We’re not ready for the stars. We’d still rather politik. And that’s okay.

If we lived in a Dark Age right now, how would we know it?

There might be some signs. For example, we would “reimagine” instead of making de novo, we’d look back at the past in search of a “last of a breed,” attempting to collect things “they just don’t make like that anymore,” or even continually tell ourselves stories marking an “end of an era” in which some wonderful manufactured item is about to end production… forever.

We might even stop fighting for G-d, or stop fighting against history,ⁱ or stop reaching for the stars, instead aiming no higher than to be “resilient” and at best to “future-proof” what we have in a way that’s at best zero-sum, being unable to see how it might even be possible to grow the pie. Superstition would come to dominate and we’d come to fear Mother Nature’s awesome power rather than strive to overcome it. We’d see political and economic power centralise as decentralised succession planning failed and the state had no other option than to become the buyer of last resort.ⁱⁱ We’d then start to prioritise “efficiency” and “sustainability” in lieu of growth and pioneering. We might even start to teach our children that “safety comes first”ⁱⁱⁱ and that atoms are dangerous (or at least the dominion of “autocratic” regimes in other countries, not peaceful, fairness-loving, progressive democracies like ours).

We could even get “embarrassed” by something as globally positive-sum as “cheap solar panels”,^iv “cheap batteries” or “cheap EVs” and aim to shield our fragile “first best” psyches and general industrial ineptitude behind a Berlin Walls Of Tariffs So High^v that the actual capitalists can’t even climb them no matter how good their offensive gear.^vi Even when, really, why should we be trying to make cheaper electronics than the narrow-eyed^vii “dumpers”?^viii Why can’t we just focus on resource extraction, financialisation, and some R&D (aka “instruction manuals”)?^ix It certainly seems like the path of least resistance this way!

But no, we’re still too tribal of a species to live in such a complementary and “kumbaya” world, so we “feel” like there’s “no choice” but to degrade ourselves in geopolitical pettiness and fight each other in pointless egotistical zero-sum contests, all for a few miles of turf here or there, rather than push each other towards greater positive-sum heights of computational, biological, and extra-terrestrial excellence.

Thankfully, even granting this seemingly unbreakable tribalism, there’s a bright side to it! And this current Dark Age / Great Power Conflict is no exception. Not least of which is the ever-shifting Sovietesque marketing with its various and sundry “2030 Challenges” across the western world that are quickly becoming “2050” targets, and seem poised thereafter to rebrand the “electrification” agenda as one of “Sinofication“… because that’s exactly what it is, after which it’ll just be a matter of creative hollywood-style^x accounting to reposition Oil & Gas as “Freedom Fuel” or even “Fairness Fuel” depending which side of the aisle you’re on. In fact, this shift might already be underway! To whit, from a recent convo from the esteemed forum:^xi

Pete:

Dude wtf such a goddam design home run. Absolutely savage. No hybrids, no turbos, acknowledgement of design heritage without slavishness. Just pure Ferrari at its best. Wowowowow. Cheap 812s incoming!

Jiran: It sounds fucking fantastic. I think I’m still a fan of the 812 Competizione look but gdamn mad respect keeping the V12. Nice to see Ferrari not cave to the pleb demands. From certain angles it kinda reminds me of the [365] Daytona.

Pete: Plebs want NA! It’s crazy China-slobbing eurocrats that want hybrid electric everything.

Jiran: I meant all this boring EV/Hybrid riff raff

Pete: Simps for euro rats! Not real plebs. And according to my dealer contacts, basically all new 911 versions coming out later this year will be mild hybrid except GT3 and Carrera T. Then in 4 years for full redesign (994?) it’ll be ALL mild hybrid. End of an era. Unless the pendulum swings back?

Jiran: I hope it does. Make cars fun again!

Pete: Speaking of pendulums… Mate Rimac saying it’s basically OVER for “performance” EVs. Echoing what Akio Toyoda has been saying for the last couple of years too. Tech works for maybe 30% of the population in western world but *not* for all. So for performance products, it’s basically “quartz crisis” circa 1970s all over again. The less people *need* cars, the more they want them to be ICE.

Jiran: LMAO was this some next level Machiavellian maneuvering to get to run the Bugatti brand!? Suddenly homie runs Bugatti and is like nah wait EV sucks, Bugatti is way cooler and now I’m the head of it. “He said Rimac is all about doing “whatever is most exciting at the time,” and this could potentially involve fuels such as natural gas, hydrogen, or even diesel.” Basically yeh Rimac is dead and we’ll do esoteric things to appease people but guess what bitches I run Bugatti now and we bringing back the V16.^xii Especially for hypercars how does EV make any sense? There’s zero emotion without the sound. And the less people *need* cars for transport the more luxury they become, per Simon Sarris “Car should be like wild horse”

Pete: No sound == no emotion! Tough to justify $2+ mn purchases with no emotion. “Everyone” in 1970s thought that “inevitable” future was electronic quartz movements because “more accurate”!! But this is exactly like EV being “faster 0-60”. Turns out… enthusiasts want mechanical things!^xiii And I’m currently of the mind that the “sustainability” religion is effectively a Chinese psyop. Or maybe it’s just “coincidence” that all the sustainability “solutions” involve buying Chinese manufactured goods.

So basically, Dark Ages aren’t all bad! Yes, we might find ourselves believing some pretty unbelievable things, but at their best Dark Ages still see tradition carried on, passion carried on, and life carried on. No, the stars probably aren’t in our near future, but there’s still so much more to learn, discover, and build right here on terra firma. Not least of which is V12 engines.

So maybe the better question is: if we lived in a Dark Age right now, would we care?

1. Even at its best and most honest, the whole “sustainability” agenda effectively has us “simping” our grandchildren rather than, y’know, as great men in great times must, humbling our grandchildren with the glory of our wisdom and heights of our accomplishments. Rather than competing with history, or for G-d, weeping at the feet of Alexander as we aim for the stars once more, we’re creating generations of feckless neotenic labradoodle cucks who “perform” mostly well enough but who are ultimately too scared of their own shadows to ever let the rubber hit the road.  ↩
2. Goodness knows it’s happened enough times before…
   

   The masses slipped into serfdom and unrest, while the state grew larger and more authoritarian in response. The state was now keeping itself alive at all cost.

   As Septimus Severus said: "Live in harmony; enrich the troops; ignore everyone else." pic.twitter.com/ZyaNVMANim

   — Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) May 14, 2024

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3. Safety is obviously third… duh. ↩
4. The Bismarck Brief on solar panels is ungated and well worth a read: “Photovoltaics Give Credibility To A Solar Revolution” ↩

5. https://t.co/pe0Pvz7OwB pic.twitter.com/2wm6vmmy2f

   — Rasheed J. Griffith (@rasheedguo) May 14, 2024

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6. “I Went To China And Drove A Dozen Electric Cars. Western Automakers Are Cooked” by Kevin Williams is well worth a read. It feels like it has the finger right on the pulse, as uncomfortable as that truth may be! Certainly Biden’s 100% (and soon to be 300%) tariffs would seem to indicate so. ↩
7. Physiognomy is “mean,” yes, but it’s also true. I don’t make the rules. Which is also incidentally why the taller and blonder your wife is, the more you’re winning. ↩

8. I mean, we could have the courage to admit we’re materially poor and our paper wealth is illusory, dismantle our financial sectors, devalue our currencies, and compete with China for global export markets, but for what? To sell solar panels? It’s a lot of work for a lame result.

   — scientism (@mr_scientism) May 8, 2024

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9. Patents, accordingly to Palmer Luckey, are “chinese instruction manuals.” And who am I to disagree?  ↩

10. Hollywood Money 101: A look at how a $65M movie can earn $655M at the box office and still LOSE tens-of-millions of dollars on paper.

    How is that even possible?

    Because “Hollywood Accounting” is the greatest form of legal money laundering ever invented.

    And it’s why a “net…

    — Being Travis Cody (@beingTravisCody) May 10, 2024

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11. Edited for clarity. ↩

12. ↩

13. What would you choose?

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