A very familiar situation, thanks for describing it so eloquently.
In my case the pain resulted from finally emotionally acceding an issue that I had intellectually perceived long before, but somehow managed to push the full implications aside. Once the dam broke, so to speak, the flood of horror and pain was enough to make me question my sense of sanity at the worst moments.
In my case, it took about three years, a lot of emotional work, thinking and writing to learn to cope with it all, and to figure out a productive way forward with the new u...
It seems to me the technocratic rule is but another manifestation the idea already expressed by Plato in his Republic, a polis governed by philosophers and where rationality rules. The common thread being the perception of intellectual superiority by a certain group, seen to justify their governing position, coupled with the idea that the operations of a society can be rationally understood and managed.
A wonderful initiative, best of luck with your book, I’m already looking forward to it!
I believe there are two-fold hindrances for wider acceptance and adoption of such progress-positive ideas, which of course come back to things already mentioned in your posts, and in comments to them.
First of all, the 18th-19th century progress movement came on the back of tangible progress on multiple fronts of society, from population growth, technological development, increasing military/political strength vis-a-vis the rest of the world, and broad-based improve...
Thanks for the review, the book and its topics seem interesting and highly relevant in context of the fragmented and fractious societies we live in today, in the west at least.
Pleasure also to comment for the first time here,
This seems almost there, in terms of what you were suggesting?
https://www.sciencealert.com/ai-has-discovered-alternate-physics-on-its-own/amp