submitted by jwithrow.
Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Fragility of Modernity
June 10, 2015
Hot Springs, VA
The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,080. Gold closed at $1,177 per ounce. Oil checked out at $60 per barrel. The 10-year Treasury rate closed at 2.42%, and bitcoin is trading around $230 per BTC.
Dear Journal,
In my last entry I brought up the concept of ‘Modernity’ and I suggested that it attempts to put life in a box by emphasizing a fear and control mindset. I felt this concept was worthy of a little more discussion this week because our society has been shaped by this fear and control paradigm.
Here’s how Nassim Taleb, author of Antifragile, views Modernity:
We are moving into a phase of modernity marked by the lobbyist, the very, very limited liability corporation, the MBA, sucker problems, secularization (or rather reinvention of new sacred values like flags to replace altars), the tax man, fear of the boss, spending the weekend in interesting places and the workweek in a putatively less interesting one, the separation of “work” and “leisure” (though the two would look identical to someone from a wiser era), the retirement plan, argumentative intellectuals who would disagree with this definition of modernity, literal thinking, inductive inference, philosophy of science, the invention of social science, smooth surfaces, and egocentric architects. Violence is transferred from individuals to states. So is financial indiscipline. At the center of all this is the denial of antifragility… Modernity starts with the state monopoly on violence, and ends with the state’s monopoly on fiscal irresponsibility.
Modernity is characterized by institutional centralization and the reduction of the individual human being to some specific “role” within the institution. This is why obedience to a rigid authoritarian schedule is hammered into the minds of children from the moment they are sent to school. While parents probably believe they are sending their child off to learn the essentials of life, in reality they are sending their child off to be hammered into institutional society. The children are taught to assimilate into a larger group in which egalitarianism is emphasized to the extreme. All students must report to school at the same time each morning and they are permitted to leave at the same time each afternoon. All students must take the same number of classes, read the same books, complete the same assignments, pass the same tests, adhere to the same dress code, and even wear the same uniform in some cases. Attendance is enforced by law and compliance is enforced by the system. The children less willing to comply with this model are brow-beaten and belittled until they learn to hide their true thoughts and feelings.
Most students are well-adjusted to Modernity upon the completion of their schooling and they have learned to identify with their centralized institutions (nation-state, alma-mater, corporation, political party, etc). Our students have literally been taught that it is their moral responsibility to be a “productive member of society” thus they see themselves as inferior to the institutions. This is precisely why the State is able to get away with the violence and fiscal irresponsibility that Taleb refers to above… people actually consider their nation’s warfare and welfare to be noble!
Modernity has been hell-bent on centralization and very nearly everything is now massively centralized: governments, financial institutions, allopathic medicine, agriculture, science, and even charity. Centralization is achieved only through bureaucracy which reduces accountability and response time, increases costs, and otherwise makes a mess out of incentives and decision-making. Though it typically leads to a short-term boom where implemented, centralization almost always increases fragility and sows the seeds of its own destruction.
So here’s the point: Modernity (as it currently exists) has built very fragile systems and it has undermined the moral fabric of societies. This is why we have seen perpetual war for nearly one hundred years. This is why we now see mass-dependency on government. This is why the financial system has become so corrupt that it has decimated the economy. This is why governments all over the globe are drowning in debt – debt that they expect citizens to cover in one manner or another.
This accumulated fragility has led to a very precarious situation: the global financial system is now on life-support. That is what all of the quantitative easing programs and negative interest rates are about. It is also why the “authorities” are starting to push for a cash-free society. They will do whatever it takes to support the sinking financial system even if it means preventing you from withdrawing your money from the system.
Of course this aggressive intervention will actually hasten the system’s demise but governments and central banks will never take responsibility for the destruction and subsequent hardships. Instead, they will blame some other group and claim that they need more power to clean up the mess. If ceded more power from the general population, the powers-that-be will try to set up a system that is even more centralized and oppressive than the current one. This cycle will continue until enough people understand the fragility of Modernity and its associated centralization and hierarchy.
Aside from the practical and moral aspects, my observations suggest that most people are not terribly happy living inside of Modernity’s box. I sure wasn’t.
Modernity doesn’t encourage true individual growth and development. Modernity doesn’t challenge individuals to step outside of their comfort zone to pursue their passion. Instead, Modernity encourages individuals to appease their superiors within institutional society so they too can one day ascend the hierarchical ladder. After all, Modernity says, life outside the box is just weird and risky.
I am starting to see a gradual shift away from the rigidness of Modernity, however. Right now this shift is fairly quiet in nature because people think they are on an island with some of the thoughts and ideas that are powering this cultural shift. What they don’t yet realize is that their neighbors are much more like themselves than they let on. This shift will accelerate as individuals discover that the ideas of Liberty, decentralization, and non-intervention are rapidly gaining traction all over the world.
Proponents of the status-quo used to claim that these ideas were dangerous and crazy. They have changed their tone with the rising awareness and now they claim that these ideas are utopian or impractical. The reality is the opposite and intelligent individuals are working hard to build networks, systems, and products capable of sidestepping Modernity’s centralization. Here’s a few examples:
– You can now buy precious metals from the comfort of your own home and store them in secure, allocated vaults all over the world through companies like Hard Assets Alliance.
– You can now use apolitical crypto-currencies like Bitcoin to legally purchase goods and services from a growing list of well-known retailers or to facilitate private transactions between individuals all over the world with no institutional involvement whatsoever.
– Decentralized market places like Open Bazaar are being developed to help individuals legally network and trade with others across the globe.
– Local food networks and farm-to-table restaurants are growing in popularity as people are waking up to the unhealthy food products created by monolithic government-subsidized agriculture corporations.
– Holistic medicine is growing in popularity as people are starting to realize that allopathic medicine does not have their best interests at heart… it has instead partnered with the regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry to sell more drugs.
All of this decentralization serves to empower the individual and I promise you this has the status-quo (Big Government/Federal Reserve/Wall Street/Big-Agra/Big-Pharma/Big-Insurance/Big-Science/mega non-profit organizations) scared for their future. The status-quo of Modernity depends upon rigid hierarchical structures to monopolize power and wealth. These centralized structures can only exist if the general population deems them necessary which is why the fear & control paradigm is sold to everyone from Day 1.
When individuals step outside of the box and realize they are perfectly capable of managing their own affairs then the fear dissipates and the control becomes arbitrary. This is why fighting the entrenched systems of Modernity is unnecessary… the Revolution is creative in nature.
More to come,
Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher
For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset” and the emerging cultural shift please read “The Individual is Rising” which is available at http://www.theindividualisrising.com/. The book is also available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.