Anduril as a 'tech' weapons company is ironic. In the books, it is Saruman, with his "mind of metal and gears" who is the scientist and engineer. The sword Anduril powerful not because of technology but because of the craftsmanship of its make and the valor of its wielder.
except of course that Tolkien, as a Catholic was quite adamant that he didn't write a story of Western chauvinism. The sword is not a metaphor for industrialization, which is quite literally the villain of the story, it's a symbol for restored kingship and hope.
tolkien largely copied the nibelungsenlied and accidentally inherited western chauvinism and many other ideas from that lore, including especially a great amount of racism
Right, and his concept of nobility and just kingship was about mercy love justice and a love of nature, good food, merriment, harmony, and treating others with respect. His works are full of cautionary tales of people who reached for immortality, power, self-aggrandizement, and control over others and fell as a result.
(Though he was obsessed with lineage and blood quotients and pale skin)
It's very difficult to judge the attitudes and held values of people who lived in the past - I mean the parentheses.
We don't know how much of it is real flaw or corruption and how much is just the zeitgeist they lived in.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Musk's capital T today would end up becoming the beginning or turning point of a cautionary tale in the future. And, for better or worse, I know a lot of otherwise great and talented people who are still his fans.
I recently did a rewatch where I replaced the audio in 'Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite' with Pink Floyd's 'Echoes'. It really changed the experience for me. Going into 20+ minutes of psychedelic rock after over 100 minutes of classical music really made it feel like a transformative experience.
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