Ep30. Is there Order in the universe? Or are we all the playthings of chance?

Can we ever truly achieve Order in the international system? Or is life itself just a deterministic jumble of uncontrollable events? Do humans crave order so much that they perceive it even when it is absent – leading to conspiracy theories? And should policymakers avoid optimization and prediction and embrace experimentation, resilience, and slack to fix the problems of our era of Global Enduring Disorder? 

This week we celebrate the six-month anniversary of Disorder, by talking with a guest from our very first episode, the man who inspired this podcast, Brian Klaas. Brian’s page-turning new book ‘Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters’, is not only a dynamic read, it has much to say about whether our lives, our politics, and our relationships can ever be truly ordered. In the conversation, Brian and Jason agree disagreeably about the following issues: do most people believe that good things happen to good people, that one’s lot in life is somehow earned, and that ‘things happen for a reason’? Can some disorder be good in our personal lives? Is Order a spiritual rather than a rational virtue?  

Twitter: @DisorderShow 

Subscribe to our Substack: https://natoandtheged.substack.com/  

Website: https://natoandtheglobalenduringdisorder.com/  

Producer: George McDonagh 

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn 

Show Notes Links 

Pick up Fluke by visiting - https://brianpklaas.com/fluke  

For more of Brian’s writing visit - https://www.forkingpaths.co/   

Listen to a great audio overview of the book here

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