The next civilization will synthesize intuitive spiritual truth and material reductionism... developing a new class positioned to unfuck socio-materialist mistakes.
We are seeing the rise of the "mystic" class right now. More and more companies are hiring engineers--without college degrees. Because they are *finally* realizing that academia doesn't produce engineers. It produces people who can pass tests, sometimes perform high level math, but often have very little ability to apply any of of what they have learned, due to a general lack of interest.
Those engineers did "school" in school--because they were "in school." Not because they ever wanted to build things, or make them better.
To me it was always obvious. People who like doing something tend to be better at it. Many people enter fields--to make money, but don't have a general interest in the field they're going into. From there it's downhill.
This realization is becoming evident now that there is a real world shortage of people who care enough to truly understand complex systems. Their replacements aren’t capable. Now is a great time to *not* retire. 😂🤣
"The appeal-to-publication being a specifically dangerous mode of thinking as anything that isn’t funded for publication is ignored, regardless of truth."
As well as this form of medicine being reductive to the point of atomisation, the deference to publishing is a deference to funding and to conformity.
I’m glad you pointed out the potential flaws and drawbacks in the end. Utopia’s are a no-place that will never exist (something leftoids cannot comprehend).
I’ve spent a bunch of time thinking through all this and I even dedicated a couple chapters to it in my up coming book (a deep dive into building a world on a new socio-economic standard)
I’ll share some notes when it’s closer to being done.
- the Celtic Druid or the neolithic shaman might be a parallel for your mystics - figures of wisdom rather than of religion
- wouldn't it be better to pair Apollonian with Promethean rather than Faustian? Otherwise there is a confusion of categories, mythology mixed with literature. I think Prometheus embodies all the complexity of Faust, without the taint of sin.
- the demographic collapse will not be a level playing field. It will tilt the playing field to one side, violently. For your prognostications to come true it needs to apply to whichever sub group whose demographics collapse last. Those who collapse first will be washed away, leaving barely a trace.
Spangler uses "Faustian" in his writing to describe our civilization... that includes the taint of sin from a theological standpoint. By trying to do everything we've over-stretched the bounds of reason and broken our civilization upon the rocks. I think that Faustian actively describes our quests for the heavens and willingness to attempt impossible tasks despite potentially horrific costs to be paid for it.
Interesting point on the demographic collapse. I respect that... the field will be tipped hard toward more theological groups, but the managerial class will retain a significant amount of power for the foreseeable future. It seems more likely that the demographic collapse will slow over a generation or two as the only surviving cultures definitionally prioritize children at the familial and community level.
I'm not sure how it will work for mystics to act as the oracles or auguries of black box AI models. Unless as a kind of cunning charlatanism for the credulous, like the high priests of old - and perhaps lacking even that level of wisdom. A black box model might or might not embody a holistic understanding, but the mystic has no way to know when even a black box that has got it right so far, will one day get it wrong. The mystics are not inside the black box - although it they somehow were, that would be a powerful solution, but one that might dispense with the need for the mystics.
I could subscribe to this theory of the emergence of holistic 'mystic' leaders, but still worry they will emerge as a metamorphosis out of the existing ranks of politicians, celebrities, and 'influencers'. :-/
Thanks for a thought-provoking piece. I'm assuming your Nostrodamus-like approach is a conceit, rather than an attempt to convince us you can predict the future and is done in good faith.
Of course we can't know the future but you make many good, thought-provoking points that come from the understanding so many of us have that we are being led over the cliff by midwits.
FYI, this current malaise is being dealt with magnificently by Dr. Iain McGilchrist, who describes the phenomena you discuss as the dominance of left-brained thinking, which is delusional and leading us to disaster.
You also proffer Jordan Peterson as part of this new, mystic class and I am not so sure about that - he is arguably no more than a midwit.
I have pasted in below McGilchrist's website and two lengthy podcasts he did with Peterson. You will note that while McGilchrist speaks of things outside language and the role of the sacred, Peterson frantically struggles at points to comprehend and reverts to the North American cultural way of reducing complexity to statements or sentences of certainty, rather than being able to keep with McGilchrist and sit back in sanguinity about holistic knowledge and relax that everything can't be explained simply and is outside language. Intuition.
Anyway, thanks for the piece the links follow below:
I don't claim to know the future... I'm trying to estimate what's likely to occur based on available evidence. I'm betting against god, so I don't expect to win. The the analysis will hopefully visualize a potential future, and one I consider likely. I think that it's very important for us to look at how the next civilization might develop; we're in a good position to make a better future by looking long term than by obsessing over the near-term decay of a once vibrant society.
I think that Jordan Peterson is an interesting example because of how he mixes psychological and theological terminology. I don't think any famous figure alive now is a member of the future mystic class, I think that there are only examples to look at to see how the mystic class is likely to emerge and behave. JBP has some aspects of it... no one alive right now truly represents that ethos yet. JBP is the most significant example that's emerged from academia that I know of. Others are emerging from the Church and some are arising independently. All of them demonstrate different aspects of what that future class might look like. The closest we have right now to a 'mystic' individual are think-tank analysists and the occasional independent public figure.
While I have to read this…methinks from a cursory glance I get the drift. That said, it seems to me that the answer to such questions are usually found by returning to classical truths. There is truly nothing new under the sun and today’s problems are just a new twist of ones faced in the past. Simply return to what has universally been proven to be true, honest, beautiful, and nurturing to the human condition and there you’ll find the correct way forward. Pax
There'll definitely be a return to more classical truths, but it'll take a form that we haven't really seen yet. The Apollonian society created a theological class. The Faustian society created an academic class. I'm interested to see what a Holistic society will create.
Very interesting!
We are seeing the rise of the "mystic" class right now. More and more companies are hiring engineers--without college degrees. Because they are *finally* realizing that academia doesn't produce engineers. It produces people who can pass tests, sometimes perform high level math, but often have very little ability to apply any of of what they have learned, due to a general lack of interest.
Those engineers did "school" in school--because they were "in school." Not because they ever wanted to build things, or make them better.
To me it was always obvious. People who like doing something tend to be better at it. Many people enter fields--to make money, but don't have a general interest in the field they're going into. From there it's downhill.
This realization is becoming evident now that there is a real world shortage of people who care enough to truly understand complex systems. Their replacements aren’t capable. Now is a great time to *not* retire. 😂🤣
"The appeal-to-publication being a specifically dangerous mode of thinking as anything that isn’t funded for publication is ignored, regardless of truth."
As well as this form of medicine being reductive to the point of atomisation, the deference to publishing is a deference to funding and to conformity.
Interesting piece. Nicely written too.
I’m glad you pointed out the potential flaws and drawbacks in the end. Utopia’s are a no-place that will never exist (something leftoids cannot comprehend).
I’ve spent a bunch of time thinking through all this and I even dedicated a couple chapters to it in my up coming book (a deep dive into building a world on a new socio-economic standard)
I’ll share some notes when it’s closer to being done.
Will share this around in the meantime.
Nice one
Keep me informed when the book pops out. I'll add it to my extensive reading list.
Deal 🤝
Some fragmentary responses
- the Celtic Druid or the neolithic shaman might be a parallel for your mystics - figures of wisdom rather than of religion
- wouldn't it be better to pair Apollonian with Promethean rather than Faustian? Otherwise there is a confusion of categories, mythology mixed with literature. I think Prometheus embodies all the complexity of Faust, without the taint of sin.
- the demographic collapse will not be a level playing field. It will tilt the playing field to one side, violently. For your prognostications to come true it needs to apply to whichever sub group whose demographics collapse last. Those who collapse first will be washed away, leaving barely a trace.
Spangler uses "Faustian" in his writing to describe our civilization... that includes the taint of sin from a theological standpoint. By trying to do everything we've over-stretched the bounds of reason and broken our civilization upon the rocks. I think that Faustian actively describes our quests for the heavens and willingness to attempt impossible tasks despite potentially horrific costs to be paid for it.
Interesting point on the demographic collapse. I respect that... the field will be tipped hard toward more theological groups, but the managerial class will retain a significant amount of power for the foreseeable future. It seems more likely that the demographic collapse will slow over a generation or two as the only surviving cultures definitionally prioritize children at the familial and community level.
I'm not sure how it will work for mystics to act as the oracles or auguries of black box AI models. Unless as a kind of cunning charlatanism for the credulous, like the high priests of old - and perhaps lacking even that level of wisdom. A black box model might or might not embody a holistic understanding, but the mystic has no way to know when even a black box that has got it right so far, will one day get it wrong. The mystics are not inside the black box - although it they somehow were, that would be a powerful solution, but one that might dispense with the need for the mystics.
I could subscribe to this theory of the emergence of holistic 'mystic' leaders, but still worry they will emerge as a metamorphosis out of the existing ranks of politicians, celebrities, and 'influencers'. :-/
That's probably how they'll start out... but definitely now how they'll behave once they've been culturally formalized. That will take a while though.
Thanks for a thought-provoking piece. I'm assuming your Nostrodamus-like approach is a conceit, rather than an attempt to convince us you can predict the future and is done in good faith.
Of course we can't know the future but you make many good, thought-provoking points that come from the understanding so many of us have that we are being led over the cliff by midwits.
FYI, this current malaise is being dealt with magnificently by Dr. Iain McGilchrist, who describes the phenomena you discuss as the dominance of left-brained thinking, which is delusional and leading us to disaster.
You also proffer Jordan Peterson as part of this new, mystic class and I am not so sure about that - he is arguably no more than a midwit.
I have pasted in below McGilchrist's website and two lengthy podcasts he did with Peterson. You will note that while McGilchrist speaks of things outside language and the role of the sacred, Peterson frantically struggles at points to comprehend and reverts to the North American cultural way of reducing complexity to statements or sentences of certainty, rather than being able to keep with McGilchrist and sit back in sanguinity about holistic knowledge and relax that everything can't be explained simply and is outside language. Intuition.
Anyway, thanks for the piece the links follow below:
Matter with Things - Iain McGilchrist (channelmcgilchrist.com)
Iain McGilchrist and Jordan Peterson - Wisdom, Delusion, Consciousness & the Divine - EP 436 - Iain McGilchrist (channelmcgilchrist.com)
The Matter with Things: Peterson and McGilchrist | #278 - Iain McGilchrist (channelmcgilchrist.com)
I don't claim to know the future... I'm trying to estimate what's likely to occur based on available evidence. I'm betting against god, so I don't expect to win. The the analysis will hopefully visualize a potential future, and one I consider likely. I think that it's very important for us to look at how the next civilization might develop; we're in a good position to make a better future by looking long term than by obsessing over the near-term decay of a once vibrant society.
I think that Jordan Peterson is an interesting example because of how he mixes psychological and theological terminology. I don't think any famous figure alive now is a member of the future mystic class, I think that there are only examples to look at to see how the mystic class is likely to emerge and behave. JBP has some aspects of it... no one alive right now truly represents that ethos yet. JBP is the most significant example that's emerged from academia that I know of. Others are emerging from the Church and some are arising independently. All of them demonstrate different aspects of what that future class might look like. The closest we have right now to a 'mystic' individual are think-tank analysists and the occasional independent public figure.
I'll read your links, thanks!
While I have to read this…methinks from a cursory glance I get the drift. That said, it seems to me that the answer to such questions are usually found by returning to classical truths. There is truly nothing new under the sun and today’s problems are just a new twist of ones faced in the past. Simply return to what has universally been proven to be true, honest, beautiful, and nurturing to the human condition and there you’ll find the correct way forward. Pax
There'll definitely be a return to more classical truths, but it'll take a form that we haven't really seen yet. The Apollonian society created a theological class. The Faustian society created an academic class. I'm interested to see what a Holistic society will create.
Well Faustian was no bueno per se but methinks at the end of the day everything returns to the basics. IMHO