there's an old joke that hasn't aged well about how the loner high schooler reading list forking between rand and tolkien. paraphrased, one of the choices was absurd fantasy and that the other had hobbits. it's not been my experience. if a person reads one, they're probably going to read, or have already read, the other. it's all a hot mess ping-ponging around the same Venn space and headspaces (Thiel) as stuff like starship troopers. funny how these guys are now a big part of the drive into furthering big state mass surveillance. big cogs in the machine of bureaucracy! but yeah, go ahead and post some more about the 'men of the west' and libertarian ideals, whatever flavor of the year that is at the time. pricks.

i think there's a wretchedness in society and education that pushes people to build their identities around that crap, but that's another subject.