Introducing Our New Dystopia
This is a series of posts introducing the idea of a “market state” dystopia. It starts with the premise of the market state, which comes from the work of legal scholar Philip Bobbitt, acknowledges that these are dark times, pulls in Orwell, and then runs with it.
What the Heck is a Market State?
When I started this publication, I noted that my thinking is influenced by cyclical theories of history. I didn't want this substack to be about cycles per se, more about where we are now - but that just might be at a certain phase in a cycle, right? I then brought up generational cycles
War in the Market State Era
In a previous post, I discussed a theory about the evolution of the state that is espoused by legal scholar Sir Philip Bobbitt.
The Orwellian Market State
I love theories of cycles in history. They are intutitively believable because cycles are present everywhere in nature, and it is reasonable to expect to encounter them in human society as well. Cycle theories help to orient oneself in historical time - explaining how we got to where we are, and allowing us to anticipate where we are going. Of course, o…
What Happened to the Internet?
In my recent mini-series on the market state, the supposed new form of the state emerging in our highly networked era, I concluded that it had become Orwellian - a new form of dystopia. I promised a new set of slogans for this new dystopia to replace the three slogans used by Orwell’s Party.
Public Service Announcement: Embrace Your Doom
It’s pretty bad here in the United States of America. The Federal government is shut down. The President has declared war on American citizens, if they don’t support him or if they are recent immigrants, and sent militarized police forces into city streets. Congress is unwilling or unable to do anything about it, while the Supreme Court has the Presiden…
Back to the Future; or, Get Me out of this Timeline!
I’m as happy as the next Substacker about the Democrats sweeping the November 2025 elections. I was super nervous about the Red State Ascendancy, as I’ve called it, so it was a relief to see that the Blue State has some fight left in it.
By the end of the series, we have identified three slogans for the new dystopia, a variation of the slogans Orwell used in his novel 1984:
More is Less: even as the economy has expanded and complexified as the market state has grown, our options have shrunk and our outcomes have worsened.
Bad is Good: confronted with the difficulties and dangers for which the market state can provide no respite, we have come to accept them as the new normal.
Future is Past: the only way forward for the market state is to somehow get back to the past.
Welcome to the new dystopia.