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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025

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If war becomes increasingly technological, as seems the trend, we can expect a re-feudalization of our politics produced by this basic military necessity. Not in our lifetime, of course, but soon. Mass politics is necessary to get masses of men into the field in an age when how many men you can put in the field determines who wins. This five hundred year cycle of "democracy" has really been the political concessions necessary to get large numbers of men into the army.

When the question is "who has the ability to call a drone strike?" The answer does include a few dozen corporations, major police forces, criminal organizations, terrorists and a cracked-out teenager from Burbank, but does not include a majority of nations. A new sort of feudal system must necessarily form as military capacity is disengaged from political organization.

If war becomes increasingly technological, as seems the trend, we can expect a re-feudalization of our politics produced by this basic military necessity. Not in our lifetime, of course, but soon. Mass politics is necessary to get masses of men into the field in an age when how many men you can put in the field determines who wins. This five hundred year cycle of "democracy" has really been the political concessions necessary to get large numbers of men into the army.

Wait so you're saying that we'll see less democracy as technology increases, and the need for manpower decreases?

And yeah I do agree corporate power is highly concerning. Especially that of AI companies. We'll see where things shake out I suppose.