Here is a practical scenario. A resident of a developing country that inherited it's technique from her colonial masters is fed up with all the layers of bureaucracy. Kind of like depicted in the movie Brazil. There is corruption at every level. He cannot get anything done so he wants his government to apply technique and go digital in order to gain more efficiency. Is he wrong in this ask? Certain developing countries have used techique to root out bad behavior at the mid level. Citizens are happy that they can now get government services efficiently. One could make the argument that this gain in efficiency through e-government will be taken advantage of by the ruling elite eventually but a normal person cannot see that far ahead. He is only focused on solving problems he sees today.
I agree. The premise of my work The God Protocol [https://quranite.com/the-god-protocol/] is that the elites are culpable precisely because they do control the herd (via Technique). Ellul's argument is the Technique is a self-defeating proposition. I don't entirely agree with him there. There is a moral quotient, and there are good and bad rulers. However, it is clear where this society is going to anyone with eyes in his head. But, as you say, most people do not see that far ahead.
Looks like with each upgrade, humanity has to let go of a part of its spirituality. And few realize it. Thinkers like Guenon and Ellul do open the reader's eyes to this reality. Sam's work has been instrumental in connecting all their ideas with the Qur'an, and the application of technique by the 'Jinn' to nudge society in their preferred direction, which incredibly is going to lead to total destruction.
There really is something to this, if you think about the most advanced and efficient countries like China or Japan with bullet trains and modern mega cities etc the people are usually more tense and robotic. I teach Japanese, Chinese and Thai students and notice the differences immediately. Different “speeds” of technique.
Glad you’re hitting on Ellul’s books. I too was a big fan of Alan Watt, heard you mention him several times, and read Ellul years ago (recommended by Alan Watt ) but it only partially sunk in, now it hit harder listening to your talks. Lot of expats complain about Thailands slowness or dysfunction ie power goes out easily or no traffic police or government cannot solve air pollution from fires or slow mail , but this dysfunction actually retains some culture , which is why we all left the west in the first place haha
Peace Sam,
Here is a practical scenario. A resident of a developing country that inherited it's technique from her colonial masters is fed up with all the layers of bureaucracy. Kind of like depicted in the movie Brazil. There is corruption at every level. He cannot get anything done so he wants his government to apply technique and go digital in order to gain more efficiency. Is he wrong in this ask? Certain developing countries have used techique to root out bad behavior at the mid level. Citizens are happy that they can now get government services efficiently. One could make the argument that this gain in efficiency through e-government will be taken advantage of by the ruling elite eventually but a normal person cannot see that far ahead. He is only focused on solving problems he sees today.
I agree. The premise of my work The God Protocol [https://quranite.com/the-god-protocol/] is that the elites are culpable precisely because they do control the herd (via Technique). Ellul's argument is the Technique is a self-defeating proposition. I don't entirely agree with him there. There is a moral quotient, and there are good and bad rulers. However, it is clear where this society is going to anyone with eyes in his head. But, as you say, most people do not see that far ahead.
Looks like with each upgrade, humanity has to let go of a part of its spirituality. And few realize it. Thinkers like Guenon and Ellul do open the reader's eyes to this reality. Sam's work has been instrumental in connecting all their ideas with the Qur'an, and the application of technique by the 'Jinn' to nudge society in their preferred direction, which incredibly is going to lead to total destruction.
Reminds me of what Berzynski, the Unabomber foresaw back then.
You seem to have created a fusion of Kaczynski and Brzezinski which ought to exist as a new word in its own right!
The forces of Iblis are using all means necessary to mislead men into the Fire.
There really is something to this, if you think about the most advanced and efficient countries like China or Japan with bullet trains and modern mega cities etc the people are usually more tense and robotic. I teach Japanese, Chinese and Thai students and notice the differences immediately. Different “speeds” of technique.
Glad you’re hitting on Ellul’s books. I too was a big fan of Alan Watt, heard you mention him several times, and read Ellul years ago (recommended by Alan Watt ) but it only partially sunk in, now it hit harder listening to your talks. Lot of expats complain about Thailands slowness or dysfunction ie power goes out easily or no traffic police or government cannot solve air pollution from fires or slow mail , but this dysfunction actually retains some culture , which is why we all left the west in the first place haha
I've noticed too that the more "backward" cultures are prone to retain their sanity for longer.