Adaptability and flexibility will be the core survival traits
going forward.
What will separate the many
nations that will crumble in the next 25 years and those few that will survive
and even prosper while the status quo dissolves around them? As I explain in
my recent book Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our
Democratic Republic, the factors that will matter are not
necessarily cultural or financial; being hard-working and wealthy won't be
enough to save nations from coming apart at the seams.
Here are the factors that will
matter in the next 25 years:
1. The
ability to engage and survive non-linear change, which is rapid, unpredictable and systemic, as opposed
to linear
change which
is gradual, predictable and limited in nature.
None of the current political
systems are decentralized enough and adaptable enough to survive the non-linear
era we're entering. As I explained in What If Politics Can't Fix What's Broken?, the politics
of centralized compromise and incremental, top-down adjustments are wholly
inadequate to dealing with non-linear disruptions.
2. The nations that cannot jettison
their parasitic elites will fall; the few that find the political will to
jettison their parasitic elites will have the wherewithal to survive and
possibly even prosper as the global status quo collapses around them.
The problem, as we all know, is
the parasitic elites rule the centralized hierarchies of wealth and political
power, and they will cling to power even as the nation they rule crumbles
around them. The hubris, complacency and greed of the ruling parasitic
elites is near-infinite; the idea that the political and financial structures
that they dominate will not survive simply doesn't exist in the parasitic
elites, with the exception of a few outliers who are constructing remote bugout
compounds with landing strips etc.
Unfortunately
for these outliers, they can't escape satellite and drone imagery, or the loose
tongues of employees, contractors, etc.
By the time the populace
awakens to the precariousness of the entire status quo, it will be too late to
effect meaningful change via removing the parasitic elites from power. Just as Rome was
too hollowed out to survive by the end, the status quo structures will be too
enfeebled to adapt quickly enough to survive.
3. Centralization of wealth,
power and control has been the "solution" for hundreds or even
thousands of years. We're approaching Peak Centralization and the systemic
failure of centralization as the "solution" to anything.
The only sustainable solution
going forward is radical decentralization of capital, political power
and control of resources. The parasitic elites rule solely because wealth and power
are so highly concentrated in the hands of the few. As the financial and
political systems unravel and fail, solutions that are completely outside these
centralized hierarchies will arise--if the populace is free to embrace them.
4. Solutions will obsolete the
existing centralized financial and political structures. Reforms will all fail,
as the parasitic elites will never relinquish their control or power. The
"solution" will be the total collapse of the centralized financial
and political structures and the parasitic elites that control them.
5.
Adaptability and flexibility will be the core survival traits going forward.
The only structures adaptable and flexible enough to respond quickly and
effectively enough to survive are decentralized networks-- non-hierarchical,
distributed rather than centralized, self-organizing rather than top-down.
Few if any of the "leading
citizens" of Rome anticipated its collapse 20 years prior to the
implosion. That
is as true of the parasitic elites now as it was then. Collapse is truly
"impossible" in the current mindset; it isn't even conceivable that
what works now will stop working. But complacent belief in the permanence of
the status quo doesn't stop friction or rust, nor will it stop collapse.
As an
American, I hope the citizenry comes to understand the choice is simple and
profound: either tolerate the dominance of our numerous parasitic elites and
watch the nation come apart and fail or jettison the centralized structures the
parasitic elites need to enforce their dominance.
Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($6.95 ebook, $12 print, $13.08 audiobook): Read the first section for free in PDF format.
My new mystery The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake is a ridiculously affordable $1.29 (Kindle) or $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)
Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($6.95 ebook, $12 print, $13.08 audiobook): Read the first section for free in PDF format.
My new mystery The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake is a ridiculously affordable $1.29 (Kindle) or $8.95 (print); read the first chapters for free (PDF)
My book Money and Work Unchained is now $6.95 for the Kindle
ebook and $15 for the print edition. Read the first section for free
in PDF format.
If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.
If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.