Trump Chaos Index

The basic thesis is that, in the years since the global financial crisis, in response to the weakened legitimacy of global institutions and rising market volatility and political uncertainty, people at all levels of power, and in ever-increasing spheres of life, make use of the logic of financial speculation.

Uncertainty is an acid, corrosive to authority. Once the monopoly on information is lost, so too is our trust. Every presidential statement, every CIA assessment, every investigative report by a great newspaper, suddenly acquired an arbitrary aspect, and seemed grounded in moral predilection rather than intellectual rigor. When proof for and agains... See more

Four-and-a-half years ago, as the COVID epidemic hit its first, horrible spike, Jamais Cascio , a professional futurist, wrote a prescient and helpful post titled, “Facing the Age of Chaos.” He began with this simple insight: “This current moment of political mayhem, climate disasters, and global pandemic — and so much more — vividly demonstrates t... See more