Thank You. You have given me much to think about, and a useful frame with which to understand the world as it actually is. Do please keep it up, and I wish you all the very best in 2024. S.
I have just stumbled upon your substack and have yet to get caught up on prior articles and posts, but this recap essay is intriguing and I wish to contribute a comment riffing off of your central thesis. I too am not optimistic about the future of the West given the dearth of quality leadership. Rather, I have come to believe that the currently ongoing self-destruction is intentional and therefore must persist until a healing collapse results from this folly. My signature phrase is "the collapse is the cure; nothing changes until the environment changes."
Now to the good stuff. Despair is not a solution to anything. We were built by evolution to prevail over enormous hardship and existential threat, and that is our duty to posterity. I believe that the core of the problems that we face are relatively few in number (think pathogens invading a body). As such, the remedy is much more manageable if you focus on the root of the problem.
How do we succeed? By being smarter rather than harder. The first imperative is to survive the collapse and the interregnum that follows. Then we must foster the education and rise of the new "antibodies" that will bring forth a "cure" for what ails us. It will summarize briefly. Disappear in plain sight. Keep it simple and use what you know. Everything solely within the confines of your cranium. Practice opportunism and spontaneity. And focus, always focus. The chaos of collapse begets fog, and this fog is your best friend.
"Yet western leaders and officials routinely believe stupid things. Our elites are not only incapable, they are essentially infantilised, living in a world of childish make-believe, and reacting with hysterical hatred to anyone, like that bad man Putin, who puts their half-digested Liberal, platitudes in question."
Therein lies the real problem. The rest could be managed, if the managers were competent.
However, that begs the question *why* they are all of a very similar incompetence, and why competence or even acknowledging observable reality, cannot be allowed to take the lead.
Looking forward to your forward-looking insight. I, on my part, look up at your reflections as a useful map of the mess we're in and, above all, as a source of inspiration about ways to extricate ourselves from the current predicament. So, I wish you health and balance on all levels, Aurelien.
You just notice the 40 years it began to devour itself instead of rest of the world for centuries before because it hits home now. All politics is local as they say.
RE surviving worst consequences: I have a bug out spot in Brasil for the inevitable collapse whatever form it takes... Figure South America is too irrelevant to get nuked. Plus I can ethanol my car and eat all from the jungle, I retired young and still got 20-25 years I can "rough" it on 6 Hectares of rain forrest.
Your right about the incompetent leaders of the West and how quickly they are demolishing our society through violence deep ignorance which defies any rational explanation.
It’s as everything they have ever experienced about the threads which wove our civilization means nothing.
It’s up to us to stay true individually.
The social matrix is dying , gasping it’s last breath.
Thank goodness for as one who lives in the West our leaders are a collossal disgrace of humanity.
Good assessment and tie off. Pause to reflect but move forward with knowledge at hand is how progress is made.
A quibble though. Hope is not a good strategy. Optimism is an outward expression of your confidence in your own abilities. And therefore useful in developing strategy.
There is a Greek-based political term that can be used to label the below-par Western governments; it is kakistocracy. It means those people who rise to the top in the political, economic and cultural world are the least suitable and most unworthy. That they can do so, reflects the inadequacies of a society’s major institutions.
Thank you - I notice myself how useful it is to sometimes seek a height where the journey taken and the terrain forward can be viewed. And such fine quality of comments, too!
As to whose fault our current predicament is: when a hockey team is performing poorly, mostly the coach gets sacked. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. But our problem-solving world-view always, always pushes us to finding the guilties and then blaming, shaming and so on. As if the perfect plan were always ruined by the imperfect actors, who then need to be punished for their imperfectness. Could it be possible to think about where we want to go and what could be done to help us get there instead of doing a lot of work to find the ones to blame? Especially as in the west even the poor and sick get massive benefit from the current arrangements. If we could eliminate the reviled PMC right this moment, how would things stand then? Looking at the paths taken and learning from mistakes is good. But what keeps us wanting to move forward, and what forward means? As many have mentioned books they find inspiring, here comes my recommendation: anything written (or read) by Martin Prechtel. A strange suggestion in this context: he is a shaman and has lived a very adventurous life.
"So my writing next year will be directed at what the coming collapse is going to be like, and what can be done by individuals and groups to manage it and avoid the worst consequences."
Pity. I had hoped you would put before yourself and your readers the task of discovery to construct the / a new order that is already rising, along with tools, materials, and architectural suggestions appertaining thereto.
Thank you Aurelien🙏At least here is an opportunity to say ”I look forward to next year”😉
Thank You. You have given me much to think about, and a useful frame with which to understand the world as it actually is. Do please keep it up, and I wish you all the very best in 2024. S.
I have just stumbled upon your substack and have yet to get caught up on prior articles and posts, but this recap essay is intriguing and I wish to contribute a comment riffing off of your central thesis. I too am not optimistic about the future of the West given the dearth of quality leadership. Rather, I have come to believe that the currently ongoing self-destruction is intentional and therefore must persist until a healing collapse results from this folly. My signature phrase is "the collapse is the cure; nothing changes until the environment changes."
Now to the good stuff. Despair is not a solution to anything. We were built by evolution to prevail over enormous hardship and existential threat, and that is our duty to posterity. I believe that the core of the problems that we face are relatively few in number (think pathogens invading a body). As such, the remedy is much more manageable if you focus on the root of the problem.
How do we succeed? By being smarter rather than harder. The first imperative is to survive the collapse and the interregnum that follows. Then we must foster the education and rise of the new "antibodies" that will bring forth a "cure" for what ails us. It will summarize briefly. Disappear in plain sight. Keep it simple and use what you know. Everything solely within the confines of your cranium. Practice opportunism and spontaneity. And focus, always focus. The chaos of collapse begets fog, and this fog is your best friend.
"Yet western leaders and officials routinely believe stupid things. Our elites are not only incapable, they are essentially infantilised, living in a world of childish make-believe, and reacting with hysterical hatred to anyone, like that bad man Putin, who puts their half-digested Liberal, platitudes in question."
Therein lies the real problem. The rest could be managed, if the managers were competent.
However, that begs the question *why* they are all of a very similar incompetence, and why competence or even acknowledging observable reality, cannot be allowed to take the lead.
Looking forward to your forward-looking insight. I, on my part, look up at your reflections as a useful map of the mess we're in and, above all, as a source of inspiration about ways to extricate ourselves from the current predicament. So, I wish you health and balance on all levels, Aurelien.
Re: 40 yrs neo-liberalism...40 years? The Westen world turned rotten and lost it's virtue 500 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWFaKRS8iic&t
You just notice the 40 years it began to devour itself instead of rest of the world for centuries before because it hits home now. All politics is local as they say.
RE surviving worst consequences: I have a bug out spot in Brasil for the inevitable collapse whatever form it takes... Figure South America is too irrelevant to get nuked. Plus I can ethanol my car and eat all from the jungle, I retired young and still got 20-25 years I can "rough" it on 6 Hectares of rain forrest.
Aurelien thank you for the light but profound analyses you give us.
I wish you all the best and will continue to follow you waiting for the little light that opens up huge horizons of thought for me.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and happy new year
Alberto from Italy
Your right about the incompetent leaders of the West and how quickly they are demolishing our society through violence deep ignorance which defies any rational explanation.
It’s as everything they have ever experienced about the threads which wove our civilization means nothing.
It’s up to us to stay true individually.
The social matrix is dying , gasping it’s last breath.
Thank goodness for as one who lives in the West our leaders are a collossal disgrace of humanity.
I'm curious: if you're not PMC, what are you?
Good assessment and tie off. Pause to reflect but move forward with knowledge at hand is how progress is made.
A quibble though. Hope is not a good strategy. Optimism is an outward expression of your confidence in your own abilities. And therefore useful in developing strategy.
There is a Greek-based political term that can be used to label the below-par Western governments; it is kakistocracy. It means those people who rise to the top in the political, economic and cultural world are the least suitable and most unworthy. That they can do so, reflects the inadequacies of a society’s major institutions.
Couldn't agree more! Thank you.
Thanks. Happy new year my friend.
IMO the latest Khairullin essay is a good companion piece to the writings of our host here:
https://maratkhairullin.substack.com/p/russia-i-am-trying-to-forget
There are things one should not ever forget, or forgive.
May decency, honesty and honor prevail in 2024.
Ishmael Zechariah
Thank you - I notice myself how useful it is to sometimes seek a height where the journey taken and the terrain forward can be viewed. And such fine quality of comments, too!
As to whose fault our current predicament is: when a hockey team is performing poorly, mostly the coach gets sacked. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not. But our problem-solving world-view always, always pushes us to finding the guilties and then blaming, shaming and so on. As if the perfect plan were always ruined by the imperfect actors, who then need to be punished for their imperfectness. Could it be possible to think about where we want to go and what could be done to help us get there instead of doing a lot of work to find the ones to blame? Especially as in the west even the poor and sick get massive benefit from the current arrangements. If we could eliminate the reviled PMC right this moment, how would things stand then? Looking at the paths taken and learning from mistakes is good. But what keeps us wanting to move forward, and what forward means? As many have mentioned books they find inspiring, here comes my recommendation: anything written (or read) by Martin Prechtel. A strange suggestion in this context: he is a shaman and has lived a very adventurous life.
"So my writing next year will be directed at what the coming collapse is going to be like, and what can be done by individuals and groups to manage it and avoid the worst consequences."
Pity. I had hoped you would put before yourself and your readers the task of discovery to construct the / a new order that is already rising, along with tools, materials, and architectural suggestions appertaining thereto.
OK then.