"If I think about the larger arc of history, what I see is intellectuals taking it on the chin again and again — and to the point, now, where ‘high culture’ seems to a startling extent to be almost wiped off the societal landscape.

It’s not enough here to resort to the obvious stereotypes about intellectuals being impractical eggheads. At different phases of history, intellectuals have wielded astonishing power and influence. The question is what the structures are that in some cases move intellectuals towards the center of the society and in some cases obviate their influence almost altogether."

But he's not lumping nerds into intellectuals, he's thinking humanities intellectuals? Seems like the internet&tech aren't in his field of vision, except social media as a medium for less-lofty speech.