Author Archives: William Sundwick

Amending “The World in 2124”

… Am I Still Optimistic? Last April, I wrote a Warp & Woof piece entitled: The World in 2124 … I’m Cautiously Optimistic. Much has happened in the world since then. Has the optimism of my “medium-term” prediction for the next 100 years diminished? The main events, from a historical perspective, that transpired in subsequentContinue reading “Amending “The World in 2124””

Clausewitz Was Wrong

No, I’m not disputing the famous Carl von Clausewitz aphorism: “War is merely the continuation of policy by additional means.” It’s hard to disagree with that – regardless of whether you translate the German “politik” as policy, politics, or diplomacy. The statement is self-evident from our historical experience. Clausewitz, however, was establishing a dialectical tensionContinue reading “Clausewitz Was Wrong”

The Problem with “Degrowth”

Why Is This Economic Model Consigned to Such an Ignominious Little Left-wing Niche? In 1972, the Club of Rome published its alarmist report The Limits to Growth.  52 years ago, the world had not yet discovered climate panic. Indeed, climate science was still developing its nascent modeling techniques – not yet recognized by a generalContinue reading “The Problem with “Degrowth””

Rating Ourselves as Information Consumers

We all have our favorite information bubbles, but they’re not necessarily bad. The secret is to accept that they don’t reflect the whole world!

Wealth Creation: Does it Matter Where it Comes From?

Rent-seeking, in economic thought, seems to be critical to capitalism’s survival … but so is labor! Both are necessary to achieve the abundance we all seek …

Mutual Aid: From Kropotkin to Graeber

Two seminal anarchist thinkers contributed to the development, over the last 200 years of that strand of political and social philosophy in ways rivaled only by Karl Marx …

What’s the Point?

The Problem of Focus I had no organized plan for my 2015 retirement. All I knew was that I had 42 years of accumulated service in the U.S. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which entitled me to a full pension (80% of my “high three” average salary). It was time to go – I wasContinue reading “What’s the Point?”