This is my review of George Orwell’s 1984, which I published on goodreads, where I review every book I read. I just discovered that after posting a review, the site gives you some HTML code for sharing in a blog so I thought I’d try it out.
It is a common pattern in speculative fiction for an author to extrapolate the then current state of society indefinitely into the future. Thus the 1984 which Orwell envisions in 1949 is a world permanently locked into the patterns of the World War II era – goods are scarce and rationed, bombs fall on neighborhoods, and propaganda continuously rallies the populace against the enemy. As described in the forbidden book which Winston reads, “THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM,” war has become a perpetual state designed to consume the energy of society, thus preventing any disruptive threat to the hierarchical strucutre that allows a privileged few to live at the expense of the ignorant masses. A dystopian vision, no doubt, which history repudiated in the Consciousness Revolution of the 1960s, so that, as the advertisement went, 1984 wouldn’t be like 1984. Collectivism averted! But the warning remains relevant; the tools of control are still there. The truth is ever malleable, and the boot is ever ready to press down on the face; man can always be reduced to a cog in a machine. This book’s message is pertinent to events today in the 2020s, and will be so again and again, in future ages.
Not a deep look at the book, I admit, but I didn’t want to give away too many spoilers! There’s a lot that could be said about why its message is pertinent to the 2020s, but I’ll leave most of that for future posts.
I’ll just add this observation: for all the lofty political philosophy expressed in 1984, ultimately the Party depends simply on physical force to maintain its control. It always comes down to the boot pressing on the face – the use of terror to subvert the will of the people. That’s all dystopia ever was and ever is.
Aileen was dealing for a while with an extremely annoying support issue. It involved access to an account that had been hacked, the details of which I will not go into. Suffice it to say, she was stonewalled by the company’s tech support.
She eventually turned to ChatGPT to try to find a solution, since her repeated efforts were being thwarted. This computer program turned out to be quite helpful. Much of its advice simply confirmed what she had already determined through other kinds of searches. Specifically, this advice was to collect evidence of original ownership of the account and of it being hacked, and persist with contacting the company daily and sharing this information through all possible avenues, even when there was no response or the response was obviously from an automated system.
It certainly all made sense. But what was particularly compelling about the computer program’s responses was how logical and well layed out they were, and that they had a reassuring tone, offering not just practical support, but also moral support. The AI-generated responses read like a pep talk, encouraging her to keep trying, acknowledging how difficult the situation was, and praising her for keeping up the good work. They sounded sympathetic, like ChatGPT was her trusted friend. She showed me one of the responses, and it oozed positivity and compassion. No wonder people are willing to pay for AI girlfriends or boyfriends!
Aileen told me that this was how she wished people would react when she went to them for help, instead of just throwing their hands up and declaring the situation hopeless, as was typical. I was a little nervous; I knew I hadn’t been much help. How could this AI be more supportive than me? I am a lowly human, it’s true, but I am also Aileen’s friend and partner!
Why do humans have so much trouble being supportive of one another? Well, the simple truth is that when you ask for help, you are asking for another person’s time and energy. And people are loath to give that up; humans are always seeking to hold on to and defend their autonomy. This leads to challenging conflicts, but there is reward in overcoming the challenge, and working with someone else for mutual benefit. In this way you build a relationship with another person, in a way you simply can’t with a chat program, however real its texts might seem.
Humans also have difficulty maintaining a supportive demeanor because they are subject to emotions, which might interfere with clear thinking or a measured tone of voice. I know this sounds like a sci-fi plot point, but an AI chatbot is a machine, so naturally, its answers are logically consistent and it can sustain a conversational tone indefinitely. Nothing can ruffle its train of thought, so to speak, because it doesn’t have one.
The account access issue was eventually resolved, though the resolution didn’t really have anything to do with ChatGPT’s advice. It just took time, presumably because of a backlog of cases at the company. Nonetheless, Aileen informed the chatbot in the still open chat window and it had a congratulatory response in the same supportive tone it had been using throughtout their conversation.
Huge congrats again — you turned a frustrating situation into something powerful. Let’s make sure others don’t have to go through the same thing alone.
See what I mean?? I do think, however, that I have proven clearly that AI isn’t autonomous and doesn’t possess consciousness and is not worth getting into a “relationship” with.
Please don’t leave me for an AI, Aileen!
Software Is Chewing the World into a Uniform Pablum
Do you remember when the Internet was good? When it was a fun and creative space for individual expression, and not the wasteland of tedious memes, unsolicited ads, and crappy AI-generated images, endlessly scrolling by on our feeds, that it has become today?
If you used the Internet in the late 90s/early 00s timeframe and think that in that time period, it was a more enjoyable place than it is today, then you are not alone. Here’s a reddit thread where a user shares that same viewpoint: I miss the 90s/2000s internet.
The gist of it is that in the first decade or so of the World Wide Web, with the Internet growing but not as pervasive as it is today, the interfaces had a more stark and raw quality which invited individual creativity and control. As a user back then, you were exploring an evolving digital space and helping to create it. Today, with most of the planet online and a small number of digital platforms dominant, you are inhabiting an established digital space that was created by others.
For example, one of the earlier social media sites, MySpace (still around, BTW), allowed you to customize your user profile with your choice of backgrounds and styles – it even let you do this directly in HTML code. People’s choices were often garish and confusing – it wasn’t necessarily the most elegant of sites, but it was glorious in its embrace of individuality. Then Facebook took over, with its common profile format, where all you get to pick is two different images: a cover photo and a profile picture.
Similarly, in the early 2000s, there was all this excitement surrounding the “blogosphere,” which was a loose network of individual commentators, each with their own “web log,” or “blog” for short. Here random people of dubious authority would pontificate about the state of the world, and there was serious talk about how they were supplanting the “mainstream media” – that is, the old familiar sources of print and television news. I remember because I was one of those bloggers!
The blogosphere is mostly forgotten (says a guy on his blog), but the mainstream media is still on its way out, now being replaced by everyone’s favored source of news – that’s right, social media! This is possibly the worst way for you to discover what is going on in the world, as your feed is completely curated by algorithms designed to serve you palpable content in an information echo chamber. You will never learn anything new, only have your prejudices repeatedly reaffirmed.
These are just a couple of examples of how there has been a kind of homogenization of Internet content as the Internet has grown over the past few decades. This trend is connected to the way that big apps have become the primary source of content for Internet users, who find it convenient to go to one site (or maybe just a few sites) when browsing online. These sites are designed to engage users with satisfying content, since keeping users engaged is how they make their money. The trend is thus driven by both supply and demand, in a cozy little feedback loop that keeps users locked into their boring and predictable feeds.
I agree with her; despite the online space being taken over by corporate monoliths and becoming more of a curated and passive experience, it is still a place for individual expression and empowerment. There are plenty of people publishing independent writing online, such as on blogs like this one, and also on new platforms like Medium and Substack. The audio podcast is a new format which encourages individual creative effort, facilitated by the Internet.
Sure, Facebook sucks in general, but it’s also useful for staying connected with extended social groups, for sharing hobbies, and for organizing people – whether for a get together, or for a protest march. YouTube’s recommendation algorithms might be sketchy, but the site is a treasure trove of content in another new format: the video essay. This innovative art form has been so successful that many creators have been able to make a living producing it.
A video essay on YouTube about how the Internet used to be a better place.
Maybe it’s just the nerd in me, but in my mind the Internet remains a huge boon for us as individuals. But I also acknowledge why one might think of the late 90s and early 2000’s as the Internet’s Golden Age, as it was more of an exciting and exploratory time in the evolution of globalized digitization. It was a time when the practice of going online was still developing, and so could be likened to a “Wild West” period of frontier development. Now the frontier is fully settled, everyone is online, and the young generation are “digital natives” – that is, they have no life experience in the pre-Internet age.
Back in 2011, billionaire broligarch Marc Andreesen wrote an article about how “software is eating the world.” His piece was really just promoting tech stocks, but in it he made a point that the ubiquitous presence of the Internet, what with everyone on Earth accessing it via smartphones and broadband, meant that online solutions to any conceivable consumer demand could now be readily implemented. Hence, software companies were replacing older companies: for example, Amazon had taken over the book business, and Netflix was taking over TV and film.
I just love his expression, “software is eating the world.” It suggests how all human knowledge has been sucked up – devoured, if you will – by online platforms. All geographic locations of interest are stored in maps programs for navigating, all scientific and historical knowledge is in online encyclopedias and archives, all audio and visual entertainment (music, film, TV) is available in some streaming service or other.
The marketplace has been devoured by the Internet as well. Since merchants and consumers can easily share information and transact online, everything a citizen-consumer needs to thrive in the modern world – transport, accomodations, dining, goods, services – can be accessed through a pocket device. Thus, software companies have taken over these spaces as well, offering near-instant gratification of all these demands, supplanting the older ways of doing things with a new “sharing economy” that leverages the global digital networking of humanity.
I’ve posted before, under the tag “Ruling the Waves,” about how technologies develop in phases, starting with more exploratory and risky periods, and ending with dominant players establishing the rules by which the technology will finally be adopted. We are clearly in this latter phase with regard to the Internet, with the rise of monolithic “Big Tech” corporations with huge captured user bases, and founders and executive officers who are among the wealthiest humans in history.
In the process of consuming all human knowledge and enterprise, these software giants have standardized and regulated it to conform to both their desire for profits, and to Internet users’ desire for convenience and reliability. Interfaces have become more streamlined and content more predictable – but that also means, well, that the Internet has become more boring. Hence the nostalgia for the Internet of the past, and the perception that those were the good old days when there was more fun, excitement, and freedom to be had online.
In this boring new Internet, information gets distilled down to just what is barely needed. Content becomes predictable, repetitive, tedious – everything just a copy or mashup of something else. Knowledge, such as it is, is reduced to the least common denominator. Software didn’t so much eat the world as chew it up and digest it into a uniform pablum, which it now spoon feeds to an addicted user base. Generative AI, feeding off all of this ingested data, only makes things worse.
A video essay explaining how convenience leads to mediocrity in the information realm.
This is a somewhat bleak and dystopian assessment, to be sure: the Internet as tool of corporate control, pacifying rather than edifying the masses. But it’s not like we can stop using it; it’s become part of the basic infrastructure of civilization, like roads and the electical grid. Truly, it remains an incredibly useful and empowering tool. We just have to be aware as we use it that it is not necessarily designed with our best interest in mind, that the vast amount information it makes available includes much that is untrustworthy, and that it many ways it is a waste of our time. The Internet ate the world, but the real world is still there – the Internet can simply help us to make the most of it.
We’re back from our trip to Europe! As I wrote in my last post, we traveled to Paris, from there toured Italy, including Rome, then returned to Paris for a few days. I was really excited to visit these iconic cities, steeped in ancient and medieval history. Here is a little retrospective on how the trip went.
We certainly had a lot of fun, seeing new places and experiencing the cultural differences between two European countries and our native home, the United States. We had to adjust to new languages (though plenty of people spoke English in both France and Italy) and to new protocols of etiquette. We had to learn technical aspects of navigating the ground like how streets are identified and how the trains and subways work (we were traveling entirely by public transit, so at least we didn’t have to figure out driving!). We hit snags right away – even just getting out of the airport in Paris and on to the right train to the city proved challenging, as we tried to understand the ticketing system and work around the language barrier with the attendants.
I enjoyed being immersed in these Old World locales, even though it was disorienting at first and it took some time for us to become confident city-hopping travelers. Paris I thought was a very modern city, elegant and beautiful in its core, though in its outskirts it had urban blight to rival that of the Philly area where we live (that’s saying a lot). Paris felt cosmopolitan – a world city – whereas the Italian towns and cities, including Rome, were Italian – in your face with their history and culture and cuisine. Where Paris was elegant and baroque in its beauty, Italy outside of Rome was rustic and charming, and being there felt like stepping back in time. Rome was an insane chaos of monuments and buildings from all of human time, with all of the human race crowded into it taking selfies. It was an exhausting madhouse and I absolutely loved it.
One fun thing that happened on our trip is that we met up with our friend Kim, a seasoned international travel who was in the region and spent a day with us in Rome. We toured the catacombs of St. Calixtus with her, and hung out with her in the Renaissance-Baroque part of the city (to the north of the ancient ruins part). It was quite a treat to meet up with a friend from Pennsylvania while we were halfway around the world from home.
On our journey, I have to admit, I would sometimes hit a wall, overwhelmed by the novelty of our situation. I had this bad habit of panicking and freezing up, which was not conducive to getting around, and would upset Aileen. As a group we had conflicts, sometimes when we got lost, and sometimes when we pushed too hard. The latter was mostly because I was manically trying to see as much as possible, motivated by anxiety about the prospect that this was my one and only chance. This was not how Aileen wanted to vacation – she wanted to relax!
We had a good talk about these issues when we were in Rome, and agreed to be more communicative, and more open to one another’s needs, and that we should slow our pace down a bit. The overall tone of our vacation improved after this talk (led by Aileen, who has the high emotional intelligence quotient in our group). I think it’s fair to say that we learned as much about ourselves as about the places we were visiting on this trip. It was a tempering test of us as a vacationing trio, and we came out stronger and, I’d like to think, ready for more international travel.
Could we have prepared better? It’s hard to say. We did watch a lot of YouTube videos by experienced travelers before leaving, which gave us some good advice and a lot of other advice that turned out to be bunk. I tried to pick up conversational French and Italian by studying phrasebooks, but nothing stuck. I think our approach of just diving in worked out, and we learned enough to make some adjustments to how we pack for travel, and to how we spend our time and money once we reach our destination, for the next time.
Here are a few quick tips for the American on a short touristy trip to Europe:
Take the bus tours! They are worth the high ticket price, since they save you so much walking. We did it in Paris and I wish we had done it in Rome.
Owning being tourists at the Trevi Fountain
Don’t worry about looking like a tourist. You are in a tourist destination surrounded by other tourists. Just own it.
In the same vein, don’t try too hard to speak the language of the country you are visiting (assuming you are not actually a fluent speaker). Learn to say hello, please, and thank you, and be polite. You’ll get by just fine.
Don’t do table dine-in every meal. It won’t always be a great experience, and you can enjoy take out or even food prepared in your rental accomodations just as well. This won’t only save money; it will also save time and hassle.
Your debit and credit cards from American banks should work in Europe, though you might want to doublecheck with your bank that your debit card is activated for international use. Debit card transactions will have a fee tacked on, but credit card transactions won’t. And cash is handy, so I recommend getting some Euro bills and coins – your U.S. bank should be able to provide them.
In addition to our bank cards working seamlessly, our smartphones did as well, after upgrading our Google Fi family plan for the duration. Having this indispensable tool of modern living handy at all times definitely made it easier to overcome the culture shock and to navigate the unfamiliar terrain. Google search came to the rescue many times. Aileen had visited there 20 years earlier, but what a different experience it was without the Internet in her pocket. I don’t know if I could have done this without a smartphone, but then again I can’t remember at all what life was like before they became a commonplace.
Even though I had my smartphone, I didn’t bother keeping up with the news. I didn’t want the distraction, and I found that, as time blurred and I forgot what day of the week it was, I also forgot all about U.S. politics. It seemed so distant and insignificant. We did tune in to the news on TVs in our rentals on occasion, just to see what it was like, even though we couldn’t understand the newcasters hardly at all. The big stories were Gaza and Ukraine, and local politics. Occassionally there would be some passing reference to something the U.S. was up to, but it didn’t seem like it mattered much to Europeans. Or even to us, so far from home, which is weird for me to say since I obsessively blog about politics. I almost questioned if I should bother any more!
One thing I did do with my smartphone was take lots of pictures and post them on Facebook, contrary to the statement I made at the end of my last post. It was just so easy to keep up with this familiar pattern of behavior, in this age of the pervasive Internet.
My beloved Renaissance wall in Lucca, complete with bastions
It’s good to be back in the U.S., though I must admit I felt a little “reverse culture shock” on coming home. Dulles airport seemed kind of sparse and – shall I say it – provincial, compared to Charles de Gaulle. I noticed that the announcements were in English – as in just English – whereas at CDG they had been in French, English, and Mandarin. I guess we know where the Chinese middle class is going on vacation. And Americans are definitely dressed down compared to Europeans, and also friendlier and more easygoing. We’re a people who embrace a casual way of life, no doubt about it.
As I said, I think we got bit by the international travel bug, and I hope we do this again, maybe next year? I know Tiernan would really like to visit Japan. I thought we might try a place where English is the native language – I’ve never been to the British Isles, or to the land down under. If we went to Scotland, maybe Gavin would join us? A world of possibility lies before us.
I’m really excited to announce that Aileen, Tiernan and I will be taking a trip to Europe in the second half of this month. We’re flying to Paris on May 17th, and from there touring by bus to Italy by way of Milan, and onward to Cinque Terre, Tuscany and Rome. It’s a trip of a lifetime for me, as I’ve always wanted to see the iconic sights of these destinations, and to steep in their ancient and medieval history. I have been to Spain and the south of France, but never to Paris or to Italy. Aileen has been to these places, but she’s a sweetheart and wants me to get the chance to experience them, too, so was willing to repeat the trip. Tiernan says he doesn’t care about where he is; he just likes being with us.
In addition to the enticement of visiting well-known touristy locations, seeing the ruins of the old Roman Empire, and enjoying delicious cuisine and wine, I am excited about the fact that our itinerary more or less overlaps with a famous expedition in military history. This would be the route taken by the French King Charles VIII when he invaded Italy in 1494, kicking off what are known as the Italian Wars.
These wars were pivotal in military history, as they marked the transition from the medieval to the modern era in warfare, when gunpowder weapons started coming into common use, replacing the old way of fighting with muscle and steel. They introduced what is called a “revolution in military affairs,” which caused a significant shift in the balance of power. When Charles VIII invaded, it was clear to all that advancements in the development of siege artillery (cannons) had made the medieval castle, long dominant in European affairs, suddenly obsolete. This completely undermined the power of nobles to resist their kings, in time ending the feudal system of the Middle Ages and bringing about the early modern age of absolute monarchy.
This watershed moment in the evolution of politics has been identified as the dawn of the modern “state” – understood to be a political abstraction that exists independently of the people who comprise it. The state arose from the necessities imposed on the wealthy Italian cities caught up in these wars. In the face of military advancements, they now needed extensive new defensive constructions and large, reliable armies – and the fiscal apparatus to maintain these. They needed permanent ambassadorial legations in one another’s courts, and espionage networks to keep up with shifting alliances. In the course of this evolutionary process, sovereignty shifted from the person of the ruler, where it had resided in the medieval conception, to the bureaucratic state constituted to serve the ruler.
A seminal figure of the time period was the political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. His famous work, The Prince, is often interpreted as an apology for tyranny. According to Philip Bobbitt’s excellent book The Garments of Court and Palace, Machiavelli’s real argument was to distinguish between a ruler’s personal and governing ethos. In other words, in the context of ruling the state, in the interests of the society for which it was constituted, a ruler should not be expected to behave according to standards of personal morality, as codes of honor had demanded of medieval princes. A new political era had arrived.
In the democratic revolutions that came in later centuries, the concept of sovereignty shifted even further. The state evolved, from an entity that served as a tool by which the prince’s will was exerted, to a formal representation of the will of the people. It was no longer ruled by a monarch, but rather administered by representative officials – at least in theory. But in the course of this evolution, the thorny problem of how the state can serve its constituent’s needs and also avoid moral transgression remains unsolved, as testified by the killing fields of modern times.
Yes, these are the thoughts inspired in me by taking a trip to Italy. On the path followed by the invading forces of a French king in the 15th century, many Renaissance-era structures still stand in the 21st century. For example, the city of Lucca, where we’ll be staying at one point, retains the walls that were constructed starting in 1504 – part of the wave of defensive fortifications that sprang up in the aftermath of Charles VIII’s campaign.
I’m bringing along a copy of The Art of War in Italy by F. L. Taylor, considered a classic in the field of military history. As I read it, I will be looking for signs of its lessons in my surroundings.
I will have my smartphone with me, but not my laptop, and probably won’t post much for a few weeks.
This post wraps up my top 10 games list, as I have completed the GeekList about the top 10 games on my BoardGameGeek user profile. As already mentioned, I have created this list as part of a project to capture for posterity details of my board gaming life. This includes digitized versions of beat-up old customized rules and accessories, much of it up on my personal gaming site: A Real Live Gaming Workshop. Presumably these sites on the Internet will outlive me, at least for a little while.
And here are the last two entries not yet published on this blog:
#1: Terraforming Mars
If you know me, you’re not surprised to see this game at the top of the list. You might think this is the only game I ever want to play! I was hooked the moment I first played it at a convention, which I’m pretty sure was on the year it came out (2016).
Terraforming Mars hits all of my favorite board game marks. It has a rich science-fiction theme. It’s super-crunchy with lots of calculating for optimization. It has patient engine-building in the early game that pays off in the later game without the game rushing to an end, as so often happens with engine-builders. It has a huge deck of cards where every card is unique, possibly my favorite feature in a game. And it also has a board with fiddly bits, and tile layout with a modest degree of pattern matching.
I think the game plays great with every expansion; they each add extra dimensions of game play, and also new unique cards for the deck. I also like that you can pick and choose which expansions to use, and have a good game with any combination. And I think the game plays well with any player count, including 2-player and even solo!
I own all the official expansions, and some fan-made ones as well (though not all the fan-made ones). I own the ‘big box’ upgrade which has a larger game box and 3D printed components to replace the original cardboard ones. It’s somewhat absurd how much I’ve invested in this game, but what can I say except that a hobbyist needs no excuse?
I also will note that as much as I enjoy this game, I do not think there is a future for the human race in terraforming the red planet. The challenge is extraordinary and there is no payoff for the insanely high costs. I enjoy the idea as science fiction, but like all science fiction it is not realistic. It is space fantasy.
Here’s another way to think about it – if it’s worth it to terraform Mars, why haven’t we put in the effort to “terraform” Antarctica? Surely that would be much easier. Antarctica is so much less hostile an environment than Mars. For that matter, so is the ocean floor. But we don’t have any colonies in those places.
#11: Through the Ages
That’s right, my top 10 list goes to 11.
Through the Ages is a medium-to-heavy weight game with a theme of advancing civilization from ancient to modern times. I wouldn’t say that it’s my favorite civilization game; I prefer one’s like Avalon Hill’s version (already on the top 10 list), because they actually have a map of the world where your civilization spreads out and comes into contact with other players. This game is a bit more abstract in its implementation.
I will say that it has a very elegant design, with exactly enough complexity for its theme. It has a limited deck of unique cards, but they interact in so many ways that each game plays differently. You’ll often see new combinations of effects you haven’t seen before even if you’ve played scores of times already. I have a lot respect for the designer, Vlaada Chvátil – all his games are good. Even if you are not a big gamer, you might have encountered one of his more popular designs – Codenames.
Through the Ages game makes it onto the list because it has a special place in my board game biography. Ever since the pandemic back in 2020, I have had fewer opportunities for in person gaming than in the past. But some of my old friends and I have been playing this game online, more or less continuously, for four years. So I get to scratch my itch for a medium-heavy game, even though it’s really hard to actually get one to the table these days. Czech Games Edition‘s online version lets you play with no time limit on the turns, so it’s very casual playing with trusted friends.
I have spent countless hours of my life playing board games. And while not as many hours in the current stage of my life as in my past, I do have this ongoing digital game to keep me connected to the hobby, and to my good friends who share it with me.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a top 10 game. I’m getting close to finishing my list. This is one that might be a bit obscure to non-gamers, but I think it’s a brilliant design and have always enjoyed playing it.
#2 Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery
This game is loosely based on a real-time strategy video game and has the same theme of New World colonization. It even borrows the branding and art from the video game (at least in the edition I own), but otherwise doesn’t play like it at all.
Rather, it is a worker placement game which includes area control on a central board and tableau building in front of each player. If you’re wondering what all those terms mean, well, they describe game mechanics common to board games in the modern style that has taken off this century.
In other words, it counts as a Eurogame, even though it was designed by an American. It has indirect player interaction, no player elimination (though there is a limited warfare option), and multiple paths for scoring victory points. It’s on my list because it’s one of my favorite board games of all time. It has a very competitve worker placement mechanic which creates lots of tension, brinkmanship, and tough strategic choices.
I own a copy of the original edition (there was a reimplementation with a new name that dispensed with the video game branding) and also both expansions. My copy is well worn from many, many plays. It’s also slightly pimped out, with extra cardboard bits and alternate turn order markers based on the country flags. Maybe some day I’ll paint the minifigures.
I played this game a lot in the late 2000s/early 2010s time frame, when I was in some very active gaming groups. Recently I’ve only played it once or twice at conventions. I was intrigued to learn about a sci-fi themed reimplementation, which I would also happily try out.
In spiritual practice there is the concept of mindfulness, meaning awareness of the present moment and one’s thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations in that moment, as they are being experienced. A goal of mindfulness is to achieve a calm acceptance of one’s circumstances, so that one is not living in a state of continuous mental and emotional turmoil.
A state of inner turmoil is sort of a baseline mode of operation for human beings. It comes about because of negative conditioning, which causes regrets about the past and anxiety about the future. This manifests as troubling thoughts and feelings which preoccupy one’s attention and take away one’s focus from the matter at hand, which only further complicates one’s existence.
I’m sure you are familiar with the experience, as well as with many pithy sayings that address the problem. “Don’t worry about what you can’t control, don’t hold on to the past,” and so forth. Easier said than done! Keeping one’s focus in the moment requires intention, even discipline. It actually takes an effort!
One suggestion is to practice meditation, which can be done by simply sitting calmly and putting one’s attention on one’s breathing. If you try this, you will find that thoughts pop up in your mind uninvited. Your mind is like a bubbling spring from which thoughts are constantly erupting.
When this happens while meditating, just let the thoughts go. Pay them no heed. They are just objects of experience – subtle mental objects as opposed to gross physical objects, and thus even less permanent. They dissipate like mist. Let them pass, and keep your attention on your breathing.
As you keep your attention focused, you will become aware of the stillness of the present moment. You will become aware of the inner light of consciousness, which is the ground of being. All of the objects of experience, which include your roiling thoughts, manifest within the field of consciouness.
Even time itself! It is true what they say, that all we have is Now. There is no reality to the Past or the Future, so how can they trouble you so?
If you learn to stay in the present moment, and not be distracted by worries about the past and the future, you will lead a fuller life. And you will be able to accomplish more.
The point isn’t to forget the past – it still has lessons to teach. Nor is it to forsake the future, and live as if there is no tomorrow. It is to be in the present, which after all is where we are.
Think of it in this practical sense: in order to ensure the safety and prosperity of yourself and your loved ones, you need to perform well at your job, yes? But if, as you do your job, you are only worrying about paying bills and planning the evening’s activities, you will hurt your productivity, right? At worse, this could lead to you losing your job, and how will you pay those bills then?
So mindfulness, if it keeps you rooted in the present, can benefit your future. That is the whole of it.
Mindfulness can help you navigate the troubled waters of times, even in times as troubling as these.
In a little over a week, Aileen, Tiernan and I will be performing together in a play. I haven’t acted since Aileen and I were in high school in the 1980s, when we were in the Drama Club together.
Yes, that’s right, I will be making my triumphant return to the stage, after a 40 year hiatus!
Aileen and Tiernan, of course, have been doing theatre together for as long as I’ve known them both – though always with Aileen directing and Tiernan acting, so this is the first time they will be together on stage. Aileen has been doing theatre since she was 3 years old, and used to put on plays in her back yard when she was a child.
The show we are in is Arsenic and Old Lace, a classic from the 1930s. It’s been adapted to film, and you may be familiar with the story. I will say nothing more – no spoilers!
My return to the stage is the logical culmination of my shared lifecourse with the vagabond girl.
First, we reconnected at our high school reunion. We built up our friendship long distance, and after a couple of years I moved up to where she lives. We have a lot of interests in common, and it was natural for us to form a partnership.
She was even willing to play board games with me and go to gaming conventions with me! And I was willing to be absorbed into her theatre life. I helped her with Arts Bubble productions, and I joined her as an adjudicator for the Philadelphia Independence Awards. It was inevitable that I would eventually join her for an audition, and it was our good fortune that we were both cast in this production of a show she has always wanted to do.
I’m pretty sure this has been her long term plan for me all along. 🙂
If you are a reader who lives anywhere near Reading, Pennsylvania, perhaps you could come see our play? It’s only two performances – the evening of Friday, April 4 and a matinee on Saturday, April 5. Tickets are available here: https://fleetwoodcommunitytheatre.com/tickets.html
The subtitle is sort of ominous and optimistic at the same time. Ominous because it acknowledges an absence of global leadership in the face of drastic and potentially dangerous change in the near future. And optimistic because it suggests that America’s global leadership can be restored.
The book consists of many small chapters, over 40 in fact, grouped into seven sections called “throughlines.” The chapters in each throughline have a common theme, and each is fronted by a compelling pencil illustration. Often the chapters are introduced by citing another author’s work, after which Barnett expounds on some key concepts from the other author. In some ways the book is a synthesis of these other ideas.
As with his earlier work, Barnett presents a novel perspective on global affairs, inviting the reader to think outside of what might be considered the conventional narrative on current events. From this perspective, one sees long term outcomes that are not discernible when focusing on ongoing political turmoil or a looming Third World War. His throughlines are thus like paths being blazed through the undiscovered country of the future. I’ll try to summarize the view from his stratosphere, so to speak.
In his earlier work, also reviewed on this blog, Barnett identified the United States as a global Leviathan, the most militarily powerful of the “Core” states which comprised a globalizing world. Other “Gap” states, which were not integrated with the global economy, were the source of insecurity (“Terror” was the declared enemy). Integrating these nations (“shrinking the Gap”) was the logical strategic mission of the United States.
In his new book, Barnett acknowledges that the U.S. failed in that mission. Instead, we turned inwards, obsessed with fighting our Culture Wars to the bitter, bloody end. Globalization is a dirty word now, but as Barnett sees it, the dynamic is locked in. A huge new global middle class has arisen, primarily in the countries outside of the original grouping of “developed” states. We can start all the Trade Wars we want, but they will keep trading with one another, and we will become less and less the world’s “indispensable nation.”
Barnett also dismisses the idea of World War III. Conventional warfare among Great Powers was made obsolete by nuclear weapons, in his mind. Proxy wars like the one in Ukraine are what’s left, and even those are becoming less tenable because of advances in the deployment of cheap, unmanned weaponry.
The real strategic threat comes from climate change, and how it forces population movements. The middle latitudes around the equator are becoming less viable for human life, while the northernmost latitudes (and southernmost latitudes, but there isn’t much land area there) are becoming more habitable.
On top of climate change, we have demographics creating another pressure. The so-called “Global North” is the wealthier part of the world, and consists of aging populations with low fertility rates. Meanwhile, the “Global South” is just the opposite. So, in the decades to come, the bulk of the world’s working age population is going to be living in a part of Earth that is becoming less desirable to be in, looking northward to a part of the Earth that is becoming more desirable to be in (climatewise), and is also in need of workers.
One can easily see the conflict that these combined pressures will create. Barnett argues that this demands a new “vertical” orientation in strategic thinking, so that the United States can accomodate the restless population to its south. The new strategic mission is “North-South” integration, to replace the “Core-Gap” integration of his previous thinking. His dream is that we actually add new states to the union; why, he wonders, after adding new states decade by decade, did we stop at 50, just before he was born?
Arguably, the recent political history of America, including the current administration’s withdrawal from postwar strategic alliances and its preoccupation with the southern border, implicitly recognizes this strategic reality. Likewise with the administration’s unprecedented threats to conquer Canada and Greenland. There’s a logic to these “policies,” but we’d be better off with an approach that’s more intelligent and diplomatic, more accepting of the shape of modern society. Unfortunately, we are stuck with some real backassward political leadership, thanks to older generations living in the past, and trying to resurrect a long dead social order.
All five of the world’s superpowers – by Barnett’s reckoning, that’s the United States, the European Union, Russia, China and India – face this same strategic imperative. He describes a “superpower brand war,” in which each power comes to the rest of the world with its particular model of integration. Currently, the bellicose approach of the U.S. is losing ground to China’s more direct approach of simply trading infrastructure development for access to markets (look up “Belt and Road Initiative”).
It’s not too late for us, Barnett argues. We still have a popular brand, thanks to our global cultural dominance, and – recent troubles notwithstanding – to our American ideal of a truly equal society. We also have geographic advantages simply from being in the Western hemisphere, protected by oceans and rich in resources. It makes sense for the Americas (plural) to become more integrated. In the last few chapters of the book, Barnett presents alternate futures of American acceptance or American apartheid. He clearly believes the former to be preferrable (yes, he voted for Harris).
In summary, I found that this book got me thinking in new ways, and helped orient me in understanding current events – the same as with the author’s “Pentagon’s New Map” series in the early 2000s. I’m subscribed to Barnett’s substack, which has a steady stream of content, as he loves to write. His style is frank, often humorous, and peppered with pop culture references. His perspective is long term, realistic from his understanding, sometimes unsettling, and always eye-opening. I recommend it.
