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Metamodern Guides #2
Nordic Ideology: A Metamodern Guide to Politics, Book Two
In Nordic Ideology, the anticipated sequel to The Listening Society, the great philosopher Hanzi Freinacht strikes again from his refuge in the Alps—now with a yet bolder to write social and political theory as a page-turner.
This book can be read independently of the first one and it outlines a path to a metamodern society, emerging from the Nordic countries—one that emerges from, but ultimately cancels and outcompetes modern society as we know it, while saving the world-system from collapse. How can this be achieved?
Here, things get real.
Not only do you get an overview of how society develops—what is higher freedom, deeper equality, a more intricate order of self-organization?—you get an actual plan-of-action for how to transform all of society and the people in it; indeed, even a strategy for how to organize and take charge of political development.
Loved and despised, Hanzi leaves few readers untouched. No issue is too controversial, no source of knowledge taboo; while committed to deep democracy and freedom, Hanzi does not shy away from learning from the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century. And indeed, the power of his vision, and the six new forms of metamodern politics introduced in the book, compels readers to act—to actualize the vision, or to stop the metamodernists at any cost.
Serious meets fun, as sincerity meets irony, as politics meets poetry in this magisterial work of a unique and dangerous rebel scholar.
This book can be read independently of the first one and it outlines a path to a metamodern society, emerging from the Nordic countries—one that emerges from, but ultimately cancels and outcompetes modern society as we know it, while saving the world-system from collapse. How can this be achieved?
Here, things get real.
Not only do you get an overview of how society develops—what is higher freedom, deeper equality, a more intricate order of self-organization?—you get an actual plan-of-action for how to transform all of society and the people in it; indeed, even a strategy for how to organize and take charge of political development.
Loved and despised, Hanzi leaves few readers untouched. No issue is too controversial, no source of knowledge taboo; while committed to deep democracy and freedom, Hanzi does not shy away from learning from the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century. And indeed, the power of his vision, and the six new forms of metamodern politics introduced in the book, compels readers to act—to actualize the vision, or to stop the metamodernists at any cost.
Serious meets fun, as sincerity meets irony, as politics meets poetry in this magisterial work of a unique and dangerous rebel scholar.
497 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 29, 2019
76 people are currently reading
409 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 13, 2020
2020.03.24–2020.10.09
To me, this is about co-developing and growing our capability to face all problems at their level: nothing less than a societal, secular Bodhisattva vow for all beings, the ultimate game of coordinating all perspectives.
It’s a lot to take in, but the eventual reward was an upgrade to my memetic operating system or, as conceptualized by the first book, symbolic code through which to make sense of our world and its socially chaotic times. This feels like a way of relating to politics as part of the infinite game, the most fascinating story, where metamodernism is perhaps a container that is sufficiently complex and large to “transcend-and-include” (coherently interrelate) all the relevant and seemingly contradictory forces at play. In other words, I see political metamodernism (or equivalent) as a necessary process to avoid political apathy, cynicism, and endless fundamental conflict.
This is, in many ways, the highest-aiming vision I’ve seen, surpassing in my experience the most thoughtful of secular transhumanists and Mahayana Buddhists who rarely attempt to coordinate this many pieces of the puzzle at once. Naturally this is still an early draft at this point, but I’m amazed by how many perspectives are already coming together here.
I’ve never had a clear political identity, but this Nordic school of political metamodernism feels like an amazing candidate to fill the void. If you like e.g. Daniel Schmachtenberger’s podcasts and want to read something as integrative, I’m sure you’d find Hanzi’s metamodernism in many ways a close neighbor. For Oct 2020, he and 50% of Hanzi, Dr. Daniel Görtz, are also both “Sensemakers in Residence” at The Stoa (stewarded by Peter Limberg, co-author of The Memetic Tribes Of Culture War 2.0 and the Memetic Tribes spreadsheet).
Nordic Ideology and the first book, The Listening Society, represent a large part of what currently gives me hope for the future of politics in the long term. I can see why they claim that it’s the next historical attractor (even if it takes a long time to build our way there), as it is essentially a process of fixing all the societal failure modes that we want to avoid and that have been identified so far.
I love the multiperspectivity and nuance in these books. This is, in my very limited experience, the most ambitious and aspirational plan for developing the complex web that is society as a whole. As mentioned in a footnote in The Listening Society, Hanzi’s metamodernism is attempting to be more Wilberian than Ken Wilber’s own integral theory. We need to usefully relate to these kinds of developmental views or we may self-sabotage our own problem solving across the board.
It’s difficult to convey the essence of Nordic Ideology in a few paragraphs without losing most of the vital context. The book itself also warns against the usefulness of taking any of its six dimensions of new politics out of context, i.e., against separating them from the sixfold pattern in which they necessarily complement each other.
Suffice to say that it builds upon itself in a looping way, utilizing its own concepts (and those of The Listening Society) as we go along, and ultimately attempts to show how the six dimensions interrelate in a not cherry-picked but logically necessary way to counterbalance each other. It also briefly describes and explains the temporal order in which to develop them so that the interlocking whole gets built without any part backfiring on its original intention.
I imagine that the book’s essential whole – the Master Pattern, or “Montesquieu 2.0” – of six interrelated forms of politics is a result of long trial-and-error:
• of thinking about necessary requirements for the solutions we need, and of finding only sub-solutions, none of which alone will work (being even harmful),
• but which together form a sequence of enough interbalancing to achieve the necessary development while avoiding the net-harmful imbalance from allowing any one of them, or only an incomplete pattern, to reign freely, unchecked by the complementary part.
It makes sense once you see the logic of the whole – which isn’t the best populist sales pitch, but then again this “sinister plan to take over the world” doesn’t rely on populism:
• At first, the ‘open conspiracy’ against the modern world and towards a metamodern one will consist of those who have seen the whole pattern and/or who are playing the co-creative parts of coordinating it into existence.
• This is of course flattering to the reader who feels like understanding it; but already the first, more psychological book deals with varying complexity and development and with the dynamics of wanting to always self-identify highly. Unsurprisingly, the most wicked problems may require the most developed solvers, and part of the puzzle is to avoid the related risks of ego hijacks and narcissism when politics meets developmental stage theories. Nordic Ideology also contains a nice initial checklist of how to avoid becoming another developmentalist cult, and, to reduce this risk, encourages the reader to expand and occasionally re-read this list.
• Then the way to a metamodern society will start locally, be led by the example of those who understand it well enough to embody it (and manage to make it cool), and spread by the “network gravity” of metamodernists patiently and politely “transcending-and-including” the sub-solutions of other views – thus outcompeting others at their own games and getting them to join in on the co-creation of the master pattern, even if not many of those affected by this process necessarily understand the whole thing.
• By then – in 100 years? – we may even have a global society and population advanced enough that more people can see how it came to be, and co-develop what may come next.
If anything like this does turn out to be the next historical attractor, then metamodernists may be in a position to, as Görtz said on The Stoa, hurry history along a little bit. In my view, it’s at least worth the effort to wrestle with these dense books and to try on these synthesizing goggles if you’re at all interested in conflict resolution and in unifying dissonant things via seeking a new, higher perspective, even if it’s still in its infancy.
Contents
Freinacht H (2019) Nordic Ideology - A Metamodern Guide to Politics, Book Two
Introduction: Blazing New Paths
• Breaking the Limits
• The Last Book and This One
• The Map, The Plan and The Proof
• Hanzi: Your Suspicious Friend
• Make an Effort
Part I: The Map: How Society Develops
Fanfare to Part I: Attractors
• A Winner’s History
• The Spirit of the Laws Evolving
• An Attractor Is…
• Society and Evolution
• Set the Lodestone Right
• Navigators of History
01. Relative Utopia
• The “Both-And” of Development
• Beauties Lost and New Heights Reached
• New Miseries Worth Fighting For
02. Game Change
• Game Denial
• Conservative Satisfaction
• Game Acceptance
• Don’t Hate the Game
• Multi-Dimensional Game Change
03. History’s Direction
• A Developmental View of Order
• 1. The Early Modern State
• 2. The Nation State
• 3. The Welfare State
• 4. The Listening Society
• The Pattern: (In)dividuation and Differentiation
04. Another Kind of Freedom
• Freedom as Emotions
• Sociology of Emotions to the Rescue
• Emotional Regimes: Hidden in Plain Sight
• The Spectrum of Judgment
• The Hierarchy of Negative Social Emotions
• Freedom as Societal Development
05. Freedom’s Beyond
• In-formalization and Nordic Envy
• Narcissism Decoded
• Envy and Jealousy
• Escape from Freedom
• Three Voices Whisper
• A Simple Scale of (In-)Dividual Freedom
• The Highest Reaches of Freedom
06. Dimensions of Equality
• Equality as Paradox
• • 1. We Aren’t Actually Equal
• • 2. The Cruelty of Perfect Meritocracy
• • 3. Recognition from the Recognized
• • 4. We Envy One Another
• Six Dimensions of Inequality
• • Economic Inequality
• • Social Inequality
• • Physiological Inequality
• • Emotional Inequality
• • Ecological Inequality
• • Informational Inequality
07. Deeper Equality
• Deeper Resonances
• Equality, Equivalence, Equanimity
• Spirituality as a Class Magnifier
08. The Evolution of Norms
• Cultural Penalties and Rewards
• The Norm System as Cultural Struggle
• The Map of Cultural Game Change
Part II: The Plan: Metamodern Politics
Interlude to Part II, The Plan: The Six New Forms
• Very, Very Quick Recap
• Processes for Deeper Societal Coherence
• Three Caveats
09. Democratization Politics
• Updating Democracy Itself
• The True North: Collective Intelligence
• False Defenders of Democracy
• The Four Democratic Forms
• Interconnecting the Four
10. Evolving Democracy
• Voting Systems and Internet Democracy
• Bottom-Up and Top-Down
• Institutional Experiments
• Final Countdown for Democracy
11. Gemeinschaft Politics
• A Call to Fellowship
• Developing the Demos
• From Public to Domestic to Private
• Enter Creepy Politics
• An Orwellian “Ministry of Love”?
• Doing Gemeinschaft Politics
• Four Examples of Gemeinschaft Politics
12. Transformations of Everyday Life
• Reducing Ethnic Tensions
• • Nationalism
• • Non-Nationalism
• • Inter-Culturalism
• • Trans-Culturalism
• Post-Feminism and Gender Antagonism
• • Post-Feminism
• • Shifting the Landscapes of Desire
• • Gender Antagonism
• • The Painful Paradoxes of Love
• Empty Rituals and Unritualized Emotions
• Golden Keys
13. Existential Politics
• Existential Issues Determine the Goals of Politics
• Is and Is Not
• Supporting Inner Growth
• Existential Statistics and a Ministry of Existential Affairs
• Via Contemplativa
• Life Crisis and Development
14. The Awakened Public
• Secular Monasteries
• Meditation and Society
• Transpersonal Integrity
• Death, Truth and Discourse
• Madness and Civilization
15. Emancipation Politics
• New Sources of Oppression
• Rights Reloaded
• La Résistance, Direct and Indirect
• Four Dimensions of Oppression
16. Empirical Politics
• Not Obvious, Not Naive
• Higher Levels of Truth?
• An Appalling State of Affairs
• The Ten-Fold Path to Enlightenment (2.0)
17. Politics of Theory
• Culture into Our Own Hands
• A Serpent Biting Its Own Tail
• Theory in Practice
• Example: Big History in Schools
• Methods for Worldviewing
18. The Master Pattern
• Resonanz, Bitte!
• Montesquieu 2.0
• Inherent Semiotic Structure
• What Must Be Done
• More Sinister Plots
• Simmering Micro Movements
• Trouble Shooting / FAQ
Part III: The Proof: Nordic Ideology
19. Requiems for Modern Ideologies
• Subtle Memetic Revolution
• More Egalitarian than Socialism
• More Liberal than Liberalism
• More Sustainable than Ecologism
• More Prudent than Conservatism
• More Radically Rebellious than Anarchism
• Strategic Considerations
20. Dangerous Dreams
• Forbidden Phantoms™
• The Solemn Vengefulness of Communism ☭
• The (Partial) Glory of Fascism
• Excursion: Obedience as Laughter
• Glimmers of New Age Spirituality
Epilogue
Appendix A: Why Communism Failed
• Don’t Blame Comrade Napoleon
• The Mainstream/Libertarian Account
• A Jammed Information Feedback System
• Marx Had the Wrong Meta-Ideology
• Communism Is “Game Denial”
Appendix B: The Four Fields
• Value Memes in Populations
• The Four Fields of Societal Development
• Marxian Blindness
• The Psychological Prerequisites of Socialism
• Too Dumb for Complex Societies?
• Murder She Wrote
• A Diagnosis of Our Time
Appendix C: Effecting Game Change
• Evolving Markets, Polities and Civil Spheres
Notes
To me, this is about co-developing and growing our capability to face all problems at their level: nothing less than a societal, secular Bodhisattva vow for all beings, the ultimate game of coordinating all perspectives.
It’s a lot to take in, but the eventual reward was an upgrade to my memetic operating system or, as conceptualized by the first book, symbolic code through which to make sense of our world and its socially chaotic times. This feels like a way of relating to politics as part of the infinite game, the most fascinating story, where metamodernism is perhaps a container that is sufficiently complex and large to “transcend-and-include” (coherently interrelate) all the relevant and seemingly contradictory forces at play. In other words, I see political metamodernism (or equivalent) as a necessary process to avoid political apathy, cynicism, and endless fundamental conflict.
This is, in many ways, the highest-aiming vision I’ve seen, surpassing in my experience the most thoughtful of secular transhumanists and Mahayana Buddhists who rarely attempt to coordinate this many pieces of the puzzle at once. Naturally this is still an early draft at this point, but I’m amazed by how many perspectives are already coming together here.
I’ve never had a clear political identity, but this Nordic school of political metamodernism feels like an amazing candidate to fill the void. If you like e.g. Daniel Schmachtenberger’s podcasts and want to read something as integrative, I’m sure you’d find Hanzi’s metamodernism in many ways a close neighbor. For Oct 2020, he and 50% of Hanzi, Dr. Daniel Görtz, are also both “Sensemakers in Residence” at The Stoa (stewarded by Peter Limberg, co-author of The Memetic Tribes Of Culture War 2.0 and the Memetic Tribes spreadsheet).
Nordic Ideology and the first book, The Listening Society, represent a large part of what currently gives me hope for the future of politics in the long term. I can see why they claim that it’s the next historical attractor (even if it takes a long time to build our way there), as it is essentially a process of fixing all the societal failure modes that we want to avoid and that have been identified so far.
I love the multiperspectivity and nuance in these books. This is, in my very limited experience, the most ambitious and aspirational plan for developing the complex web that is society as a whole. As mentioned in a footnote in The Listening Society, Hanzi’s metamodernism is attempting to be more Wilberian than Ken Wilber’s own integral theory. We need to usefully relate to these kinds of developmental views or we may self-sabotage our own problem solving across the board.
It’s difficult to convey the essence of Nordic Ideology in a few paragraphs without losing most of the vital context. The book itself also warns against the usefulness of taking any of its six dimensions of new politics out of context, i.e., against separating them from the sixfold pattern in which they necessarily complement each other.
Suffice to say that it builds upon itself in a looping way, utilizing its own concepts (and those of The Listening Society) as we go along, and ultimately attempts to show how the six dimensions interrelate in a not cherry-picked but logically necessary way to counterbalance each other. It also briefly describes and explains the temporal order in which to develop them so that the interlocking whole gets built without any part backfiring on its original intention.
I imagine that the book’s essential whole – the Master Pattern, or “Montesquieu 2.0” – of six interrelated forms of politics is a result of long trial-and-error:
• of thinking about necessary requirements for the solutions we need, and of finding only sub-solutions, none of which alone will work (being even harmful),
• but which together form a sequence of enough interbalancing to achieve the necessary development while avoiding the net-harmful imbalance from allowing any one of them, or only an incomplete pattern, to reign freely, unchecked by the complementary part.
It makes sense once you see the logic of the whole – which isn’t the best populist sales pitch, but then again this “sinister plan to take over the world” doesn’t rely on populism:
• At first, the ‘open conspiracy’ against the modern world and towards a metamodern one will consist of those who have seen the whole pattern and/or who are playing the co-creative parts of coordinating it into existence.
• This is of course flattering to the reader who feels like understanding it; but already the first, more psychological book deals with varying complexity and development and with the dynamics of wanting to always self-identify highly. Unsurprisingly, the most wicked problems may require the most developed solvers, and part of the puzzle is to avoid the related risks of ego hijacks and narcissism when politics meets developmental stage theories. Nordic Ideology also contains a nice initial checklist of how to avoid becoming another developmentalist cult, and, to reduce this risk, encourages the reader to expand and occasionally re-read this list.
• Then the way to a metamodern society will start locally, be led by the example of those who understand it well enough to embody it (and manage to make it cool), and spread by the “network gravity” of metamodernists patiently and politely “transcending-and-including” the sub-solutions of other views – thus outcompeting others at their own games and getting them to join in on the co-creation of the master pattern, even if not many of those affected by this process necessarily understand the whole thing.
• By then – in 100 years? – we may even have a global society and population advanced enough that more people can see how it came to be, and co-develop what may come next.
If anything like this does turn out to be the next historical attractor, then metamodernists may be in a position to, as Görtz said on The Stoa, hurry history along a little bit. In my view, it’s at least worth the effort to wrestle with these dense books and to try on these synthesizing goggles if you’re at all interested in conflict resolution and in unifying dissonant things via seeking a new, higher perspective, even if it’s still in its infancy.
Contents
Freinacht H (2019) Nordic Ideology - A Metamodern Guide to Politics, Book Two
Introduction: Blazing New Paths
• Breaking the Limits
• The Last Book and This One
• The Map, The Plan and The Proof
• Hanzi: Your Suspicious Friend
• Make an Effort
Part I: The Map: How Society Develops
Fanfare to Part I: Attractors
• A Winner’s History
• The Spirit of the Laws Evolving
• An Attractor Is…
• Society and Evolution
• Set the Lodestone Right
• Navigators of History
01. Relative Utopia
• The “Both-And” of Development
• Beauties Lost and New Heights Reached
• New Miseries Worth Fighting For
02. Game Change
• Game Denial
• Conservative Satisfaction
• Game Acceptance
• Don’t Hate the Game
• Multi-Dimensional Game Change
03. History’s Direction
• A Developmental View of Order
• 1. The Early Modern State
• 2. The Nation State
• 3. The Welfare State
• 4. The Listening Society
• The Pattern: (In)dividuation and Differentiation
04. Another Kind of Freedom
• Freedom as Emotions
• Sociology of Emotions to the Rescue
• Emotional Regimes: Hidden in Plain Sight
• The Spectrum of Judgment
• The Hierarchy of Negative Social Emotions
• Freedom as Societal Development
05. Freedom’s Beyond
• In-formalization and Nordic Envy
• Narcissism Decoded
• Envy and Jealousy
• Escape from Freedom
• Three Voices Whisper
• A Simple Scale of (In-)Dividual Freedom
• The Highest Reaches of Freedom
06. Dimensions of Equality
• Equality as Paradox
• • 1. We Aren’t Actually Equal
• • 2. The Cruelty of Perfect Meritocracy
• • 3. Recognition from the Recognized
• • 4. We Envy One Another
• Six Dimensions of Inequality
• • Economic Inequality
• • Social Inequality
• • Physiological Inequality
• • Emotional Inequality
• • Ecological Inequality
• • Informational Inequality
07. Deeper Equality
• Deeper Resonances
• Equality, Equivalence, Equanimity
• Spirituality as a Class Magnifier
08. The Evolution of Norms
• Cultural Penalties and Rewards
• The Norm System as Cultural Struggle
• The Map of Cultural Game Change
Part II: The Plan: Metamodern Politics
Interlude to Part II, The Plan: The Six New Forms
• Very, Very Quick Recap
• Processes for Deeper Societal Coherence
• Three Caveats
09. Democratization Politics
• Updating Democracy Itself
• The True North: Collective Intelligence
• False Defenders of Democracy
• The Four Democratic Forms
• Interconnecting the Four
10. Evolving Democracy
• Voting Systems and Internet Democracy
• Bottom-Up and Top-Down
• Institutional Experiments
• Final Countdown for Democracy
11. Gemeinschaft Politics
• A Call to Fellowship
• Developing the Demos
• From Public to Domestic to Private
• Enter Creepy Politics
• An Orwellian “Ministry of Love”?
• Doing Gemeinschaft Politics
• Four Examples of Gemeinschaft Politics
12. Transformations of Everyday Life
• Reducing Ethnic Tensions
• • Nationalism
• • Non-Nationalism
• • Inter-Culturalism
• • Trans-Culturalism
• Post-Feminism and Gender Antagonism
• • Post-Feminism
• • Shifting the Landscapes of Desire
• • Gender Antagonism
• • The Painful Paradoxes of Love
• Empty Rituals and Unritualized Emotions
• Golden Keys
13. Existential Politics
• Existential Issues Determine the Goals of Politics
• Is and Is Not
• Supporting Inner Growth
• Existential Statistics and a Ministry of Existential Affairs
• Via Contemplativa
• Life Crisis and Development
14. The Awakened Public
• Secular Monasteries
• Meditation and Society
• Transpersonal Integrity
• Death, Truth and Discourse
• Madness and Civilization
15. Emancipation Politics
• New Sources of Oppression
• Rights Reloaded
• La Résistance, Direct and Indirect
• Four Dimensions of Oppression
16. Empirical Politics
• Not Obvious, Not Naive
• Higher Levels of Truth?
• An Appalling State of Affairs
• The Ten-Fold Path to Enlightenment (2.0)
17. Politics of Theory
• Culture into Our Own Hands
• A Serpent Biting Its Own Tail
• Theory in Practice
• Example: Big History in Schools
• Methods for Worldviewing
18. The Master Pattern
• Resonanz, Bitte!
• Montesquieu 2.0
• Inherent Semiotic Structure
• What Must Be Done
• More Sinister Plots
• Simmering Micro Movements
• Trouble Shooting / FAQ
Part III: The Proof: Nordic Ideology
19. Requiems for Modern Ideologies
• Subtle Memetic Revolution
• More Egalitarian than Socialism
• More Liberal than Liberalism
• More Sustainable than Ecologism
• More Prudent than Conservatism
• More Radically Rebellious than Anarchism
• Strategic Considerations
20. Dangerous Dreams
• Forbidden Phantoms™
• The Solemn Vengefulness of Communism ☭
• The (Partial) Glory of Fascism
• Excursion: Obedience as Laughter
• Glimmers of New Age Spirituality
Epilogue
Appendix A: Why Communism Failed
• Don’t Blame Comrade Napoleon
• The Mainstream/Libertarian Account
• A Jammed Information Feedback System
• Marx Had the Wrong Meta-Ideology
• Communism Is “Game Denial”
Appendix B: The Four Fields
• Value Memes in Populations
• The Four Fields of Societal Development
• Marxian Blindness
• The Psychological Prerequisites of Socialism
• Too Dumb for Complex Societies?
• Murder She Wrote
• A Diagnosis of Our Time
Appendix C: Effecting Game Change
• Evolving Markets, Polities and Civil Spheres
Notes
October 23, 2019
If the previous academic works on ‘metamodernism’ (Vermeulen, Van der Akker, Gibbons) were apt in pointing out the real shifts in feelings and expectations of the artists, and if some other people who played with the term (Seth Abramson, Luke Turner) were capable of voicing relevant implications, precepts, and ‘rules’ of metamodern worldview, it is only within a framework developed by Hanzi Freinacht that these many different lines are synchronised to make real applied sense. Why? Partly because he finds the language for unclothing the new subtle problems posed by modernity, problems that previously no one dared to recognise as such.
In a certain sense, we all knew that Scandinavian societies were getting something very right in terms of political, cultural, and economic development. But these countries lacked an articulated philosophy that could explain where exactly are they heading to. Their development was unfolding as it is, on a hunch, without a conscious plan or framework. We were told that it had something to do with interpersonal trust and trust in the institutions, cold climate that made warm bodies come closer together, and so on, but that’s a feeble explanation. All of this changed with the appearance of Hanzi Freinacht’s “Listening Society” and works of certain other northern thinkers like Lene Anderson and Tomas Bjorkman (“Nordic Secret”), Jonathan Rowson, Brent Cooper, whose developmental narratives had placed otherwise divergent fragments in their proper context.
Hanzi Freinacht is a broad and deep thinker. Nothing is left out from his books as he uses ‘metamodern’ lenses to address the full spectrum of our impending problems. I think there is a pattern to what he is doing in this book. Rowan Williams once said that the task of life is to encounter the uninvited in such a way as to make it invited. Coming from the most progressive place on Earth, Sweden, Hanzi is paying close attention to where we are going as humanity. He elucidates the directions in which progress takes us as to make them visible, trusted, and… “invited”.
Then he looks at the processes that make this progress happen. What are they precisely? As a society, we have accumulated an instituted political apparatus to handle some of them. But many remain outside the confines of our scrutiny. Hanzi merely points out — look, we are doing it anyway, but without conscious control and directionality. Now it is time to become aware and take responsibility for its unfolding.
In a way, Hanzi takes these awkward and uncanny and controversial themes and says “look — we have to grow up. We have to become adults who are ready to speak seriously and officially about the things that were until now floating on the margins of formal political process, thus poisoning and polarising the discourse, for there were no adults in the room to address them properly.” We have kind of left these processes in the hands of fate, instead of doing what Hanzi is doing. That is to say — if we partake in them whether we want it or not, then why not partake in them in all conscious seriousness? It reminds one of how a parent might bring children together to talk with them about how sexuality works. It is an awkward thing to discuss, granted, but it is worth it.
Here is the full text of my review: https://medium.com/@denysbakirov/nord...
In a certain sense, we all knew that Scandinavian societies were getting something very right in terms of political, cultural, and economic development. But these countries lacked an articulated philosophy that could explain where exactly are they heading to. Their development was unfolding as it is, on a hunch, without a conscious plan or framework. We were told that it had something to do with interpersonal trust and trust in the institutions, cold climate that made warm bodies come closer together, and so on, but that’s a feeble explanation. All of this changed with the appearance of Hanzi Freinacht’s “Listening Society” and works of certain other northern thinkers like Lene Anderson and Tomas Bjorkman (“Nordic Secret”), Jonathan Rowson, Brent Cooper, whose developmental narratives had placed otherwise divergent fragments in their proper context.
Hanzi Freinacht is a broad and deep thinker. Nothing is left out from his books as he uses ‘metamodern’ lenses to address the full spectrum of our impending problems. I think there is a pattern to what he is doing in this book. Rowan Williams once said that the task of life is to encounter the uninvited in such a way as to make it invited. Coming from the most progressive place on Earth, Sweden, Hanzi is paying close attention to where we are going as humanity. He elucidates the directions in which progress takes us as to make them visible, trusted, and… “invited”.
Then he looks at the processes that make this progress happen. What are they precisely? As a society, we have accumulated an instituted political apparatus to handle some of them. But many remain outside the confines of our scrutiny. Hanzi merely points out — look, we are doing it anyway, but without conscious control and directionality. Now it is time to become aware and take responsibility for its unfolding.
In a way, Hanzi takes these awkward and uncanny and controversial themes and says “look — we have to grow up. We have to become adults who are ready to speak seriously and officially about the things that were until now floating on the margins of formal political process, thus poisoning and polarising the discourse, for there were no adults in the room to address them properly.” We have kind of left these processes in the hands of fate, instead of doing what Hanzi is doing. That is to say — if we partake in them whether we want it or not, then why not partake in them in all conscious seriousness? It reminds one of how a parent might bring children together to talk with them about how sexuality works. It is an awkward thing to discuss, granted, but it is worth it.
Here is the full text of my review: https://medium.com/@denysbakirov/nord...
August 30, 2024
GREAT BOOK.
Unexpectedly hopeful.
SO grateful for this.
Particularly in an election year.
Particularly in THIS election year (2024).
Nordic Ideology by Hanzi Freinacht (aka Daniel Görtz) is the second book in this series on Metamodern developmental politics/philosophy.
It’s the follow up to The Listening Society.
And on the theme of developmental psychology.
If The Listening Society is the bratty adolescent, situationist/agit-prop style introductory text.
Then Nordic Ideology is the more mature, more adult, more advanced, more evolved, deeper presentation of Metamodern political concepts.
THE STATE OF THE STATES
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that the contemporary culture war is divided in 4 directions with a MODERNIST CONSERVATIVE pull towards FASCISM (TRUMP), opposed by a POSTMODERN pull towards SOCIALISM (SANDERS/AOC), with another THIRD STREAM LIBERTARIAN crew fighting for wild west style TECH-BRO TYRNAY (JOE ROGAN), and a NEW AGE set praying for WOO WOO (JILL STEIN).
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that these perspectives will oppose each other until the (RAPIDLY APPROACHING) END OF DAYS. Unless we can find a way to synthesize and integrate the very best of each modality.
PRINCIPLES BEFORE PERSONALITIES
Freinacht/Görtz posits that the principles underlying each of these perspectives are COMMUNITY (LIBERALISM), ORDER (CONSERVATISM) FREEDOM (LIBERTARIANISM) and TRANSCENDENCE (ROMANTICISM).
NORDIC
Freinacht/Görtz posits that the NORDIC model of GREEN SOCIAL-LIBERALISM is the inevitable outcome if we want to avoid FEUDALISTIC FASCISM as the ECOLOGY collapses due to CLIMATE CHANGE, and the LABOR ECONOMY collapses due to ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
I’m embellishing here.
But it’s ESSENTIALLY what Freinacht/Görtz says.
NORDIC TO THE CORE
The book's core assertions are that (a) individuals, societies and technologies evolve along a predictable developmental stages based trajectories, with advanced stages transcending and including the prior stages; (b) the materialist (modern) and social justice (post-modern) political orientations are irreconcilable oppositional binaries in the current culture war; (c) sustainability (green) and social equity (socialist liberalism) are becoming increasingly important political/existential objectives, as climate change and artificial intelligence continue to disrupt our current ecological and economic order; (d) Metamodern developmental political theory offers a feasible way to retain and integrate the best aspects of our current ideological, and political systems, and facilitate psychological, social and spiritual growth in our citizenry, without the oppressive and murderous outcomes of 20th century fascism/communism.
Freinacht/Görtz asserts contemporary Nordic (process based) political models are exemplary of advanced Green Social Liberalism, and posits that that can serve as a template for global sustainable economic/political development in a post materialistic, post work world.
SIX STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Freinacht/Görtz argues that individuals and societies develop in stages. With one stage facilitating the next. And with the next stages integrating (transcending/including) the prior.
Freinacht/Görtz offers the following six value memes (v-memes) as a stage based model of psychosocial development:
STAGE 1 (ANIMISTIC: characterized by a deep connection to nature and the belief in a world filled with spirits or life forces. Societies at this stage tend to be organized around small, close-knit communities where traditions and rituals are essential. The focus is on the collective well-being and harmony with the environment.
STAGE 2 (FAUSTIAN): emerges with the rise of civilization, where individuals and societies begin to seek power, control, and expansion. This stage is marked by a drive for exploration, scientific inquiry, and the desire to transcend natural limitations. The term "Faustian" alludes to the myth of Faust, who sold his soul for knowledge and worldly pleasures, symbolizing the human quest for mastery over the world.
STAGE 3 (POST-FAUSTIAN): emphasizes the need for ethical responsibility, and a more balanced approach to progress. This value meme seeks to correct the excesses of the Faustian stage by integrating wisdom and long-term thinking into societal development.
STAGE 4 (MODERN): characterized by reason, science, and the industrial revolution. It prioritizes individual achievement, economic growth, and technological advancement. Modernism is associated with the development of democratic institutions, capitalism, and the belief in continuous progress.
STAGE 5 (POSTMODERN): challenges the certainties of modernism, emphasizing the relativity of truth, the importance of multiple perspectives, and the critique of power structures. It values diversity, inclusivity, and the questioning of grand narratives. This stage is often associated with progressive social movements and the critique of hegemonic ideologies.
STAGE 6 (METAMODERN): seeks to integrate the insights of all previous stages while addressing their limitations. It emphasizes a dynamic balance between modernist progress and postmodernist critique. Metamodernism values complexity, adaptability, and the ability to navigate multiple perspectives. In politics, it aims for governance systems that are responsive, inclusive, and capable of addressing the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
NOTE: if you are a priori allergic to these types of hierarchical developmental models, you’re not alone. This is a common postmodern critique. In fact, deconstructing this type of hierarchical master-narrative it is the very FOUNDATION of postmodernism and critical theory of all types.
In essence, postmodernism asserts that hierarchical systems are inherently self interested, where in the creators of the hierarchy always seem to put themselves on the top of the heap. Furthermore, these types of hierarchical systems are instrumental in larger systems of oppression, in that the beneficiaries of these hierarchical systems use the systems (that they made up) to justify oppressing people on the “lower rungs” and/or cajoling them into adopting their culture values, and abandoning their own, invariably to the detriment of everyone except for the ones on top (as in colonialism, racism, classism, sexism, heteronormativity etc.)
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that metamodernism acknowledges the value of postmodern critique, with the caveat that the cultural relativism of the the postmodernist stance leaves people and society in a kind of directionless malaise, and is actively deeply contradictory in practice.
For instance. Metamodernism integrates the postmodern critique of dominance hierarchies.
Yes.
But points out that when postmodernisim critiques modern hierarchal master natives as oppressive, it implies that postmodernism cultural relativism is superior to modernism.
As such. The postmodernist stance is deeply contradictory in practice. And as such, implicitly commits a philosophical error known as the PERFORMATIVE CONTRADICTION. In essence, by criticizing anything, you are implying that your perspective is superior, and as such, engaging in the very hierarchical thinking you’re trying to critique.
As Ken Wilber says. You might as well write an essay denying the existence of writing.
ALSO: if these all of this sounds familiar, and/or appropriated from integral theory and spiral dynamics, you’re right, they are. However. Freinacht/Görtz is critical of the new age aspects of Integral Theory, and Ken Wilber.
SIX FORMS OF POLITICS
Freinacht/Görtz outlines the following six forms of politics that he believes are necessary to guide this metamodern transformation:
1 EXISTENTIAL POLITICS: Concerned with the cultivation of deeper emotional and spiritual well-being, helping individuals to navigate their lives with a sense of purpose.
2 EMANCIPATION POLITICS: Focused on the liberation of individuals and groups from oppressive structures, moving beyond mere tolerance to genuine freedom and equality.
3 EMPERICAL POLITICS: Emphasizing evidence-based policy-making and the integration of scientific knowledge into the political process.
4 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS: Aimed at evolving democracy into more participatory and deliberative forms, ensuring that governance becomes more inclusive and responsive.
5 GEMEINSCHAFT POLITICS: Concerned with communitarian governance and social equity.
6 POLITICS OF THEORY: Revolves around the deliberate design of societal institutions and cultures to foster human development and well-being. If this sounds a little too much like fascism/communism. Freinacht/Görtz would agree, and writes exclusively about the dangers of this perspective devolving into oppression.
Freinacht/Görtz posits that Metamodern NORDIC STYLE, PROCESS BASED GOVERNMENT will utilize the (aforementioned) SIX FORMS OF POLITICS, to facilitate societal progress through the (aforementioned) SIX STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT, in order to achieve GREEN SOCIAL LIBERALISM.
THE EVOLUTIONARY GAME
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that each political stance constitutes a type of relationship to the EVOLUTIONARY GAME of SURVIVAL.
With LIBERAL/POMO/COMMUNISM essentially being a type of GAME DENYAL, constituting what he calls CRIMES AGAINST ACTUALITY.
Meaning:
LIBERALISM is NICE, but it’s not REALISTIC.
CONSERVATIVE/FASCISM makes the opposite mistake, essentially being a type of OVERLY ENTHUSIASTIC GAME ACCEPTANCE, where in IS TRIPS AUGHT, constituting what he calls CRIMES AGAINS POTENTIALITY.
Meaning:
CONSERVATISM is REALISTIC but it’s not NICE.
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that if we want to:
AVOID:
- CONSERVATIVE TECHNO-FACISM
- LIBERTARIAN ANARCHO-CAPITALISM
- LIBERAL POMO-NANNY-STATE
FEATURING:
- SURVEILLANCE CAPITALIST OLIGARCHY
- RACIST/CLASSIST “MERITOCRACY”
- ECHO-SOCIALIST WELFARE STATE
- REGRESSIVE THEOCRACY
WE NEED TO RADICALLY CHANGE THE CURRENT POLITICAL GAME WERE PLAYING.
WAY TOO MUCH MORE.
EVEN IF ALL OF THIS SOUNDS WHACK.
The book is VERY thought-provoking.
And A LOT OF FUN.
5/5 stars ⭐️
Unexpectedly hopeful.
SO grateful for this.
Particularly in an election year.
Particularly in THIS election year (2024).
Nordic Ideology by Hanzi Freinacht (aka Daniel Görtz) is the second book in this series on Metamodern developmental politics/philosophy.
It’s the follow up to The Listening Society.
And on the theme of developmental psychology.
If The Listening Society is the bratty adolescent, situationist/agit-prop style introductory text.
Then Nordic Ideology is the more mature, more adult, more advanced, more evolved, deeper presentation of Metamodern political concepts.
THE STATE OF THE STATES
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that the contemporary culture war is divided in 4 directions with a MODERNIST CONSERVATIVE pull towards FASCISM (TRUMP), opposed by a POSTMODERN pull towards SOCIALISM (SANDERS/AOC), with another THIRD STREAM LIBERTARIAN crew fighting for wild west style TECH-BRO TYRNAY (JOE ROGAN), and a NEW AGE set praying for WOO WOO (JILL STEIN).
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that these perspectives will oppose each other until the (RAPIDLY APPROACHING) END OF DAYS. Unless we can find a way to synthesize and integrate the very best of each modality.
PRINCIPLES BEFORE PERSONALITIES
Freinacht/Görtz posits that the principles underlying each of these perspectives are COMMUNITY (LIBERALISM), ORDER (CONSERVATISM) FREEDOM (LIBERTARIANISM) and TRANSCENDENCE (ROMANTICISM).
NORDIC
Freinacht/Görtz posits that the NORDIC model of GREEN SOCIAL-LIBERALISM is the inevitable outcome if we want to avoid FEUDALISTIC FASCISM as the ECOLOGY collapses due to CLIMATE CHANGE, and the LABOR ECONOMY collapses due to ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
I’m embellishing here.
But it’s ESSENTIALLY what Freinacht/Görtz says.
NORDIC TO THE CORE
The book's core assertions are that (a) individuals, societies and technologies evolve along a predictable developmental stages based trajectories, with advanced stages transcending and including the prior stages; (b) the materialist (modern) and social justice (post-modern) political orientations are irreconcilable oppositional binaries in the current culture war; (c) sustainability (green) and social equity (socialist liberalism) are becoming increasingly important political/existential objectives, as climate change and artificial intelligence continue to disrupt our current ecological and economic order; (d) Metamodern developmental political theory offers a feasible way to retain and integrate the best aspects of our current ideological, and political systems, and facilitate psychological, social and spiritual growth in our citizenry, without the oppressive and murderous outcomes of 20th century fascism/communism.
Freinacht/Görtz asserts contemporary Nordic (process based) political models are exemplary of advanced Green Social Liberalism, and posits that that can serve as a template for global sustainable economic/political development in a post materialistic, post work world.
SIX STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Freinacht/Görtz argues that individuals and societies develop in stages. With one stage facilitating the next. And with the next stages integrating (transcending/including) the prior.
Freinacht/Görtz offers the following six value memes (v-memes) as a stage based model of psychosocial development:
STAGE 1 (ANIMISTIC: characterized by a deep connection to nature and the belief in a world filled with spirits or life forces. Societies at this stage tend to be organized around small, close-knit communities where traditions and rituals are essential. The focus is on the collective well-being and harmony with the environment.
STAGE 2 (FAUSTIAN): emerges with the rise of civilization, where individuals and societies begin to seek power, control, and expansion. This stage is marked by a drive for exploration, scientific inquiry, and the desire to transcend natural limitations. The term "Faustian" alludes to the myth of Faust, who sold his soul for knowledge and worldly pleasures, symbolizing the human quest for mastery over the world.
STAGE 3 (POST-FAUSTIAN): emphasizes the need for ethical responsibility, and a more balanced approach to progress. This value meme seeks to correct the excesses of the Faustian stage by integrating wisdom and long-term thinking into societal development.
STAGE 4 (MODERN): characterized by reason, science, and the industrial revolution. It prioritizes individual achievement, economic growth, and technological advancement. Modernism is associated with the development of democratic institutions, capitalism, and the belief in continuous progress.
STAGE 5 (POSTMODERN): challenges the certainties of modernism, emphasizing the relativity of truth, the importance of multiple perspectives, and the critique of power structures. It values diversity, inclusivity, and the questioning of grand narratives. This stage is often associated with progressive social movements and the critique of hegemonic ideologies.
STAGE 6 (METAMODERN): seeks to integrate the insights of all previous stages while addressing their limitations. It emphasizes a dynamic balance between modernist progress and postmodernist critique. Metamodernism values complexity, adaptability, and the ability to navigate multiple perspectives. In politics, it aims for governance systems that are responsive, inclusive, and capable of addressing the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
NOTE: if you are a priori allergic to these types of hierarchical developmental models, you’re not alone. This is a common postmodern critique. In fact, deconstructing this type of hierarchical master-narrative it is the very FOUNDATION of postmodernism and critical theory of all types.
In essence, postmodernism asserts that hierarchical systems are inherently self interested, where in the creators of the hierarchy always seem to put themselves on the top of the heap. Furthermore, these types of hierarchical systems are instrumental in larger systems of oppression, in that the beneficiaries of these hierarchical systems use the systems (that they made up) to justify oppressing people on the “lower rungs” and/or cajoling them into adopting their culture values, and abandoning their own, invariably to the detriment of everyone except for the ones on top (as in colonialism, racism, classism, sexism, heteronormativity etc.)
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that metamodernism acknowledges the value of postmodern critique, with the caveat that the cultural relativism of the the postmodernist stance leaves people and society in a kind of directionless malaise, and is actively deeply contradictory in practice.
For instance. Metamodernism integrates the postmodern critique of dominance hierarchies.
Yes.
But points out that when postmodernisim critiques modern hierarchal master natives as oppressive, it implies that postmodernism cultural relativism is superior to modernism.
As such. The postmodernist stance is deeply contradictory in practice. And as such, implicitly commits a philosophical error known as the PERFORMATIVE CONTRADICTION. In essence, by criticizing anything, you are implying that your perspective is superior, and as such, engaging in the very hierarchical thinking you’re trying to critique.
As Ken Wilber says. You might as well write an essay denying the existence of writing.
ALSO: if these all of this sounds familiar, and/or appropriated from integral theory and spiral dynamics, you’re right, they are. However. Freinacht/Görtz is critical of the new age aspects of Integral Theory, and Ken Wilber.
SIX FORMS OF POLITICS
Freinacht/Görtz outlines the following six forms of politics that he believes are necessary to guide this metamodern transformation:
1 EXISTENTIAL POLITICS: Concerned with the cultivation of deeper emotional and spiritual well-being, helping individuals to navigate their lives with a sense of purpose.
2 EMANCIPATION POLITICS: Focused on the liberation of individuals and groups from oppressive structures, moving beyond mere tolerance to genuine freedom and equality.
3 EMPERICAL POLITICS: Emphasizing evidence-based policy-making and the integration of scientific knowledge into the political process.
4 DEMOCRATIC POLITICS: Aimed at evolving democracy into more participatory and deliberative forms, ensuring that governance becomes more inclusive and responsive.
5 GEMEINSCHAFT POLITICS: Concerned with communitarian governance and social equity.
6 POLITICS OF THEORY: Revolves around the deliberate design of societal institutions and cultures to foster human development and well-being. If this sounds a little too much like fascism/communism. Freinacht/Görtz would agree, and writes exclusively about the dangers of this perspective devolving into oppression.
Freinacht/Görtz posits that Metamodern NORDIC STYLE, PROCESS BASED GOVERNMENT will utilize the (aforementioned) SIX FORMS OF POLITICS, to facilitate societal progress through the (aforementioned) SIX STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT, in order to achieve GREEN SOCIAL LIBERALISM.
THE EVOLUTIONARY GAME
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that each political stance constitutes a type of relationship to the EVOLUTIONARY GAME of SURVIVAL.
With LIBERAL/POMO/COMMUNISM essentially being a type of GAME DENYAL, constituting what he calls CRIMES AGAINST ACTUALITY.
Meaning:
LIBERALISM is NICE, but it’s not REALISTIC.
CONSERVATIVE/FASCISM makes the opposite mistake, essentially being a type of OVERLY ENTHUSIASTIC GAME ACCEPTANCE, where in IS TRIPS AUGHT, constituting what he calls CRIMES AGAINS POTENTIALITY.
Meaning:
CONSERVATISM is REALISTIC but it’s not NICE.
Freinacht/Görtz asserts that if we want to:
AVOID:
- CONSERVATIVE TECHNO-FACISM
- LIBERTARIAN ANARCHO-CAPITALISM
- LIBERAL POMO-NANNY-STATE
FEATURING:
- SURVEILLANCE CAPITALIST OLIGARCHY
- RACIST/CLASSIST “MERITOCRACY”
- ECHO-SOCIALIST WELFARE STATE
- REGRESSIVE THEOCRACY
WE NEED TO RADICALLY CHANGE THE CURRENT POLITICAL GAME WERE PLAYING.
WAY TOO MUCH MORE.
EVEN IF ALL OF THIS SOUNDS WHACK.
The book is VERY thought-provoking.
And A LOT OF FUN.
5/5 stars ⭐️
October 5, 2019
This book is not disappointing. Even though sometimes I felt some naivety in the system Hanzi is proposing (I think it is normal when you want to propose a brand new ideology), he did a very compelling diagnostic of the current state of affairs and the history of mankind from a kind of hegelian dialectic (which you can understand in a deeper way reading the Book One). He tried to take all the variables, he tried to understand the mistakes we as a human beings have committed through history and above all he tried to understand the human conditions and even so he recognizes that he is not sure that "metamodernism" will work.
It is very hard to predict the future, and one of the problems of his proposal is that I think he somewhat disesteem the role that technology is going to have in the future. But these considerations a side, this is a very good work.
It is very hard to predict the future, and one of the problems of his proposal is that I think he somewhat disesteem the role that technology is going to have in the future. But these considerations a side, this is a very good work.
August 19, 2020
This book doesn't deserve 5 stars but it does, kind of. Hard to explain. Good and bad. Deep and shallow. Original and plagiarized. And I'm sure the authors agree.
May 8, 2021
I didn't put this book up as philosophy because it's really not. Theres some superficial mention of philosophy but that's all.... there is however a really nice critique of Marxism from the point of view Freinacht is taking, and that's interest.
Mostly this is a book to get us to apply the first book (Listening Society). In this book Freinacht bangs us over the head with his ideas. He pontificates on various dimensions of interaction within society (mostly Ken Wilbur-ish) at the end but he takes most of the book to work up to this point, instead attempting to address how to break apart our ideas of what is liberty, what is democracy, what is X under his extended Michael Common's hierarchy of complexity and other such ideas. Mostly this is "Listening Society Applied". This is done in a fairly clever way, and it is careful to construct its argument from its position of multiple levels of complexity. The book as a whole though takes its assumptions as given and doesn't really go far beyond that.
While this is at times interesting, this book is mostly just an exercise in filling the background of ideas already presumed, and in that sense, it wasn't that interesting.
We knew how the book was going to end from the very beginning. The interest was to see how Freinacht was able to get there... and of course he was, even if it was a little long winded... as he had to cover all the bases.
Mostly this is a book to get us to apply the first book (Listening Society). In this book Freinacht bangs us over the head with his ideas. He pontificates on various dimensions of interaction within society (mostly Ken Wilbur-ish) at the end but he takes most of the book to work up to this point, instead attempting to address how to break apart our ideas of what is liberty, what is democracy, what is X under his extended Michael Common's hierarchy of complexity and other such ideas. Mostly this is "Listening Society Applied". This is done in a fairly clever way, and it is careful to construct its argument from its position of multiple levels of complexity. The book as a whole though takes its assumptions as given and doesn't really go far beyond that.
While this is at times interesting, this book is mostly just an exercise in filling the background of ideas already presumed, and in that sense, it wasn't that interesting.
We knew how the book was going to end from the very beginning. The interest was to see how Freinacht was able to get there... and of course he was, even if it was a little long winded... as he had to cover all the bases.
April 17, 2025
So, I really liked The Listening Society. I read it twice before Nordic Ideology, just to make sure I had the groundwork. NI was obtuse, unnecessarily opaque, complicated and repetitive. I'm sure it's probably mostly me. Perhaps I need to study it, like a text book. But its style doesn't lend itself to study, since it's written by the pseudonymous Hanzi Freinacht, who kinda rants, kinda meanders, and repeats himself over and over. The joke got old. The content was mostly good, but also extremely theoretical and sounded like "We won't make the mistakes of the communists because we've identified all their mistakes, and anticipated any new ones."
For the life of me I couldn't summarise the book for you, beyond, "better political systems based on metamodernism".
For the life of me I couldn't summarise the book for you, beyond, "better political systems based on metamodernism".
November 1, 2024
у другому томі Ганзі ще більше "растєкашется мыслію по древу", а тому починає хорошо (про муху, що їсть анусом + і слів Ернеста Бекера, що ми - "боги з анусами"), а далі нудить про шість типів державних устроїв і занепад комунізму. знаково, що всі свої парадоксальні думки він сам же і заперечує: каже, що раніше Чарлі Чаплін наслідував тоталітарного лідера, а тепер тоталітарні лідери наслідують Чапліна - і наводить приклад Зеленського і сам же й каже: але ж З не тоталітарний. та й таке.
а ще в цьому томі було мінімально метамодерну, а тому мені було мінімально цікаво це читати.
а ще в цьому томі було мінімально метамодерну, а тому мені було мінімально цікаво це читати.
November 11, 2024
This book would have been boring af without the first.
But with the first, it feels like receiving the keys to understanding culture and (the possibility of) societal development.
Just an absurdly satisfying analysis and framework to understand society, history, and culture.
I would read 3 pages a day and marinate on it for 24 hours. So much brain candy in here.
Changes the way I think about organizational development and democracy.
Loved it.
But with the first, it feels like receiving the keys to understanding culture and (the possibility of) societal development.
Just an absurdly satisfying analysis and framework to understand society, history, and culture.
I would read 3 pages a day and marinate on it for 24 hours. So much brain candy in here.
Changes the way I think about organizational development and democracy.
Loved it.
October 9, 2023
Fantastic introduction to a holistic view of the world. A manual to check in the future for reference. Compilation of main themes to focus on, where to read and expand, game denial, acceptance and change. Challenges for the society of the future. potential solution to capitalism. Better to read their first book first. Is an entertaining take on very serious topics, an incredibly great approach!
March 21, 2024
An ambitious book, that attempts to bring together many strands into a cohesive strategy that results in both effective governance and a holistic conception of the individual in society.
A commendable effort, deserving of 4 stars, but not as good as the first one.
A commendable effort, deserving of 4 stars, but not as good as the first one.
August 19, 2025
Great follow up to book 1. Super dense and something I’m going to need to read again to fully digest.
November 26, 2020
Like his first book, brilliant, captivating, and incredibly inspiring. Among my top 5 books ever. He breaks down how our political/governmental/societal systems can be improved to be more effective. In and ambitiously wide sweeping way, including ideas like crafting a belief system that ultimately guides our governance decisions, and using data to determine what belief system that should be. Everything resonates. Everything makes sense. Clear, logical, compelling thinking and a fun but earnest voice. But sometimes overwhelming, as, at least in the US, we are so tragically far from doing anything and a data driven way, never mind creating “Existential politics” In a data driven way. Now that’s the dream.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2021
Roadmap for a better future
An extremely important book for those seeking a path through populism, nationalism, challenges with climate change and all complex human eco systems. This is a challenging read and covers a lot of complex political and social and human systems. It also offers suggestions on how we can build a new political system that is up to the task of complexity we have created with our accelerated technology and interconnected world.
Key take always for me are: increasing control and exploration of our inner worlds will be critical for an evolving society, as is increasing emotional intelligence more broadly. Becoming multi-perspectival, and honing our scientific exploration of truths and facts also critical.
This is a handbook for human evolution.
An extremely important book for those seeking a path through populism, nationalism, challenges with climate change and all complex human eco systems. This is a challenging read and covers a lot of complex political and social and human systems. It also offers suggestions on how we can build a new political system that is up to the task of complexity we have created with our accelerated technology and interconnected world.
Key take always for me are: increasing control and exploration of our inner worlds will be critical for an evolving society, as is increasing emotional intelligence more broadly. Becoming multi-perspectival, and honing our scientific exploration of truths and facts also critical.
This is a handbook for human evolution.
April 3, 2020
This book pitches basically an entirely new society, providing insightful notes along the way about freedom, equality, and gender and ethnic relations. Want to find out about the Montesquieu 2.0? Want to know why communism failed? This book is well worth the read!
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