The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
Reading such quotes, I don’t understand how Moldbug and others can decry their “progressivist” opponents as a sinister and secretive world-spanning stand-alone complex. It’s just a few middle-aged men (they’re neither old nor young when they deploy their key works), and, lately, women, gently guiding history insofar as it can be guided, speaking quite clearly about their capabilities and intentions. Is this power structure necessarily so awful?
--John Maynard Keynes
Reading such quotes, I don’t understand how Moldbug and others can decry their “progressivist” opponents as a sinister and secretive world-spanning stand-alone complex. It’s just a few middle-aged men (they’re neither old nor young when they deploy their key works), and, lately, women, gently guiding history insofar as it can be guided, speaking quite clearly about their capabilities and intentions. Is this power structure necessarily so awful?