[gknapp]

I would argue that this particular character was actually very receptive to the idea of still being part of society - he certainly doesn't come off as a individualistic idealogue.

He set a goal of being totally self-sustained, and achieved some amount of it, while eventually recognizing that the cost of such an experiment was higher than he had initially thought. The whole article ends with him coming to terms with the fact that society is necessary in so many ways, and that we can perhaps achieve sustainability easier as a collective, than as an individual.