Presumed Idiotic

The SF gate ran a review of Fashionable Nonsense a while back that, on a second read, yields a true inanity in the midst of otherwise expected mediocre journalistic pap.

"Perhaps only a mathematical genius could propose these insights? Don't buy into the con, Sokal and Bricmont advise. When he tosses tori and square roots in with penises and neuroses, Lacan is betting that a math-induced brain freeze will suspend the critical faculties of his audience. Not so readily bamboozled, the authors of ``Fashionable Nonsense'' expose Lacan's mathematical antics as ``showing off a superficial erudition and manipulating meaningless sentences.''

That sounds pretty right on. After all, Lacan's audience was made up primarily of dim bulbs like this fella. Are we expected to believe that not only did Lacan completely make up all of his reference to higher Maths, but that he put such nonsense over on a gentleman who studied under Husserl and David Hilbert? Weird.