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The End of the Megamachine: A Brief History of a Failing Civilization Paperback – September 25, 2020
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"A must read for everyone rising against the system that is destroying life on earth and our future." Vandana Shiva, World Future Council
The End of the Megamachine provides a uniquely comprehensive picture of the roots of the destructive forces that are threatening the future of humankind today. Spanning 5000 years of history, the book shows how the three tyrannies of militarized states, capital accumulation and ideological power have been steering both ecosystems and societies to the brink of collapse. With the growing instability of the Megamachine in the 21st century, new dangers open up as well as new possibilities for systemic change, to which everyone can contribute.
- Print length440 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherZero Books
- Publication dateSeptember 25, 2020
- Dimensions5.61 x 0.97 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-101789042712
- ISBN-13978-1789042719
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'The topic could not be more important. A very valuable and surely timely contribution.' -- Noam Chomsky, Laureate Professor, University of Arizona
'A fascinating new take on the parts of human history that got us where we are today.' -- Bill McKibben, Founder of Third Act and author of The Flag, The Cross and The Station Wagon
'This book, a sensation in Germany when it was first published, challenges us to seek a new path for our and the planet's survival.' -- Maude Barlow, Council of the Canadians
'A magnificent book, that couldn't be more topical. We owe gratitude, solidarity and a lot of admiration to the author.' -- Jean Ziegler
'A fascinating book, delightful to read in spite of the grim topic. This is an excellent reflection on the terror/hope that we are living.' -- John Holloway, Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico
'You can't be a serious activist committed to creating a new world if you haven't read this.' -- Firoze Manji, Carleton University
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- Publisher : Zero Books (September 25, 2020)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 440 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1789042712
- ISBN-13 : 978-1789042719
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.61 x 0.97 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #763,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,259 in History of Civilization & Culture
- #2,842 in History & Theory of Politics
- #2,914 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)
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… When I initially read the term ‘Megamachine’ I took it to mean a certain ‘apex’ of our modern technology. That is not what he seems to be referring to as ‘the Megamachine’ at all. Just before the eighteenth minute into this pod cast, he was talking about most of the so-called liberals back at the turn of the century who were quite opposed to giving voting rights to the masses of the population. He mentions that;
“… they were really afraid that if everyone had voting rights, that would be the end of the mega machine...”
… So, the Megamachine is ‘not’ to describe a technological phenomenon, as I thought if may have been his intention -the Megamachine is a cultural one. The Megamachine seems to be that over-powering juggernaut of our capitalist, neo-liberal, imperial, system -the very staus quo itself…
… This is an important distinction to bring up, simply because so many of our population are quite fascinated not only with artificial intelligence in general, but our own future potential for even greater and greater technological advancements in particular -i.e. our worldwide shift in these past few decades towards all things S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and math) -at the quite obvious expense of all things far more ‘holistic’ and symbiotic...
… The interviewer -not surprisingly- brought up that exact scenario with our author. He suggested to the author that maybe a bigger and better super computer would help us out of our technological, cultural plunge over that metaphorical, existential cliff.
… Only a few paragraphs into the introduction of our author Fabian Scheidler’s tome (which I have already begun reading thanks to Amazons handy Kindle option), he suggests that no new technology is even necessary to develop, which might somehow mid-wife society out of our cultural malaise, in some far distant future. Our author informs us us that all of the solutions we would require are already available right here and right now. We just simply have to commit to its unfoldment.
… Our author tried to share the intricate complexity of even a simple cell -and the millions of molecules which made up the material of just one, singular cell itself. Our author was interrupted by the interviewer as he dismissively suggested that “most of the molecules are all the same, so you don’t really need to focus on all of them. One should only need to possibly focus on only a critical few.”
… And in that process, I would suspect -and suggest- that that super computer would present us with a most elegant -but equally simple formula- to that perceived problem which plagues us (as the best math formulas often do).
… And that mega computer would likely spit out some elegant formula, somewhat akin to; “the solutions you seek are all around you… you just simply have to commit to enacting them…”
“… wait… whaaa?…” I can almost hear our techno-geeks protesting.
“... reset the super-computer… that’s not the answer we were expecting...”
One criticism that makes so much sense is how Capitalism and Democracy have been confused by being conflated. This truism we've been sold by repetition are so ingrained they are hard to challenge, and we often do not even realize we've been herded by these truisms. Scheidler makes the case that Democracy developed as an opposition to the abuses of Capitalism, in other words, the polar opposite ... which makes so much more sense in terms of modeling the world and history and politics. This implies that the way to progress will come from people demanding their rights against a government which is more a corporation of powerful economic forces than an expression of the people's will.
Another concept is that the development and use of how coined money came from rulers seeking to force people to pay tribute to their hierarchy and join the economy in order to tax them. Put the important concepts that Scheidler explains together and an understanding falls out of how human history developed and why it is so toxic to so many people and the environment.
The End of the Megamachine: A Brief History of a Failing Civilization by Fabian Scheilder is a remarkable work that tells it like it, was and possibly will be. It is like a roadmap to tell us where we are in history and what our ancestor's place in the universe has been. This book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in all encompassing intuitive understanding of politics.
It would be great if the book could be in Audible/Audio format so that it is easier to focus on and absorb. It is packed with important ideas and demonstrates fundamental recursive trends in human history. 5/5
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Highly recommended.