The journalist and novelist Bob reaches for whenever he needs a name for self-absorption — Wolfe's "me decade," which Bob folds into his account of the Anthropomorphic Physical and runs forward into presidential politics. In Cameron's hands Wolfe becomes a foil paired with Peterson. New to it — start with dialogue 11 for the "me decade."
Across the dialogues
Enters through the "me decade" — Wolfe's phrase for the self-centeredness Bob reads as the Anthropomorphic Physical coming back
Bob borrows Wolfe's "me decade" for the shrinking media anti-environment — the human being "swallowing" the media, "what I meant by the Anthropomorphic Physical coming back."
"the me decade"
Extended into presidential politics — the "me" from Wolfe's 1970s through to "Trump, the ultimate me"
Bob runs Wolfe's "me" forward through the presidents — the sequence culminating in Trump and a Biden "so much a me" he barely registers as a figure.
"caps it off with the ultimate me."
Turned critical — Wolfe, like Peterson, reducing the interior landscape to the physical central nervous system
Cameron pairs Wolfe with Peterson — both taking the "central nervous system" as merely the physical interior landscape, "trying to get everything to hook up to the cortex."
"in search of some brain hookup"
Connections
Wolfe's "me decade" names the self-centeredness Bob reads as the Anthropomorphic Physical coming back.
Cameron pairs Wolfe with Peterson — both reducing the interior landscape to the physical central nervous system.