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The death of ideology appears to be a major shaping force in the 21st Century. Religion seems to be at least partially filling the vacuum. Most of the radical g
by EthanHeilman 14y ago
The death of ideology appears to be a major shaping force in the 21st Century. Religion seems to be at least partially filling the vacuum. Most of the radical groups in the MENA used to be Socialist (PLO vs Hamas).
I suspect that this will not last and that a new ideology will arrive (demand is high, supply is low, very few competitors). Any bets on what this ideology will look like?
- yesbabyyes 14y agoThere is a hopeful, post-collapse, ecological/open source movement growing. See e.g. Charles Eisenstein [0], Open Source Ecology [1]. It's not an ideology, perhaps it will never be, but I think this is something that can attract many who feel alienated and discontent with the establishment. [0] http://charleseisenstein.net/ http://charleseisenstein.net/ [1] http://opensourceecology.org/ http://opensourceecology.org/
- glanch 14y agoI just spent an hour learning about OSE. Really amazing stuff, shared it with my friends and family, thanks! I have a friend who does a lot of mission work in Honduras.. maybe they could use some of the OSE stuff.
- yesbabyyes 14y agoHey glanch, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed OSE. Your account is hellbanned, FYI.
- bjhoops1 14y agoLet's certainly hope so. Problem Solving > Ideology. The world is far too complex for a simple set of rules (Ideology) to be capable of providing all the answers to all the problems. The simplest cell in the human body is unimaginably complex - why would the rules governing the interaction of billions of humans comprised of billions of those cells be simple?
- EthanHeilman 14y agoThat is the problem, ideologies are more about story telling (narratives) than modeling the world. You need a hero, villan and a great problem. Ideologies are often not good at solving the "great problem" since they often have really naive model of the problem (see Communism/Capitalism/Libertarianism/Fascism/Democracy/Anarchism) but they are extremely useful. They can bring people together and bridge divides of culture and religion (and create new divisions and hatreds). They can inspire us to work toward a grand project. They can manifest changes that never would have been possible. I believe one of the reasons that large scale innovation was greater in the mid 20th Century than in the late 20th Century was the death of ideology but also one of the reasons that the late 20th Century and early 21th Century has been so peaceful.
- lmickh 14y agoThe mid to late 20th Century was largely about the contest of ideologies. While there may not have been as much mass bloodshed, it was no more peaceful. Proxy wars were fought across pretty much the entire globe. Other conflicts also erupted in areas that were not defined by the Cold War, but their own local Ideological differences. I think some of this talk about ideologies is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Abstracting your worldview so that you can better explain yourself to others should not be looked down upon. That is how you will ultimately come to better compromise when it possible. You can't solve problems without ideas. Ideologies are harmful when you take some text some Russian wrote years ago and try to bend the world to match that text. When you define your own worldview and don't rely only on the words of a dead guy that isn't there to clarify things, then you get into trouble.