capitalism

We're now living in a system where attention dynamics are the operating system for resource allocation, political decisions, and identity formation.

We are no longer so sure materialism defines the good life; that meritocracy is attainable. The world has gotten so big, fairness is purely theoretical. Modernity is so old, we no longer believe consumerism will solve our spiritual problems. The conceptual supports for the American Dream are up for debate.

And by engaging in this debate, we... See more

You might say, “But, John, let’s get real: there was no real revolution, this reaction is all just an overreaction.” Yes, but I think Marx is right when he says the bourgeoisie “judges more correctly than so-called socialism knows how to judge itself…” Technology was and is creating a huge social upheaval that potentially threatens them and they... See more

hese are all displacements, though. The real and unconquerable addiction is to our phones. This fact is made all the more uncomfortable in that we don’t really have a choice. Just try holding down a job without a phone. The radiation in your pocket might slowly be giving you cancer, but without it – in America at least – you won’t have healthcare.... See more

Revolution. What I now understand it to be historically is a rebirth of the New Left. So it’s very analogous. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to David Horowitz about this because he lived through it 40 years earlier.

It turned out to be a coalition of economic radicals, and this was the rise of Bernie Sanders, but the kids turned on capitalism in a... See more