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I think in Chomsky's case his work in linguistics actually overshadows his political work because he is so foundational.

I wonder how popular Chomsky's radical left views actually are among techies...assuming what I hear about libertarian views being prevalent...its not necessarily a natural fit.

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> he is so foundational.

And somewhat discredited at this point? I don't care to write up a bunch, but his ideas about universal grammar built on genetic properties have not fared well over the years. I know he's done other stuff, but that seems his main claim to fame, excluding the political stuff.

I'm not a linguist but he seems to get a large amount of credit in that area.

It is absolutely unimaginable that Chomsky might be uninvited from any conference for anything he has ever said (one piquant example: defense of the Khmer Rouge).

Let's face it: the window of conference political acceptability covers the point -infinity. We know the upper bound is finite, and shrinking.

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