A teleological competition is taking place that may very well decide the fate of the world. It feels as if we are on the brink of descending into technocratic neoserfdom, doomed to choose between dying on our feet and obeying our new masters. Our “betters” lust to decide what behaviors we have to engage in to maintain a social credit score is high enough to purchase the next meal and weather the next storm with the push of a button. Fortunately, there are powerful forces that oppose such a trajectory. The various perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms (PCBM)1 we are endowed with predispose us to coalescing into one of two mutually exclusive coalitions. I prefer to title these groups Americans and anti-Americans.2 The coalitions of individuals that express these PCBM traits employ particular strategies to spontaneously align with mutually supportive conspecifics. The result is an ongoing cold war that Americans are certain to win at some unknown cost.
Unlike much neoreactionary commentary I’ve seen, I think this escalating into a kinetic conflict is all but impossible. The asymmetry is too great between the sides. One side openly endorses thought patterns that promote fragility and choose map over terrain3 to ensure terrible real-world performance and competence. The other diligently strives to get ever closer to fully appreciating the reality that we are sure is there, but can never fully know.
Worship at the altar of reality
We may all have different conceptions of reality as Americans, but we do all agree there is a reality. Whatever your beliefs about God or the shape of the earth, the commitment to trying to understand reality as it is brings us together. This is in sharp contrast to the woke hordes that abhor the notion of an objective reality. The preference for map over terrain in the minds of our ideological enemies ensures their ultimate failure. While the natural order will provide a strong wind at our backs, it doesn’t mean that the struggle to culturally dominate our opposition won’t incur tremendous hardship. The anti-Americans have been using their control over the money supply to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone who isn’t politically connected for many decades. Fortunately, it is becoming increasingly easy to bypass the legacy strong points amassed parallel to this grift.
Perversion of the Natural Order
The market always asserts itself in the end. Even Keynes knew this. His sage observation that “in the long run we are all dead” has proven true for all of the adults who were alive at the time, especially Keynes. Having fathered no children, Keynes got to enjoy the fruits of fucking the future of all of western civilization in the ass his entire adult life. Like most of our enemies, he will never face responsibility for his actions.4 The fiat monetary system is the single source of all of the adventures of the woke. When you control the printing press, you don’t need to understand anything about reality. With such direct control over the global economy, you get to be wrong about essentially everything and prosper in spite of a pathological apathy towards truth and reality. Unfortunately for the parasites, they seem to be outgrowing the hosts. Factors hastening this trend include in-fighting between elites with different visions5 and the growing prominence of decentralized finance (DeFi).
The Teleological Sides
Since value is subjective, a stable coalition can never be formed amongst those that expect others to adhere behaviorally to their own values.6 Values are like fingerprints, and the expectation of conformity associated with such a strategy will ensure that any large coalitions are built upon deceit. Participants in such a consortium are continually required to self censor to ensure the virtues and values that they signal are compatible with the group. The alternative coalition (Americans) is very broad. It is one where the subjective nature of value is understood and respected. In this formulation, people are encouraged to broadcast their true values, whether traditionally virtuous or not. So long as these values don’t aggress on the liberty of others7, they must be accepted, even if distasteful to others within the group to maintain the coalition. It should be noted that holding others to account for their own professed values would be entirely appropriate in such a culture. This is important, as when the balance of power shifts towards those innately aligned with the new American culture, our woke rivals will begin to attempt to parrot the rhetoric of the opposing coalition. This is unacceptable behavior that is natural to condemn. After all, nobody likes a hypocrite.
Speculation for the Future
Under these cultural conditions, the American coalition will not only prevail, it will do so without bloodshed. This is the culture that has been successfully subverted by the long march of managerial liberalism, imposing through both system and conspiracy increasingly centralized control over humanity. They see their goal within sight, and are accelerating to achieve consolidation of the power they so desperately desire and worship. This acceleration energizes the American coalition in ways that no one fully understands, and will likely only be able to appreciate in retrospect after our decisive victory. As the managerial class can’t help but endorse policy and ideology that Americans with any shred of common sense are revolted by, they build up pressure in a system that will undergo a massive paradigm shift should the petrodollar falter. The most competent individuals willing to serve the anti-Americans do not do so for ideological reasons. They are mercenaries that perform their services and provide their products quid pro quo. With the demise of the petrodollar the managerial elite will have nothing to give. To minimize the turbulence following this collapse, all we need is to develop a cultural commitment to the NAP. While some strife can’t be avoided, commitment to this principle will make the inevitable restoration of the natural order as painless as possible.
I use this term from Michael McConkey’s Biological Realism
Alternatives include libertarian vs. woke, populist vs. managerial class, or dissidents vs. establishment.
In other words are unable to engage their right hemisphere in order to appreciate the full size and scope of the battlefield.
I only bring this up to point out that perseverating on these injustices is a waste of energy. The traditionally religious can enjoy the idea that they’ll burn in hell forever. I have to rely on my # character strength of forgiveness and mercy.
Such as Putin’s vision vs. the West
As an interesting aside, this is more or less the mistake Ayn Rand made with Objectivism. She essentially demanded that everyone adopt her values or GTFO. The fact that she was buddies with Alan Greenspan is an indictment of the “my values are objective” coalition building strategy.
By demanding positive freedoms, such as universal basic income or a right to health care or education, for example. Positive freedoms obligate others in a way that necessarily violates the NAP. Negative freedom FTW.
So we respectfully part company for now over the "kinetic." I certainly am not forecasting a Civil war-ish scenario of neatly divided camps, the parties of which are clearly recognizable to each other and to themselves. But an escalation of violence -- more looting, rioting, destruction of public and private property, and gratuitous but often lethal attacks on senior citizens -- unfortunately, yes. Some local, likely small scale "Purge"-like pushback at some point. Also yes. What will drop first? Inflation, or Blue City homicide rates? The police forces in Seattle and Portland are understandably gutted. We'll see. I'm happy to hear about your confidence, but I am not seeing the trend lines for it yet. All best!
Great piece. It feels like we're all intellectually groping towards a similar dimly perceived teleological object, apprehended at a pre-linguistic, intuitive level and then trying to describe it using whatever intellectual tools we individually have access to. All of us can sense that the present social order is perverse, even suicidal, and that there must be something better out there. You even see this on some of the more thoughtful voices that are traditionally left-aligned - Charles Eisenstein, for example.
The title brings to mind an essay by Christopher Langan. Were you thinking of that when you wrote it?