As ever you ask the most important questions. And challenge us to think differently about one of the most important challenges of our time. Keep doing your thing.
This made me think of Timothy Snyder’s work on the politics of inevitability and eternity. I assume you’ve already encountered it, but if not, it will definitely be of interest!
There are echoes of Iain McGilchrist in this magnificent and heartwarming piece, particularly this, from his ‘The Matter With Things’ Substack article ‘Can you still be human?’:
“For humanity’s sake, please question, be sceptical, be aware. Don’t just take each onslaught as inevitable. Push back in what you say and what you do. The opposite of life is not death, but the machine. You are not a machine, and every person who suggests you are should be firmly, but politely, put right on the matter. Stand firm against the tide of machine death that is coming – in perhaps two years’ time. We can have an influence, we do have agency: at least that is the state of things now. Probably in a few years’ time I won’t be able to write this. But whatever happens, it is more dignified to go down fighting than to allow the last of us to become mere robots and slaves. Fight with me.”
Although a massive fan of Iain McGilchrist’s work (my website has four pages devoted to it), I always end up thinking “Yes, but how?”
If all goes well, my book on the solution, i.e., the 'how' (most importantly), will be complete--and perhaps published--in '26.
Coincidentally, I messaged (or emailed?) McGilchrist 2-3 years ago about it. No reply. (Likewise the case for nearly 10 other relevant well known authors in the past 5+ years. Somewhat ironic.)
I think this conversation about resisting inevitable futures is one of the most important we need to have (and keep having) during this time of transition between the world that's dying and the one that's emerging. Like you, Zoe, I think imagination is an essential antidote (if not the only antidote) but someone made a compelling point to me a few weeks ago. It's not a crisis of imagination so much as a fight over who is allowed to imagine. So a key question for me this year will be how can I deploy strategy and storytelling to invite more people into the work of imagining a multiplicity of different (better) futures. It's daunting but energizing in part because I know there are brilliant minds like yours also engaged in this thinking. Thank you for all that you put into the world.
Zoe - I am a subscriber and a professor. I would love to share this provocative post with my students to prompt an in class discussion. Are you comfortable with me doing so? Are you open to speaking with our undergrads?
The choice of “villains” – Karp, Musk, Thiel, Ellison as a handful of reckless, ego‑drunk men who “want you to feel powerless” – is highly selective and comes across as a biased, one‑sided framing.
It's not selective - it's specific. These are the men building the infrastructure, funding the policy, and shaping the narrative. How is naming them biased?
Maybe it is omission by ignorance of US politics - sprinkling in a few left‑leaning “villains” – Sam, Zuck, Satya, Sundar – would make the evil equally represented.
I'm an American citizen, so not ignorance - just a different read. The names I chose weren't about political affiliation. They were about who's building surveillance infrastructure and saying the quiet part loud. Karp on preemptive policing. Thiel funding the machinery of control. Ellison on recording civilians. That's not left or right. That's listening.
Clear, calm thinking. Main stream media is only providing limited options that’s why your writing and Substack as a platform is so important because we don’t have to think one way - the inevitable.
As ever you ask the most important questions. And challenge us to think differently about one of the most important challenges of our time. Keep doing your thing.
Please can we read more of your thoughts on the imagination crisis and strategy through the lens of sci-fi! You did a great post on that years ago
On it!
A nice complement to L.M. Sacasas' piece on inevitability two days ago:
https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/manufactured-inevitability-and-the
Hadn't seen this. Thank you!
This made me think of Timothy Snyder’s work on the politics of inevitability and eternity. I assume you’ve already encountered it, but if not, it will definitely be of interest!
There are echoes of Iain McGilchrist in this magnificent and heartwarming piece, particularly this, from his ‘The Matter With Things’ Substack article ‘Can you still be human?’:
“For humanity’s sake, please question, be sceptical, be aware. Don’t just take each onslaught as inevitable. Push back in what you say and what you do. The opposite of life is not death, but the machine. You are not a machine, and every person who suggests you are should be firmly, but politely, put right on the matter. Stand firm against the tide of machine death that is coming – in perhaps two years’ time. We can have an influence, we do have agency: at least that is the state of things now. Probably in a few years’ time I won’t be able to write this. But whatever happens, it is more dignified to go down fighting than to allow the last of us to become mere robots and slaves. Fight with me.”
Although a massive fan of Iain McGilchrist’s work (my website has four pages devoted to it), I always end up thinking “Yes, but how?”
I’m sitting here with the same thought now.
What’s to be done?
If all goes well, my book on the solution, i.e., the 'how' (most importantly), will be complete--and perhaps published--in '26.
Coincidentally, I messaged (or emailed?) McGilchrist 2-3 years ago about it. No reply. (Likewise the case for nearly 10 other relevant well known authors in the past 5+ years. Somewhat ironic.)
Awaiting with interest!
The way you write and your thoughts and explanations are just fantastic, thought provoking and inspirational. Thank you.
I think this conversation about resisting inevitable futures is one of the most important we need to have (and keep having) during this time of transition between the world that's dying and the one that's emerging. Like you, Zoe, I think imagination is an essential antidote (if not the only antidote) but someone made a compelling point to me a few weeks ago. It's not a crisis of imagination so much as a fight over who is allowed to imagine. So a key question for me this year will be how can I deploy strategy and storytelling to invite more people into the work of imagining a multiplicity of different (better) futures. It's daunting but energizing in part because I know there are brilliant minds like yours also engaged in this thinking. Thank you for all that you put into the world.
I think about this all the time - the lack of imagination - that is the exact problem.
It’s hard for people to imagine something that they’ve not experienced.
We need to stop calling it capitalism as "oligarchy / plutocracy/ kleptocracy" is the reality we have all created and are up against.
Zoe - I am a subscriber and a professor. I would love to share this provocative post with my students to prompt an in class discussion. Are you comfortable with me doing so? Are you open to speaking with our undergrads?
Of course, please do.
Really enjoy your writing Zoe. I was writing a similar piece after listening to Dr Tressie McMillan Cotton on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast, on the counter- stories we need now, but this on inevitability provoked me go deeper - part 1 of 3 here https://open.substack.com/pub/victoriaferrier/p/is-it-inevitable?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
The choice of “villains” – Karp, Musk, Thiel, Ellison as a handful of reckless, ego‑drunk men who “want you to feel powerless” – is highly selective and comes across as a biased, one‑sided framing.
It's not selective - it's specific. These are the men building the infrastructure, funding the policy, and shaping the narrative. How is naming them biased?
Maybe it is omission by ignorance of US politics - sprinkling in a few left‑leaning “villains” – Sam, Zuck, Satya, Sundar – would make the evil equally represented.
I'm an American citizen, so not ignorance - just a different read. The names I chose weren't about political affiliation. They were about who's building surveillance infrastructure and saying the quiet part loud. Karp on preemptive policing. Thiel funding the machinery of control. Ellison on recording civilians. That's not left or right. That's listening.
You are in the zone and slouch brilliant questions and care that go into your work and discoveries. So happy to have found you here on Substack.
Clear, calm thinking. Main stream media is only providing limited options that’s why your writing and Substack as a platform is so important because we don’t have to think one way - the inevitable.