He's carrying the torch of Ivan Illich, basically. It's a reference to 'Tools for Conviviality'. Illich himself was a minor celebrity in the 70s/80s/90s and appeared on the front cover of The Whole Earth Quarterly or the Coevolution Quarterly once, I forget which issue, but it was about his 'Silence is a Commons' essay. He was a chemist, and a Catholic theologian, and a great humanist philosopher. He sort of ran a commune in Mexico in his later years. I miss him.

edit, personal note: I was a big fan as a teenager. My dad has all the Whole Earth issues and had a few Illich books in the basement and I really enjoyed Tools for Conviviality a lot. As well as Medical Nemesis, To Hell With Good Intentions, and Deschooling Society. That one almost made me drop out of high school.

I've been liking reading his musings on technology and it's effects - with an emphasis on the effects that social media is having on society - essentially making us less convivial.