Thomas Hobbes, author of the class Leviathan, was obsessed with Order and War. Hobbes believed that without a strong Government, “…there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no culture of the Earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea…no knowledge of the face of the earth…no arts, no letters, no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death…” (p. 3)
Sounds a lot like the chaos we’re heading for in 2027.
John Gray predicts: “Putin’s klepto-theorcray may persist after his demise, and, if it does not disintegrate, the Russian state may morph into a steampunk Byzantium with nukes. China may continue as a high-tech Panopticon, or renew itself by becoming once again a multicultural empire. If India can recover the complexity of its traditions, it could reinvent the tolerant empire of Ashoka (c. 304-232 B.C.). The European Union may became an avatar of the late Holy Roman Empire, a faded kaleidoscope of shifting principalities and powers. If it does not blunder into a global war to restore its lost hegemony, the U.S. may drift on, a florid hybrid of fundamentals sects, woke cults, and techno-futurist oligarchs.” (p. 159)
The world is a mess. Our incompetent President has alienated our allies and is spending a billion dollars a day on an inept War with Iran. What a farce! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The return of Leviathan — 3
Artificial states of nature — 56
Mortal gods — 111
Notes — 163
Acknowledgements — 181
I don’t think it’s “woke” cults we have to fear!
I fear for the future. I’m glad I’m old.
Deb, I’m with you on the perils of the Future! I worry about what Patrick and Katie will have to contend with…
Somewhere in the White House, Steve Bannon is grinning. Everything he wanted is happening. You have to ask yourself, was it an accident that Trump picked not only incompetent but the worst possible people to run their departments into the ground? I mean, start with Kennedy and Hegseth. Would it be possible to find someone worse? Kristi Noem? Kash Patel? Tulsi Gabbard? Is there a plan (not Trump’s, obviously, but whoever fed him those names.) behind it?
Of course, if Congress wasn’t completely spineless, several of them would not be in their positions…
Jeff, the Republicans in the Senate are complicit in the incompetence of Trump’s Cabinet. They voted for those incompetent clods. I’m hoping they all lose in the November Election.
Jeff nails it about the worst people to run the country.
I fear the $5000 bribe ( that won’t happen because he lies) might give the GOP a win. Sadly there’s too many idiots who will believe that will happen despite our not receiving the doge $$.
How anyone can still support the orange liar is beyond me, though I have a hard time believing anyone with a brain EVER supported him
Maggie, how about the Russian Oligarch who funded Don Jr.’s latest wedding? No conflict of interest there????