The End of the Modern World

Those of us who remember back to the 1960's remember how people used to talk about "the modern world." Sometimes it was also called "modernity,' it was supposed to be a kind of "upward curve" of increasing prosperity and progress. The science fiction of the time, such as "2001: A Space Oddity" foretold a future where humanity would soon be travelling to the far reaches of the universe.

The ensuing half century have turned out to be more of a downward curve. Economic conditions are declining all over the world. Even in the First World standards of living are falling. This is causing growing levels of social and political breakdown. Increasing violence is making democracy unviable, leaving the only alternatives of anarchy or dictatorship. The whole idea of modernity is collapsing, and people all over the world are giving up on the future. We may scoff at those Islamists who are trying to return to a mythical caliphate. But in Europe and the US, the growth of racism and xenophobia indicates a desire to return to an imagined past. Modernism, with its glowing promises, has been discredited.