Right now, I’m reading The Five Stages of Collapse, by Dmitry Orlov. It’s an intense book, predicated on the idea that the global economy is in a process of disintegration. I’m taking it very slowly, attempting to get what I need from it without accepting the whole thing whole. I already disagree with many of his conclusions about the USSR. But I also think it’s a useful and important book, full of concepts that are seriously worth thinking about. One thing I’m getting out of the text is the idea that we need to think of our world as something in constant transition.

Orlov offered the example that right now the US elects a president, democratically. Perhaps in the future that will no longer be the case. It will be a change. Possibly a change for the worse. But it will be a survivable change. Assuming there will be no change is not the way to face the future. It’s a view for looking at the world we live in, and it’s a view for looking at our lives.