Understanding Modern Civilization
"WhatifAlthist" | World History, Philosophy, Culture
The Illusion of Control: Understanding Reality and Worldviews
This chapter delves into the complexities of human belief systems, examining how individuals can confuse their cognitive frameworks with actual reality. The discussion critiques emotional rigidity and excessive logic, emphasizing the risks of misunderstanding the intricate nature of existence.
Walking through French cities reveals a shocking architectural transformation—medieval centers abruptly give way to identical glass-and-steel modernist structures. This pattern repeats GLOBALLY from California to China. Archaeologists thousands of years from now would reasonably conclude a single empire conquered Earth after the World Wars, imposing its aesthetic everywhere simultaneously. This unacknowledged cultural revolution represents history's most profound civilizational shift that we're forbidden from questioning.
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Bibliography:
Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quiggley
The Master and His Emissary by Ian McGhilChrist
Seeing Like a State by James C Scott
A Secular Age by Charles Taylor
The Unabomber's Manifesto by Ted Zazynsky
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Regime Change by Patrick Deneen
After Liberalism by Paul Gottfried
The Culture of Narcissim by Lasch
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Lost Connections by Johann Hari
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Evil by Baumeister
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Behave by Sapolsky
The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler
Sex and Power in History by Amaury de Riencourt
The Eye of Shiva by Amaury de Riencourt
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The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung
Dominion by Tom Holland
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
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Spiteful Mutants by Edward Dutton
Atrocities by Matthew White
The Dictators by Richard Overy
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Europe by Norman Davies
The Invention of Yesterday by Tamim Ansary
The History of Manners by Norbert Elias
Ultrasociety by Peter Turchin
Millennium by Ian Mortimer
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The Pursuit of Power by William McNeill
The Knowledge Machine by Michael Strevens
Reason, Faith and the Struggle for the West by Sam Gregg
Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson
A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell
Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia
Envy by Helmut Schoeck
Cynical Theories by James Lindsay
Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell
Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels by Ian Morris
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The Philosophy of History by Hegel
Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holliday
Examined Lives by James Miller
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Trump and a Post Truth World by Ken Wilbur
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The Myth of Disenchantment by Strom
Coming to Our Senses by Morris Berman
A History of the Jews by Paul Johnson
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