The Journal of Futures Studies has just released its July 2020 volume: “The Internet, Epistemological Crisis and the Realities of the Future.” The volume features ten written pieces on perhaps the most crucial “social” problem of our time: the internet and the crisis in meaning and sense-making. Each of the writers examines a slightly different aspect of the problem.
You will note from the summary below that one article is mine, entitled “World Wide Warfare: The Shadow of Blue.” It’s is an analysis of some of the issues facing western liberal progressivism (the “blue tribe”) at this time, and I argue that there is a need to return to the core values of that worldview: compassion and justice.
My main point is that the broad movement has begun to betray its own founding values, and this is playing out on the internet (which in turn exacerbates and drives the problem).
This article was written a few months ago, mostly at around the beginning of the recent disruptions in the US and other western countries. Obviously both the COVID-19 situation and the more recent BLM protests have had a huge impact on western society of late. This has merely accelerated the issues, as far as I can see.
This is either the best time or the worst possible time to be critiquing liberal-progressivism. I’m not quite sure which. If you never see me in publication or academia again, we’ll both know the answer. I copped a bit of a flack from one of the two anonymous referees who reviewed my paper, but you have to expect that when you write in this kind of area. You don’t step into a boxing ring and start complaining that someone is trying to beat you up. The referee criticisms, though not exactly polite, did help me to write a much better paper.
Feel free to comment about my paper, or indeed any others in the volume. Feedback is always helpful.
Regards,
Marcus
Journal of Futures Studies July 2020 Vol. 24 No. 4
Introduction: The Internet, Epistemological Crisis and the Realities of the Future: An Introduction to this Special IssueJosé Ramos and Michael Nycyk
Articles
Futures of Reality José Ramos
From Data Serfdom to Data Ownership: An Alternative Futures View of Personal Data as Property RightsMichael Nycyk
Web Wide Warfare. Part 1: The Blue ShadowMarcus T. Anthony
Grasping the Tensions Affecting the Futures of InternetMikko Dufva, Hannu-Pekka Ikäheimo, Tomi Slotte Dufva
The Postnormal ConditionLiam Mayo
Essays Knowledge Democracy, Action Research, the Internet and the Epistemic CrisisLonnie Rowell and Meagan Call-Cummings
Solving the Wickedest Problem: Reconciling Differing Worldviews Tim Morgan
How Can We Advert Our Society’s Drift Toward Disaster by Charting a Different Course?Neal Gorenflo
Book ReviewConfronting a High-Tech Nightmare: A Review of Zuboff’s the Age of Surveillance CapitalismRichard A. Slaughter
Special Research ArticleVisioning the Future: Evaluating Learning Outcomes and Impacts of Futures-Oriented EducationKuo-Hua Chen and Li-Ping Hsu
