Chapter 02: A Crisis of the 21st Century? Or, A Question For Aurelian?
"But shall the Deified Aurelian, that most famous of princes, that most firm of rulers, who restored the whole world to the sway of Rome, be unknown to posterity? God prevent such madness!"
This essay is part of an ongoing series by The Nostomodern Review on Modernism and its future in the 21st Century and beyond. Each essay forms parts of the Nostomodernist project: a quasi-scholarly attempt at reevaluating what it means to be Modern in contemporary times, to possibly reconcile the gap between Modernism and its supposed successors, and to speculate on new trajectories within the current era of history via a mythic reading of Modernity itself.
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The Crisis Of The 21st Century
The 21st Century is in crisis. Time is running out. Leviathans converge to the end of this century. The First Leviathan roars back as the planet disintegrates under the strain of Cultural Ouroboros.
In attempting to expand outwards, the Leviathan has begun to devour the planet itself, but it still has a long way to go. But how much time does the Earth have? The Earth itself is a Leviathan—the First Leviathan—from which everything descends. And the Earth is struggling too.
The Inertial Leviathan, in the shape of Cultural Ouroboros, threatens to slay its parent. No other Leviathan has ever reached this size. A cultural superstructure, a Super-Leviathan, with the hunger to consume Earth itself.
In the shadow of this Leviathan, the Modern Age becomes existential crisis: a great filter for mankind itself. If you are looking for Postmodern possibilities, now this is your chance.
Modernity, and thus the Leviathan, are likely to end in two ways:
Ecological Collapse: the material conditions of the Modernity are destroyed by the spirit of the First Leviathan itself. The Earth reclaims its territory; Medea reclaims her children. Will our death be fast or slow?
Technological Sublimation: the material conditions of the Modernity are sublimated by the spirit of the Differential Leviathan—Techno-Dionysus itself—and Collapse is avoided altogether. But are we still human anymore?
Both beasts are now charging the world at the end of time; twin Leviathans now forming in the womb—only one survives in the next world. Will it be the spiral approaching from the past or the one from the future? The race is sheer hyperstition; may the Emperor reach Rome in time.
If the former wins, the Neoleviathans will reign in a global war-against-all. This is a Postmodern world too. Imagine the fracturing of the international order as various Neo-Darwinian interest groups, based on nationalism or regional allyship, inevitably vie for the few natural resources left on this increasingly inhospitable planet. Imagine Schmittian statehoods in permanent states of exception, desperate and without any semblance of ordered civilisation. This is one Postmodern world; these are the final days of Modernity.
On the other hand, if the latter wins, the material conditions of the Modern Age will become irrelevant. Artificial Intelligence, zero-emission energy, plastic-eating worms, global carbon capture, and systemic automation will create a new paradise for human beings—one ushered away from the slavings of the past and the material problems of the 21st Century. The earth is saved; the Neoleviathans never come to pass; the future is sublimated by the myth of Techno-Dionysus. This is one Postmodern world; these are the final days of Modernity.
But consider another Postmodern world:
Eschatological Adaption—the material conditions of Modernity are disrupted by both ecological and technological forces together. The world is no longer the same; and yet, it has not ended either. The future is uncertain; it is likely unrecognisable. Are we still Modern anymore?
Modernity is likely to surprise us. Nostomodernity is to watch and wait; let time do the work.
A Host To Crisis
The Crises of the 21st Century are one of many futures. Not all crises are catastrophic or world-ending; many are simply accumulations of things—change at a noticeable pace.
This subchapter is an introduction to the following three:
Chapter 2a A Nightmare Ecology? Or, A Question for Medea
Chapter 2b A Postmodern Singularity? Or, A Question for Dionysus
Chapter 2c A Journey From The West? Or, A Question for Apollo
Copyright © Thomas J. Pellarin, 2021. All rights reserved.