You’ve also got the issue of just what qualifies as religion. “Adherents to a philosophy” can become indistinguishable to non-theistic religion, for instance.
Ah, you’re a trickle-down guy then. It’s not working out so well for those of us trickled down upon, but hey, it’s only been 40 years.
Nope. Trickle-down economics is a scam, and it’s one-third of the reason our modern global economy is in a state of ongoing crisis. I never said Keynes got everything wrong, just the idea that all reasons for spending are healthy for a nation’s economic growth. Econ’s not religion; one needn’t subscribe the whole body of any particular economist’s work.
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What is “natural tendency to create and join factions while simultaneously preserving strong individualism”? What is “humanity is not a hivemind”?
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One has to be careful when writing “dystopias” which, while unpleasant in many ways, still appear to be better than the current real world on average. I felt like Brave New World was another example: there was some genuinely fucked-up stuff happening there, but most of the specific things we were supposed to be horrified by seemed awfully prudish and hand-wringing. “In this world, everyone has ready access to all the recreational drugs they want with no side effects, plenty of casual sex, and free birth control for all. ISN’T THAT HORRIBLE?!?”
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Those were the bread and circuses to keep the stratified classes happy and acquiescent. Not sure how that looked any better than the Roman Empire, unless you were the Emporer.
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I understand, from the POV of an economist, interested in growth, this mode of thinking is a “good thing”. However, I think we do ourselves a disservice when we just look at the 10,000 foot view and ignore the damage to individuals and communities that creative destruction does. I agree we should let both industries die, because we can do something better and because of the obvious environmental impact. That’s a fair enough point. But we need to pay heed to how real human beings are impacted in the process. Too often “creative destruction” also means the destruction of communities and people’s lives. We can’t just shrug our shoulders and pretend it will work out for them without a plan forward for the people impacted.
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