Facebook funder Peter Thiel is a "neocon" who is trying to "destroy the real world." So says British journalist Tom Hodgkinson in a feature-length screed for The Guardian. You really don't want to miss a word of this one — it's a classic Cassandra piece — but OK, I'll 100-word it after the jump.

Facebook is some kind of extension of the American imperialist programme crossed with a massive information-gathering tool. The US defence department and the CIA love technology because it makes spying easier.

The real face behind Facebook is Silicon Valley venture capitalist and futurist philosopher Peter Thiel. Thiel is an avaricious capitalist. At Stanford, he founded a rightwing journal. The internet is immensely appealing to neocons such as Thiel because it promises a certain sort of freedom in human relations and in business, freedom from pesky national laws, national boundaries and suchlike. By his own admission, Thiel is trying to destroy the real world, which he also calls "nature", and install a virtual world in its place.

For my own part, I am going to retreat from the whole thing, remain as unplugged as possible, There are seeds to be sown in my own back yard. I don't want to retreat from nature, I want to reconnect with it. Damn air-conditioning!