Feb 27, 2026 – 5.00am
It’s easy in unstable times like ours to get lost in the moment. I’d like to step back to take stock of the longer-term picture. To my mind, the lead issue is not fracturing social cohesion but rather that Australia, like the rest of the world, may be hurtling out of control, down a road into a bleak dystopian future.
Predicting the future is notoriously unreliable, and one should be very cautious in doom speculation. The long history of capitalism has seen a number of abrupt dislocations caused by technological innovation accompanied by dire predictions, from the Luddites destroying new textile machinery in the early 19th century to fears that new mega department stores would wipe out all small local shops; from alarm that television would spawn a generation of mindless couch potatoes to 1990s fears that automation would bring with it the end of work. In all these cases, apocalyptic forecasts proved unfounded, as dynamic capitalism went on to open new doors, unforeseen ones, of flourishing business, employment, and life experience opportunity. It is also the case that social and economic buoyancy comes in cycles, and low periods have generally forced a clearing out of failing practices and institutions, opening the way for new, hitherto unforeseen ones.
Loading…