The themes I addressed in this essay are ones I’d like to return to soon, after I finish digesting Plato and Aristotle and feel freer to return to studies more directly related to ecology, systemism, and the like. Among things I’m interested in studying are Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory, Mario Bunge’s work on causality, and the field of environmental history, which studies the relationships between ecosystems and people through time, as well as more thoroughly studying the question of the appearance of mathematical objects in nature, particularly the naturalistic arguments of D.M. Armstrong, and their critics. Ambitious readers are encouraged to get a step ahead of me on this stuff, as I’m probably not going to get to it for some time.

I finally broke down and got a better microphone. My own ears are accustomed to fifteen year old Librivox recordings, but we live in a podcasting world, and a crappy compressor mic doesn’t slide the way it once did, so I decided to make the bare minimum effort.

A sidenote: at one point in this essay, I referred to Will MacAskill as a utilitarian. He has publicly rejected the label, and that’s fair enough. The book itself does reluctantly advance a utilitarian philosophy and doesn’t make much mention of alternative approaches, so it’s no surprise I and so many others came away from it reading MacAskill as a cautious utilitarian (and EA as a utilitarian movement, which it undoubtedly was at least originally), but apparently he’s more of a moral agnostic. Since EA has exploded, I’ve encountered several of its advocates arguing that it can be justified without falling upon a utilitarian moral calculus, a claim I wholly agree with. Anyway, this essay isn’t a critique of utilitarianism of the sort writers like Erik Hoel have offered, mainly because I feel like there’s nothing new to be said there-anyone who knows much about philosophy knows that utilitarianism is at best a very flawed theory. But since I do mischaracterize MacAskill in the essay and the term “utilitarian” has become a bit spicier since I wrote it, I thought I should mention that the characterization was a misreading on my part, and didn’t give enough weight to MacAskill’s circumspection about the argument offered in the book.

Dan Chodorkoff is an anthropologist and co-founder of the Institute for Social Ecology, which he founded with Murray Bookchin in 1974. His new book, Sugaring Down, is a fictional story about a group of New Left radicals in the mid to late ‘60s establishing a commune in rural Vermont. The book is genuinely a page-turner (at least for the commune-enthused like myself) and Dan is a wealth of history, information, and insight on the left’s past, and proposed roads for its future. It was truly a pleasure to talk with him.

Interviewing is an uneasy concept to me, as listeners to this interview will likely be able to tell-the fact of the matter is Bracero is an outlet for my thoughts as a reader of and hobbyist in philosophy, and by the nature of my work I’m much more inclined to discussions than interviews, which is a self-serving way of saying I’ve never been very good at asking questions. But then, what better way to get better? I’m not sure whether this will become a more regular occurrence, though I would like it to be more than a one-off. Bracero will hopefully always be, principally, a writing project. As much as podcasting offers the temptations of a larger audience and a bit less of a grind than the often painstaking and time-consuming writing process, writing has long been a passion of mine, and it remains my favorite way of expressing myself.

That being said, I love having this blog as an opportunity to talk to interesting and brilliant people like Dan, with the added benefit of turning this into a bit less of an inherently navel-gazing project. I hope you find it worthwhile.

Forms, man. Forms are the s**t.

In the beginning of this one I mentioned Cooperation Jackson, a revolutionary cooperative in Jackson, Mississippi. I want to note that Cooperation Jackson’s handling of the event was excellent, and their work is inspiring.

Recently, Jackson’s water supply was compromised when a major water plant failed due to poor maintenance, staffing, and rainwater flooding-a very 2022 kind of series of problems.

Jackson’s water is (maybe?) close to returning back to normal pressure, but residents had already been on a boil-water order since July due to existing chemical imbalances. Now, they’re either relying on a highly inefficient bottled water pickup system, or are simply drinking contaminated water.

It feels apropros to mention this, and to encourage readers to donate to Cooperation Jackson and their ongoing mutual aid efforts.

Song credit to Mikey, who let me use this very slick track in exchange for helping him move. Pray that this will eventually force me to buy a better microphone.

A fun, light-hearted reading for your weekend.

So I recorded this entire episode before noticing that I hadn’t plugged my microphone in, and had in fact been recording with my laptop mic. I don’t think this has impacted the quality very much, and instead simply serves as evidence of how cheap my actual microphone is. And the benefits are graciously passed on to you, the listener. Enjoy!