prophets." We did an episode on Stewart Brand as one of the main proselytizers of Eco-Modernism: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-05-03/crazy-town-episode-71-ecomodernism/.
Unfortunately, I think Brand's influence as an ecomodernist, and ecomodernism itself as a "solution" to the systemic environmental and social crises we face, will far outlast that of the Whole Earth Catalog.
I'm glad you moved from the trite establishment trope of generational guilt and the scapegoating of idealistic hippies to the crux, corporate capitalism, which perverts everything, and everyone. What hasn't changed from Whole Earth days to dying earth days is the collective naivete' that it is the norm.