My observation is that from Dickens' "best of times, worst of times". I think as an inflection/bifurcation point, many things are possible. "sensitive dependence on initial conditions". In the spirit of "creative visualization" and "self-fulfilling prophecies" there are risks and opportunities around being too paranoid or too pollyanna and opportunities around being creatively positive and thoughtfully wary. I think there is a quad-chart in there somewhere?
"Svaha" is a word for "the time between the lightning and the thunder... when all things are possible". (alternately attributed to Native Americans, to old Norse, etc... but apparently coined by this book: https://www.amazon.com/Svaha-Charles-Lint/dp/0312876505 in the 90s... And not to be confused with the much older Sanskrit /svāhā /which feels entertainingly relevant as well: //https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sv%C4%81h%C4%81 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sv%C4%81h%C4%81> On 4/2/20 9:42 AM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote: > I've seen a few articles with titles like "Coronavirus is the death of > Neoliberalism" or "... Capitalism" and whatnot. I'm skeptical. As much as I > reject analogies between societal upheaval/collapse and phases of matter, I > do believe in inflection points. My guess is that authoritarianism is what > lies ahead of us on the other side of this inflection. We were already > trending that way and I bet we'll continue. This inflection looks more like a > minor rate change than anything fundamental. > > This article was hopeful: > > The coronavirus crisis has exposed the ugly truth about celebrity culture and > capitalism > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/31/the-coronavirus-crisis-has-exposed-the-ugly-truth-about-celebrity-culture-and-capitalism > > There's nothing more disgusting to me than our celebrity fetish. But this > article was pessimistic: > > Invisible man? Amid pandemic, Biden sidelined by omnipresent Trump > https://news.yahoo.com/invisible-man-amid-pandemic-biden-sidelined-omnipresent-trump-082411045.html > > My faith in my fellow humans' *tastes* is always crushed. Everyone tends to > flock to the least common denominator. (My primary objection to > instant-runoff/ranked-choice voting and pop music, as well as overly > reductive rating systems like Rotten Tomatoes, etc.) The "wisdom of crowds" > is an oxymoron. >8^D > > On 4/2/20 8:05 AM, Prof David West wrote: >> Governments cannot print and distribute money fast enough to prevent a major >> collapse of world economic order and concomitant social breakdown.
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