I received an interesting backchannel observation yesterday, prompted (I think) by the Counter-Factual Immanence post:
The problems you raise are, perversely, quite ahistorical problems – I imagine you too could command an audience in Edinburgh in the late 1700s!
So there you have it: if my current situation doesn’t work out, the Scottish Enlightenment is hiring…
Perhaps time travel would be a solution to many academic career ‘issues’?
Think of a sort of Total Recall (We can remember it for you wholesale) advertisment:
‘If does not work out now, why not try the Enlightenment period? If that does not take your fancy try spreading critical theory in post-apocalyptic neo-Europe; formed after flooding from CO2 emissions and the second nuclear war.’