Surviving these interesting times
Columbia University economic historian Adam Tooze has coined a neologism to give shape and definition to our modern perils. He christens it “polycrisis.” It is what it sounds like, a condition that inspires anxiety and overwhelming helplessness caused by too many crises coming from too many directions happening too quickly.
George Soros (a man who Republicans are trying to blame for most of our latter-day crises) says our biggest modern crises are caused by three existential human perils: artificial intelligence, global warming and the war in Ukraine. I would tend to agree, adding rising worldwide fascism as a fourth and runaway inflation as a fifth.
But however you prioritise them and however many crises you group at the top, the fact remains that these are, in the proverbial sense, interesting times indeed. If you’re suffering existential psychological angst from one or more of these latter-day perils then take heart, you are not alone. We are all in this together.
Long ago I decided not to worry over things I could do nothing about. I came of age during the 1970s when the slings and arrows of human disquietude were caused principally by the Cold War. I remember it well. Existence itself felt pointless and constantly under threat. By the 1980s I was so numbed by fear of constant exposure to mortal danger that I ceased to notice or care. In short, I got on with my life and hoped for the best.
And by 1991 the best came and we were rescued from ourselves. The fall of the Soviet Union meant the immediate threat from nuclear war was now a thing of the past, China was exposed for what it was, a second-rate power, and America became the dominant force on the planet. The years of Clinton prosperity soon arrived and we were once again the masters of our own destinies.
The jolting wake-up call that was September 11 and the resultant and inevitable burst of the internet stock bubble brought us back to reality. But at least it was a reality of a manageable size, and we responded to it with a universal anger directed at an identifiable foe uniting us in a common cause.
Today the world is very different and existential peril lies, seemingly, in every direction we look and with every step we take. As a seasoned veteran of getting on with my life I find I am taking it in stride and have even developed an almost scientific and detached fascination for this rapidly changing world. Also, for the last five years I’ve had an unusual outlet for my personal frustrations. I can write them all down and scream about them to an audience of hundreds of thousands in the Palmer Report.
It is cathartic, I admit it, and I confess that it’s something of an unfair advantage. I don’t know how I would have fared without it.
But thanks to the internet and social media we all have the world as our audience. We can bear our souls to the universe and the universe will listen, more or less. We mock and laugh about social media, but we should also give it its due. It’s been there for us, and the giant listening ear in the sky isn’t only God, it’s other human beings who actually and occasionally answer using the printed word. Let’s remember to give thanks for that.
Another thing we have going for us, and I think this is the thing that will ultimately save us, is we all have in common a more or less intact instinctive need to survive. The problem of the survival of our species is before us, and I have a feeling that when eight billion heads are put together, a solution will be found.
In the meantime, remember to get on with your life, which is, ultimately, the point of existence, if there is any point at all. Do what you can for the common good as your day job but at night put your feet up and remember to find enjoyment where you can. We all have one shot at this miracle of existence. Remember to make the most of it. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.