Hacker News Reader

Comment by benbreen | Hacker News Reader

Same. I emailed him about whether he'd ever met Margaret Mead, John C. Lilly, or Gregory Bateson in the 1960s while researching my book. I got this reply within hours:

"Afraid I never met any of those you mention, though I’ve followed their work for many years.

I’ve never been close to intellectual elite circles, including people I very much admire."

The time stamp for my email was Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019 at 2:19 PM. It was answered by chomsky@mit.edu at Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019 at 9:29 PM. Pretty remarkable.

View on HN

> I’ve never been close to intellectual elite circles

That is very humble

is this sarcasm? I read it as "I'm not welcome to parties because I don't toe the line"

No, no sarcasm and that's how I read it too.

So how is it humble? He is just saying he didn't hobnob with known intellectuals - isn't that just a statement of fact?

Chomsky has very controversial opinions on some subjects and I suspect that precludes him being invited to many parties.

Probably precludes him from accepting the invitations.

You cant be anti-imperialist and accept a dinner invitation where you will inevitably be forced to smile at and rub elbows with the same men you critique as war-criminals. The man is principled.

I hope he recovers. He would be sorely missed.

> you will inevitably be forced to smile at and rub elbows with the same men you critique as war-criminals

I'm autistic, so I would smile and tell them exactly what I think of them. but fortunately I don't get invited to parties.

Why not? He's supposedly anti-imperislist yet had no problem living in their society.

Where would you have him live? In an apartheid nation that rejects him so thoroughly that he might get assassinated by some right-wing hardliners for speaking out against the oppression?

Seems that by your logic one who disagrees with an evil he sees in his society should leave immediately or commit to silence.

i think it's the opposite of humble, it's saying that he knows something that these intellectuals don't.

I don't understand how you can get any information from that line about the reasons why he wasn't close to them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com