THE FUTURE AND ITS ENEMIES

Reviewed 6/17/2002

The Future and its Enemies, by Virginia Postrel

THE FUTURE AND ITS ENEMIES:
The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress
Virginia Postrel
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN 0-684-96269-7 265pp. SC $13.00

Much like The Cultural Creatives, Ms. Postrel's book paints a picture of two generally monolithic groups working at odds with each other, while a third group struggles — and often succeeds — to innovate and progress in its own eclectic ways, untroubled by the dogmatic pronouncements of the powers that be.

The first two groups are reactionaries and technocrats. Reactionaries crave stability; they like the world (or at least their portion of it) the way it is. Consequently, they dislike innovation, for innovation brings change. Technocrats, on the other hand, have no problem with change. But they insist on prescribing which changes will take place, and forbidding those they dislike; their goal is to dictate the "one best way" — for everyone.

Both these groups, therefore, oppose dynamism — the mode of thought and action that drives the decentralized, informal fabric of a society of independent actors continually coming up with their own ad hoc solutions to problems they perceive in a continual flow of trial-and-error inventions and enterprises.

Ms. Postrel favors dynamism. Indeed, she luxuriates in it — and with good reason, as she abundantly documents in this book. The first chapter names and describes the principle players on each side in exhaustive detail, so that I frequently wanted to stop and work up a cheat sheet. However, the remainder of the book deals more with the conflict between reactionaries and technocrats over how the nation — and the world — are to be governed.

These chapters contrast the stasist1 and dynamist approaches to various aspects of life: knowledge, community, nature, work, and play. They are closely reasoned, thoroughly researched, and lyrically written. The final chapter is a persuasive dynamist manifesto aimed at the new millennium. "On the verge between centuries," Ms. Postrel writes in closing, "the dynamist promise is not of a particular, carefully outlined future. The future will be as grand, and as particular, as we are. We cannot build a single bridge from here to there, for neither here nor there is a single point. And there is no abyss to cross."

Even though I have a stasist streak in me, I like and admire this book. It truly deserves the accolades quoted: "Provocative..." "...piercing analysis" "...bold and compelling..." "Magisterial! Encompassing!" "Her message is a bracing one." "Postrel heralds a fundamental shift in the way we view politics, culture, technology, and society as we face an unknown-and invigorating-future."

I will be acquiring a hard-cover copy for my library. In the meantime, this passage from the introduction gives a little of the impact:

"How we feel about the evolving future tells us who we are as individuals and as a civilization: Do we search for stasis—a regulated, engineered world? Or do we embrace dynamism—a world of constant creation, discovery, and competition? Do we value stability and control, or evolution and learning? Do we declare with Appelo that "we're scared of the future" and join Adams in decrying technology as "a killing thing"? Or do we see technology as an expression of human creativity and the future as inviting? Do we think that progress requires a central blueprint, or do we see it as decentralized, evolutionary process? Do we consider mistakes permanent disasters, or the correctable by-products of experimentation? Do we crave predictability, or relish surprise?"

– Page xiv

The answers, my friends, are blowin' in the wind. They always will be.

1 Note this word carefully; it is not "statist".
I found no typos. But here are some more notable quotes from The Future and its Enemies.
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