We Are Not Saved

The future is important, it is where we're going to spend the rest of our lives. But there are lots of different frameworks for how the future is going to go. Has technology saved us? Is it about to save us? Or will technology doom us? Does the arc of the moral universe bend towards justice or are we a few years away from collapse. In this episode I consider a half dozen eschatological frameworks, and what each of them say about the future and how things are going to end. In triumph or disaster.

Interestingly, the tragedy of Uvalde has been overshadowed by the unconscionable delay of the police. This is not the first time law enforcement has failed to operate in the way it should. An action by US Women Gymnasts seeking $1 billion dollars from the FBI for failing to stop Larry Nassar was also in the news recently. And again we have to ask why did law enforcement, in this case the FBI, fail so dramatically? This episode will explore both of these examples and attempt to come up with some sort of answer for that question.

The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology Is Transforming Business, Politics, and Society by: Azeem Azhar Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by: Leonard Sax The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos by: Sohrab Ahmari The China Dream: Great Power Thinking and Strategic Posture in the Post-American Era by: Liu Mingfu  Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique of the Contemporary Left by: Ben Burgis The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe by: Elizabeth L. Eisenstein  Paper Heroes by: Steven Heumann Critical Mass (Expeditionary Force, #10) by: Craig Alanson Brushfire (Expeditionary Force, #11) by: Craig Alanson

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/31/eschatologist-17-weve-solved-all-the-easy-problems-only-hard-problems-remain/ Abortion is back in the news, but rather than arguing for one side or the other I thought I'd take a look at the arena of moral debates in general. Are we getting better at solving these thorny problems or worse? I suspect we're getting worse, both because of internet echo chambers, but also because we've solved all the easy problems and only the really tough ones remain.  As you can imagine, this is bad.

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/26/conscience-authenticity-and-true-freedom/ In an episode that draws heavily from the book The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos by Sohrab Ahmari I consider the apparently conflict between being authentic and doing what you're "supposed" to do.    

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/19/thoughts-on-yard-care-and-the-modern-world/ I'm moving and as a result I'm thinking of my decades long battle with my yard, and I'm wondering if there is any lesson for the modern world. I suspect that there is, but you should also consider that fact that I really hate yard work.

The Divide: How Fanatical Certitude Is Destroying Democracy by: Taylor Dotson Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by: Mark Fisher  The Age of AI and Our Human Future by: Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher A Confederacy of Dunces by: John Kennedy Toole Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation by: Roosevelt Montás Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen by: Steve Sims The Thursday Murder Club by: Richard Osman The Weird of Hali: Dreamlands by: John Michael Greer Homefront (Expeditionary Force, #7.5) by: Craig Alanson Valkyrie (Expeditionary Force, #9) by: Craig Alanson

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/05/01/eschatologist-16-the-right-amount-of-danger/ You may be familiar with the hygiene hypothesis, which holds that the increase in allergies we've been seeing are due to inadequately stressed immune systems. That in the absence of parasites and pathogens our immune systems overreact to things which aren't dangerous. Is it possible that something similar is going on with our psychological immune systems? If so what sort of "pathogens" should we be introducing?

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/04/28/the-drug-crisis-part-2-wrapping-up-and-maybe-some-solutions/ I wrap up my discussion of the drug crisis. I begin with discussing the fact that the US appears to be unique in the rate at which overdose deaths are increasing. This is not quite true, but there are some peculiarities which make the US a nice juicy target if you were interested in selling opioids, and other drugs, this goes both for legal and illegal drugs. Given the scale of the problem we've discovered a lot of things that don't work, and a one big thing that made the problem worse (the pandemic). But we don't have a lot of good ideas for how to fix it. Nevertheless I offer up some ideas.

Transcript: https://wearenotsaved.com/2022/04/18/the-drug-crisis-part-1-the-role-of-progress-and-technology-in-creating-the-crisis/ An examination into how deaths from overdosing on drugs got so bad. Everyone knows how Oxycontin contributed to the problem, but there's far more to the story than that. Join me for a discussion of drug marketing, meth, benzodiazepines, and cocaine, and how it all combines into one of the deadliest trends of our time, one with no signs of slowing down.