These are good analogies as to what happens when society ceases to value meritocracy. I will disagree with you on the book being just a story. As someone who also fled the USSR, I saw Rand’s fiction as direct commentary on collectivism and censorship which became extreme in the Soviet Union and resulted in total ineptitude in all levels of commerce. We’re now in a situation where the elite class in the US is creating a Revolution from Above - imposing the values of equity (critical theory has a lot in common with communist theory) through media sources, educational institutions, and corporate culture, at the expense of individual rights, freedom of speech and meritocracy - values which are still supported by the majority of Americans. This is indeed reminiscent of a band of Communists taking over and imposing a form of government that the majority of the people in Russia did not support by silencing and terrorizing.
I 100% agree with you. The similarities between Atlas Shrugged and today are scary, Rand was just as prophetic as Orwell.
I actually think we're in perfect agreement about the plausibility of Atlas Shrugged as a story. What I'm not convinced of is that the solution is for all the competent people to abandon society and go live in a utopic valley somewhere.
I don't think I expressed that point very clearly.
Not only did we not listen, we now demand it. An entire generation of people who demand more government to "keep them safe" or whatever it is they think government does. They can't stand the rare occasions when government sits by and does nothing.
You raise two good points. One, with everyone pursuing a college degree now we don't have enough people studying the trades to take over from the retiring generation. That's concerning.
And the novel injection, no better example than the military! They mandated the vaccine and then they couldn't get anyone to join. A toddler with a drinking problem could have seen that outcome, but apparently it was beyond the grasp of our exalted military leaders.
This moment in history is frustrating, to say the least.
I love that channel, academy of ideas. Watched dozens of their videos.
I am coming to understand that theme better. Strong family ties and strong community means less powerful state, and vice versa. Collapses of families and communities absolutely does appear to leave a void that the state is happy to step into. Scary stuff.
And yet... While I don't particularly like the platform, Twitter continues to function even after losing 80% of its staff! That's pretty damn interesting.
At some point I have to believe that capitalistic forces are going to help non DEI companies win out, as they produce better products and don't have to pay for angry HR Karens to screech about microaggressions.
Loved it, and found in eerie relevant to the present “rule by committee” and the rule of the incompetent majority trying to suppress any individual thought that’s not toeing the government line.
I believe that’s why Trump is so popular - the contrarian vs the establishment.
Plus Sleepy Joe is an embarrassment to everything his office and the country stand for.
First of all, a big thank you for all that you have contributed to the substack movement, from selflessly cross-promoting other writers, to of course, your articles, insights etc. I have only been reading you for a month or so, but I am already more regular than a brown paper bag in a politician's hand..
To your articles main thrust.. well, aren't you just scratching the surface of something far bigger here? Hasn't there been a spate of destructive events (of late) across the globe affecting all manner of important facilities? It ranges from fires at food processing facilities and silos, right through to the wholesale poisoning of vast tracts of the world's most fertile land, due to war.
I'll admit that most of these events have appeared in my twitter feed and that I haven't independently verified each and every one of them (or any of them, tbh). However, I do recall seeing something by Whitney Webb maybe. Here is one link I found:
Taken on their own, fact-checkers dispute any connection. As well they should to, particularly without a thorough investigation into each one and yielding connections after subsequent analysis based on facts. But, at the same time, such a broad scope for investigation and analysis would cost a lot of money and probably isn't practical, unless undertaken by an FBI, for example. (shrugs)
So, do you put all of these other incidents down to incompetence, cronyism etc? Interested to hear your thoughts..
Thanks for the comment, I'm glad to have you here.
As you alluded to, in a situation like this it's difficult to tell what the hell is going on. Are there more fires than usual, or just more reports. Is it happening because of sabotage, or because of neglect? Furthermore, since we can't verify that ourselves we're left to trust the FBI which, as you shrugged about, is a dubious proposition.
So the truthful reply to your question is I just don't know. The best I can do is to make two simple points.
1) Sometimes shit just breaks and goes wrong, and nobody is at fault. One of the mistakes that I believe people who live "outside the narrative" make is to attribute everything to conspiracy and conscious intent. In fact, sometimes shit just happens and it's that simple.
2) Maybe check out a concept that Pippa Malmgren has put forward which is that we're already in WW 3. It's not a hot war anymore, it's an all out war in which sabotaging a food processing plant or a factory would be a great move.
Is she correct? I leave that to you to decide. There are no easy answers as far as I can tell, especially since providing some kind of answer would be the purvey of our institutions which have proven themselves to be nearly useless.
i am not getting this you turn off paid subs and i have to upgrade to paid to read ? what is going on I just don't understand what you are doing , or is that the point ? any way you can clear this up ?
Hey mate, I took the paywall off of everything so it should all be open. Sorry I didn't do it earlier, I just didn't realize that you'd still be interested in reading my older stuff.
Hey Hulversdead, I'm sorry about that. Honestly I just didn't realize that anyone would be reading my older stuff. I will go through and remove the paywalls from all of my old articles but it will take me a day or two. I'd say check back by the end of the weekend and you should be able to read everything again.
Serious question - with regards to your claims about infrastructure failing etc, I tend to agree with you - however, do you have an statistical reliability type data for various complex systems showing an empirical degradation? I would like to see any, if they exist.
The truth is I don't have any great data to conclusively prove that infrastructure is failing more quickly now. At the time of the East Palestine train derailment I read that it was statistically within bounds. I.e. the number of train accidents happening in any given year wasn't spiking. Whereas I've also read that the number of failures for Boeing planes is a statistical anomaly. Having a door fly off midflight is a "solved problem," it isn't a thing that should be happening.
So to your point, without diving deep into the data I can't say for sure that accidents are happening more often now.
Thank you. There is a lots of anecdotal evidence that systems are degrading, and I believe it is happening, but we need empirical evidence. If you come across any, please do post, I'd like to track it. I can say with confidence that the NERC power grid reliability is degrading, in localized areas, and this is seen in increasingly frequent Emergency alerts, but this is caused by many factors.
That could well be true. Or even worse, they're scared of competence because it unmasks their own incompetence. Again, all themes from Atlas Shrugged. The book is bloody prophetic
These are good analogies as to what happens when society ceases to value meritocracy. I will disagree with you on the book being just a story. As someone who also fled the USSR, I saw Rand’s fiction as direct commentary on collectivism and censorship which became extreme in the Soviet Union and resulted in total ineptitude in all levels of commerce. We’re now in a situation where the elite class in the US is creating a Revolution from Above - imposing the values of equity (critical theory has a lot in common with communist theory) through media sources, educational institutions, and corporate culture, at the expense of individual rights, freedom of speech and meritocracy - values which are still supported by the majority of Americans. This is indeed reminiscent of a band of Communists taking over and imposing a form of government that the majority of the people in Russia did not support by silencing and terrorizing.
Доброе пожаловать!
I 100% agree with you. The similarities between Atlas Shrugged and today are scary, Rand was just as prophetic as Orwell.
I actually think we're in perfect agreement about the plausibility of Atlas Shrugged as a story. What I'm not convinced of is that the solution is for all the competent people to abandon society and go live in a utopic valley somewhere.
I don't think I expressed that point very clearly.
AS is more about what not to do than about living off the grid. Big government is by necessity incompetent. Don't do big government. We didn't listen.
Not only did we not listen, we now demand it. An entire generation of people who demand more government to "keep them safe" or whatever it is they think government does. They can't stand the rare occasions when government sits by and does nothing.
“The commissioner of a power planet”
*plant
Great essay!
I’ve been wondering for years what’s going to happen when all the “old guys” (and women) start to retire and/or die. I guess we’re finding out.
With the power outages, I wonder whether competent staff being pushed out because they refused the novel injection could have anything to do with it.
Fixed it, thanks for letting me know.
You raise two good points. One, with everyone pursuing a college degree now we don't have enough people studying the trades to take over from the retiring generation. That's concerning.
And the novel injection, no better example than the military! They mandated the vaccine and then they couldn't get anyone to join. A toddler with a drinking problem could have seen that outcome, but apparently it was beyond the grasp of our exalted military leaders.
This moment in history is frustrating, to say the least.
I love that channel, academy of ideas. Watched dozens of their videos.
I am coming to understand that theme better. Strong family ties and strong community means less powerful state, and vice versa. Collapses of families and communities absolutely does appear to leave a void that the state is happy to step into. Scary stuff.
Try building a nuclear plant without the old guys. Ugly...
I assume you have read this - https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont-survive-the-competence-crisis/
Yep, I read it when it came out. I loved it.
Alice O'Connor was well before her time.
She's proven to be bloody prophetic, that's for sure.
Just a matter of time.
Wow, just saw this stack! Perfect timing - finished The fountainhead yesterday and already have Atlas Shrugged ready!
Unfortunately with DEI it’s worse than you think at the highest levels of big companies.
Elon cut all that gangrene and was labeled a bigot and sued… the sign of times
And yet... While I don't particularly like the platform, Twitter continues to function even after losing 80% of its staff! That's pretty damn interesting.
At some point I have to believe that capitalistic forces are going to help non DEI companies win out, as they produce better products and don't have to pay for angry HR Karens to screech about microaggressions.
How did you like the Fountainhead?
Loved it, and found in eerie relevant to the present “rule by committee” and the rule of the incompetent majority trying to suppress any individual thought that’s not toeing the government line.
I believe that’s why Trump is so popular - the contrarian vs the establishment.
Plus Sleepy Joe is an embarrassment to everything his office and the country stand for.
Sleepy Joe is pathetic. Even all the Australians I hang out with joke about him. It's just freaking sad at this point.
I agree about the committee too. Original thinking must be squashed, no place for that in our narrative driven world.
Great Book …. the movies weren’t bad either
First of all, a big thank you for all that you have contributed to the substack movement, from selflessly cross-promoting other writers, to of course, your articles, insights etc. I have only been reading you for a month or so, but I am already more regular than a brown paper bag in a politician's hand..
To your articles main thrust.. well, aren't you just scratching the surface of something far bigger here? Hasn't there been a spate of destructive events (of late) across the globe affecting all manner of important facilities? It ranges from fires at food processing facilities and silos, right through to the wholesale poisoning of vast tracts of the world's most fertile land, due to war.
I'll admit that most of these events have appeared in my twitter feed and that I haven't independently verified each and every one of them (or any of them, tbh). However, I do recall seeing something by Whitney Webb maybe. Here is one link I found:
https://www.city-journal.org/whats-behind-rash-of-fires-at-us-food-processing-facilities
Taken on their own, fact-checkers dispute any connection. As well they should to, particularly without a thorough investigation into each one and yielding connections after subsequent analysis based on facts. But, at the same time, such a broad scope for investigation and analysis would cost a lot of money and probably isn't practical, unless undertaken by an FBI, for example. (shrugs)
So, do you put all of these other incidents down to incompetence, cronyism etc? Interested to hear your thoughts..
Thanks for the comment, I'm glad to have you here.
As you alluded to, in a situation like this it's difficult to tell what the hell is going on. Are there more fires than usual, or just more reports. Is it happening because of sabotage, or because of neglect? Furthermore, since we can't verify that ourselves we're left to trust the FBI which, as you shrugged about, is a dubious proposition.
So the truthful reply to your question is I just don't know. The best I can do is to make two simple points.
1) Sometimes shit just breaks and goes wrong, and nobody is at fault. One of the mistakes that I believe people who live "outside the narrative" make is to attribute everything to conspiracy and conscious intent. In fact, sometimes shit just happens and it's that simple.
2) Maybe check out a concept that Pippa Malmgren has put forward which is that we're already in WW 3. It's not a hot war anymore, it's an all out war in which sabotaging a food processing plant or a factory would be a great move.
Is she correct? I leave that to you to decide. There are no easy answers as far as I can tell, especially since providing some kind of answer would be the purvey of our institutions which have proven themselves to be nearly useless.
i am not getting this you turn off paid subs and i have to upgrade to paid to read ? what is going on I just don't understand what you are doing , or is that the point ? any way you can clear this up ?
Hey mate, I took the paywall off of everything so it should all be open. Sorry I didn't do it earlier, I just didn't realize that you'd still be interested in reading my older stuff.
Hey Hulversdead, I'm sorry about that. Honestly I just didn't realize that anyone would be reading my older stuff. I will go through and remove the paywalls from all of my old articles but it will take me a day or two. I'd say check back by the end of the weekend and you should be able to read everything again.
i paid a one time yearly subscription , low and behold get a $8.00 charge on my card yesterday how do i cancel something i never signed up for ?
Serious question - with regards to your claims about infrastructure failing etc, I tend to agree with you - however, do you have an statistical reliability type data for various complex systems showing an empirical degradation? I would like to see any, if they exist.
The truth is I don't have any great data to conclusively prove that infrastructure is failing more quickly now. At the time of the East Palestine train derailment I read that it was statistically within bounds. I.e. the number of train accidents happening in any given year wasn't spiking. Whereas I've also read that the number of failures for Boeing planes is a statistical anomaly. Having a door fly off midflight is a "solved problem," it isn't a thing that should be happening.
So to your point, without diving deep into the data I can't say for sure that accidents are happening more often now.
Thank you. There is a lots of anecdotal evidence that systems are degrading, and I believe it is happening, but we need empirical evidence. If you come across any, please do post, I'd like to track it. I can say with confidence that the NERC power grid reliability is degrading, in localized areas, and this is seen in increasingly frequent Emergency alerts, but this is caused by many factors.
Power grids are complex, a thing which our policymakers haven't quite grasped yet.
For sure, if I ever find empirical evidence you'll be the first person I share it with.
That could well be true. Or even worse, they're scared of competence because it unmasks their own incompetence. Again, all themes from Atlas Shrugged. The book is bloody prophetic
Assessing competence is ableist. You don't want to be an ableist bigot do you?
Oh goodness no, I don't want that at all. You're so right to check me... All hail our glorious leaders, bastions of wisdom and benevolence.