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COVID-19: The Great Reset Kindle Edition
by
Klaus Schwab
(Author),
Thierry Malleret
(Author)
Format: Kindle Edition
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Thierry Malleret
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LanguageEnglish
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Publication dateJuly 13, 2020
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File size4262 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B08CRZ9VZB
- Publisher : Forum Publishing (July 13, 2020)
- Publication date : July 13, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 4262 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 282 pages
- Lending : Enabled
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Best Sellers Rank:
#13,708 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #7 in Government Management
- #21 in Business Economics
- #35 in Business Education & Reference (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
2,464 global ratings
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2020
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The book not only calls 'global governance', but also for a heightened cooperation between the 'private sector' and the 'public sector'.
Private sector: banks and corporations (private interests)
Public sector: the government (public welfare)
The fact that you're trying to involve private interests in the conversation about public welfare is hilarious. Americans want a government that represents the People, not a handful of oligarchs who rig the system to benefit themselves. America will be the greatest threat to the 'Great Reset' for this reason.
In fact, saying that 'capitalism is broken' is pretty disingenuous when you consider that banks and corporations are the ones who broke it in the first place.
Aren't we only 12 years removed from the 2008 financial crisis? And you think the people of America trust you to install 'global governance'? After our institutions have proved to be unworthy of our trust . . ?
Private sector influence in the public sector is what caused our economic woes to begin with. I seriously doubt giving banks and corporations MORE of a role in government is going to benefit us in any way. I have a radical idea: let's get money OUT of politics, not invite more of it IN.
I realize that most people don't have any economic sensibility whatsoever, but I think the WEF is underestimating the number of people who are raising eyebrows at this whole 'Great Reset' thing. Perhaps that's why radical revolutions so frequently entail locking up the educated. If you're somewhat intelligent, you see right through the lie. And so into the gulag you go! (Hopefully they have pizza in 21st century concentration camps. I need pizza.)
All in all, I was not impressed with the book. I've been paying attention to the UN's Agenda 21/2030 for awhile, but I always thought they'd pull it off a lot more smoothly than they are. As it stands right now, a lot of people are viewing this as a plot to subvert American democracy. The question is: Why isn't this big news?
Private sector: banks and corporations (private interests)
Public sector: the government (public welfare)
The fact that you're trying to involve private interests in the conversation about public welfare is hilarious. Americans want a government that represents the People, not a handful of oligarchs who rig the system to benefit themselves. America will be the greatest threat to the 'Great Reset' for this reason.
In fact, saying that 'capitalism is broken' is pretty disingenuous when you consider that banks and corporations are the ones who broke it in the first place.
Aren't we only 12 years removed from the 2008 financial crisis? And you think the people of America trust you to install 'global governance'? After our institutions have proved to be unworthy of our trust . . ?
Private sector influence in the public sector is what caused our economic woes to begin with. I seriously doubt giving banks and corporations MORE of a role in government is going to benefit us in any way. I have a radical idea: let's get money OUT of politics, not invite more of it IN.
I realize that most people don't have any economic sensibility whatsoever, but I think the WEF is underestimating the number of people who are raising eyebrows at this whole 'Great Reset' thing. Perhaps that's why radical revolutions so frequently entail locking up the educated. If you're somewhat intelligent, you see right through the lie. And so into the gulag you go! (Hopefully they have pizza in 21st century concentration camps. I need pizza.)
All in all, I was not impressed with the book. I've been paying attention to the UN's Agenda 21/2030 for awhile, but I always thought they'd pull it off a lot more smoothly than they are. As it stands right now, a lot of people are viewing this as a plot to subvert American democracy. The question is: Why isn't this big news?
2,603 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020
Verified Purchase
Know your enemy - this is their manual. I think they have greatly underestimated the fact that populations will return to their own normal, or close to it, naturally. Opportunistic malfeasance by the Davos ‘elites’ will be their own downfall.
1,776 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2020
Wrote a prior review for Klaus's work -- IT WAS DELETED. Folks the WEF cronies in high places are censoring bad reviews, so KEEP EM COMIN.
Klaus speculates, pontificates, then imo defecates on humanity with his utopian vision to first save the planet. You'll be given everything, own nothing, and have no religion to boot. And you'll be happy ... and we shall have ... PEACE. Lmao.
Klaus speculates, pontificates, then imo defecates on humanity with his utopian vision to first save the planet. You'll be given everything, own nothing, and have no religion to boot. And you'll be happy ... and we shall have ... PEACE. Lmao.
1,529 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2020
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Yes, you read that right. Technocratic Totalitarianism on a Global scale. This was horrifying, and they're using this pandemic to do it .
1,303 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020
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This is a must read - not because I agree with what Klaus says (I definitely DON'T), BUT because after reading, it all should just click. George Floyd, Trump, China, Vaccines, Contact Tracing, Reduced Privacy, Climate Change, WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION. Pick up your copy. Show others. Highlight as you go. We must re-elect President Trump in November.
1,270 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2020
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This is a pro communist propaganda piece of trash. It’s anti free market capitalism. It’s not worth one penny. It’ll be kindling soon. It’s COVID19 fictionalization is nauseating. It should have a red cover. It tries to sway the reader into NWO thinking.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Propaganda
By bluezman714 on October 25, 2020
This is a pro communist propaganda piece of trash. It’s anti free market capitalism. It’s not worth one penny. It’ll be kindling soon. It’s COVID19 fictionalization is nauseating. It should have a red cover. It tries to sway the reader into NWO thinking.
By bluezman714 on October 25, 2020
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1,079 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2020
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COIVD IS A HOAX AND THIS SHOWS JUST THAT, COVID WAS USED AS THE MACRO RESET. TO STOP EVERYONE IN THIER TRACKS, SO THE ELITES CAN REDIRECT AND TAKE CONTROL OVER ALL NATIONS.
1,018 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2020
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I recently read the following book; “ Covid-19, The Great Reset”. One of the Authors is Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. The WEF was involved in “war gaming” a pandemic in 2019 called Event 201. “ Event 201 simulates an outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic.” This book was published in June of 2020.
Essentially, this book discusses the outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the world will form into a new order a.k.a The Fourth Industrial Revolution or The Great Reset. The book is largely written in a hypothetical manner with suggestions as to possible outcomes, desirable or not desirable. However, it is easy to see it as a road map for the new global world order, because it is. Covid 19 has turned out to be a catalyst, underscoring deficiencies in our current system of governance, business, trade and social order. And the WEF (and their many powerful associates) has a solution for all of this. Interestingly, portions of this solution are already in place. Virtually everything you have experienced or read about for the last six months is part of their plan. This not theory, the ship has sailed and you are on it.
I do not suggest that their plan is all doom and gloom. Their recommendations and theories are in fact quite sensible and I found myself agreeing with their descriptions of our glaring societal deficiencies and how Covid 19 highlighted them. Things such as universal health care, global warming, wealth distribution, supply chains, trade inequities etc. etc. are all discussed. Theoretically we could arrive in a post Covid 19 world in a better place, but that may take years. This book is fascinating and prescient (strangely so) and is a must read if you want to hypothecate regarding your own future. Do I trust them?…hell no. The devil is always in the details which are short in supply right now. But we are all going on this ride and that is a fact. Remember, Bill Gates said the next pandemic is coming and it will likely be worse than this one (yes he did and with a smile). So get ready and hang on.
Essentially, this book discusses the outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the world will form into a new order a.k.a The Fourth Industrial Revolution or The Great Reset. The book is largely written in a hypothetical manner with suggestions as to possible outcomes, desirable or not desirable. However, it is easy to see it as a road map for the new global world order, because it is. Covid 19 has turned out to be a catalyst, underscoring deficiencies in our current system of governance, business, trade and social order. And the WEF (and their many powerful associates) has a solution for all of this. Interestingly, portions of this solution are already in place. Virtually everything you have experienced or read about for the last six months is part of their plan. This not theory, the ship has sailed and you are on it.
I do not suggest that their plan is all doom and gloom. Their recommendations and theories are in fact quite sensible and I found myself agreeing with their descriptions of our glaring societal deficiencies and how Covid 19 highlighted them. Things such as universal health care, global warming, wealth distribution, supply chains, trade inequities etc. etc. are all discussed. Theoretically we could arrive in a post Covid 19 world in a better place, but that may take years. This book is fascinating and prescient (strangely so) and is a must read if you want to hypothecate regarding your own future. Do I trust them?…hell no. The devil is always in the details which are short in supply right now. But we are all going on this ride and that is a fact. Remember, Bill Gates said the next pandemic is coming and it will likely be worse than this one (yes he did and with a smile). So get ready and hang on.
450 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries
Mr. D. Gillies-morgan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Brain-Washing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2020Verified Purchase
All in all the book is an attempt to guide the readers mind into believing a reset is required. One in which the reader will lose personal freedom, but gain dystopian leadership while agreeing to do so.
The book is written from the “Quantum Perspective” which boils down to the premise that life is 100% subjective and that YOU are not real but are in fact a part of THEIR projected reality, and to FIX that, (as Klaus Schwab, Henry Kissinger, Bill Gates, Rothschilds as a family and many others in their circle etc think,,,,,,,, the world requires one single governing “Private Stakeholder” body/organisation and hey ho,,,,,, they will in time pop up to provide that - this is why they drone on and on about the need for a great reset).
This is nothing short of a real life “Dr No” bond movie where Psychopaths plan to dominate and take over the world. Yet am I saying that these people are psychopaths? Well, the book contains conflicting words, sentences facts and figures the way psychopaths present, so please read and work that out for yourself.
1 - Jump to the back (p251) and one will quickly discover the book was largely written by WEF's own sub-contracted crew, one of which is the English Historian Mary Anne Malleret who nauseatingly brow beats you into the idea of historical comparisons, namely the second world war as justification for calling forth a so called great reset.
2 - The book sites "according to Psychologists" on many occasions, yet qualified in psychology myself and conferring with many of my own circle of Dr's,,,,, not one could agree that the narrative and statistics from this book were at all accurate - Most agreed they the references to psychology and studies were rather misleading, spoken from a their perceptional “fantasy future” perspective, and were guiding the individual to agree with their fictional fantasy.
3 - The book continually pushes you down the narrative of 3 scenarios - Yet most psychologists will impart that this is a strategy to plant subliminal "ideas" into one's mind. So please be mindful,,,,, as scenarios presented are merely ideas, and ideas are not truths - Ideas germinate truths only if the reader adopts them. Be mindful and read from an impartial objective view, not from perceive and believe (especially their statistics).
I could go on, yet let's round it up to quote the book - “Enlightened Leadership = HRH Prince Charles”.
I rest my case.
This book Is a total waste of money.
The book is written from the “Quantum Perspective” which boils down to the premise that life is 100% subjective and that YOU are not real but are in fact a part of THEIR projected reality, and to FIX that, (as Klaus Schwab, Henry Kissinger, Bill Gates, Rothschilds as a family and many others in their circle etc think,,,,,,,, the world requires one single governing “Private Stakeholder” body/organisation and hey ho,,,,,, they will in time pop up to provide that - this is why they drone on and on about the need for a great reset).
This is nothing short of a real life “Dr No” bond movie where Psychopaths plan to dominate and take over the world. Yet am I saying that these people are psychopaths? Well, the book contains conflicting words, sentences facts and figures the way psychopaths present, so please read and work that out for yourself.
1 - Jump to the back (p251) and one will quickly discover the book was largely written by WEF's own sub-contracted crew, one of which is the English Historian Mary Anne Malleret who nauseatingly brow beats you into the idea of historical comparisons, namely the second world war as justification for calling forth a so called great reset.
2 - The book sites "according to Psychologists" on many occasions, yet qualified in psychology myself and conferring with many of my own circle of Dr's,,,,, not one could agree that the narrative and statistics from this book were at all accurate - Most agreed they the references to psychology and studies were rather misleading, spoken from a their perceptional “fantasy future” perspective, and were guiding the individual to agree with their fictional fantasy.
3 - The book continually pushes you down the narrative of 3 scenarios - Yet most psychologists will impart that this is a strategy to plant subliminal "ideas" into one's mind. So please be mindful,,,,, as scenarios presented are merely ideas, and ideas are not truths - Ideas germinate truths only if the reader adopts them. Be mindful and read from an impartial objective view, not from perceive and believe (especially their statistics).
I could go on, yet let's round it up to quote the book - “Enlightened Leadership = HRH Prince Charles”.
I rest my case.
This book Is a total waste of money.
1,423 people found this helpful
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Mr Walker
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful prediction for the future of the human race.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2020Verified Purchase
Trying to convince the reader that the great reset is redquired because of covid. All while stating in the conclusion that the virus is one of the worlds least deadly pandemics in 2000. Give me a break, at least it seems that the plan isnt going as expected. I can clearly see almost everything that has happened in 2020 seems to be continuing with a plan to devide the people while scrambling around trying to usher in the new world order.
892 people found this helpful
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Fred Bear
1.0 out of 5 stars
A delusional book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2020Verified Purchase
This book explores the current global scenario and discusses what the future might hold for us. We are told we are at a crossroads, one path will take us to a better world, the other will be similar to what we left behind but worse. With a nod to religion (heaven or hell), it is obvious we are supposed to choose the path laid out for us. The authors erroneously suggest that the pandemic has dramatically torn up the existing script of how to govern countries, live with others and take part in the global economy. They tell us that the spread of infectious diseases has a unique ability to fuel fear, anxiety and mass hysteria. To push home this point, the word 'fear' is mentioned 31 times in the book. I don't doubt that there are sections of society who are worried but I fail to sense the emotional carnage that the authors' describe. Things, they say, will never return to normal but a few pages later suggest that a vaccine, and enough people being vaccinated, will enable us to return to normal. Are warning bells ringing with you? They are with me. The use of selective quotes to spread fear and social unrest, promoting the view that we are heading into chaos and uncertainty, is highly irresponsible. The authors claim a failure of global governance and leadership over Covid-19 and that people now feel the time ripe for reinvention. Presumably this is where The Great Reset comes in. All well and good but I'd like to know who these people are? Prince Charles? Tony Blair?
To truly understand the message of the book, you have to know about the authors. Klaus Schwab is an economist, engineer and founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF. The WEF is an elite global non-governmental organisation based in Switzerland committed to shaping a better global future. Thierry Malleret is Managing Partner of the Monthly Barometer (for top-level business and investors) and previously founder and head of the Global Risk Network at the WEF, investment banker and economist. WEF attracts the wealthy and the powerful including those from business, politics, charity and academia, as well as celebrities and activists. Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minster, banned ministers from attending the last WEF meeting at Davos in January 2020 to focus on the people and not on champagne with billionaires. He once told the BBC that Davos was "a great big constellation of egos involved in massive mutual orgies of adulation".
Little things annoyed me about the book such as no Chapter listings at the beginning of the Kindle version giving the impression of a long rambling essay. References to films and novels, e.g. 'The Plague' by Albert Camus, were singularly unhelpful. More serious references often failed to tell the whole story. For example, one stated that most (65%) of the world agreed that: 'In the economic recovery after Covid-19, it's important that government actions prioritize climate change'. I find it difficult to understand how a survey of 28,029 people out of a global population of 7.8 billion can be a fair representation of global opinion. Also, what wasn't mentioned was that nearly half (44%) wanted action taken to help the economy recover even if it was bad for the environment. The misinformation continued with the blanket claim that working at home is climate friendly when this is only the case in the summer. Research shows a typical British commuter working at home all year round would have a carbon footprint that is 80% higher than the average office worker (WSP, 2020). For all the talk about global economics and finance, there is much missing. No mention of the implications of the dollar coming off the gold standard in 1971. No mention of Bitcoin, a well-established global digital currency, available to all. The truth about global finance cannot be found here. It can really only be found with people like Mike Maloney and James Rickards. As for climate change and the environment, there is no mention of the green washing which has inveigled its way into every facet of our lives. Recycling has spectacularly failed the world over. The devastation of the natural environment, and the death and displacement of wildlife, caused by global wind farm development is one of the most appalling crimes of the century and continues unabated. Fourteen million trees have been felled for wind farms in Scotland alone. This is the tip of the iceberg. The world is being systematically destroyed by 'green' energy development. Climate change is big business and the authors of the book are using it as leverage to push for global control.
I would have liked to have seen less self-citation from Schwab, the WEF and to a lesser extent Malleret. Referencing a book with your previous work is not a crime but doesn't sit well with a lot of people. The rhetoric regarding Covid-19, providing the opportunity for a fairer greener future where wealth will be distributed from the rich to the poor, is laughable. Members of WEF and attendees of Davos are some of the most powerful in society, mega corporations who control and shape us, they are the elite, Royalty, the bankers of the world, the cream of the crop. Presumably, these are the people we are supposed to be handing over global governance to. You would have to be seriously deluded to think that any of them will give up their wealth. In addition, they have had plenty of time to make a fairer, more eco-friendly, world but their track record speaks for itself. I fail to see any reason why we should put any faith in them and this book hasn't changed my mind. The WEF is an exclusive club and, by its very nature, excludes the majority of the citizens of the world. It's real aim is global control of the billions of ordinary people and the destruction of nation states. In other words, the imposition of a totalitarian government. The Great Reset is a sham of epic proportions. Read this book with extreme caution. It is a Trojan horse.
To truly understand the message of the book, you have to know about the authors. Klaus Schwab is an economist, engineer and founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF. The WEF is an elite global non-governmental organisation based in Switzerland committed to shaping a better global future. Thierry Malleret is Managing Partner of the Monthly Barometer (for top-level business and investors) and previously founder and head of the Global Risk Network at the WEF, investment banker and economist. WEF attracts the wealthy and the powerful including those from business, politics, charity and academia, as well as celebrities and activists. Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minster, banned ministers from attending the last WEF meeting at Davos in January 2020 to focus on the people and not on champagne with billionaires. He once told the BBC that Davos was "a great big constellation of egos involved in massive mutual orgies of adulation".
Little things annoyed me about the book such as no Chapter listings at the beginning of the Kindle version giving the impression of a long rambling essay. References to films and novels, e.g. 'The Plague' by Albert Camus, were singularly unhelpful. More serious references often failed to tell the whole story. For example, one stated that most (65%) of the world agreed that: 'In the economic recovery after Covid-19, it's important that government actions prioritize climate change'. I find it difficult to understand how a survey of 28,029 people out of a global population of 7.8 billion can be a fair representation of global opinion. Also, what wasn't mentioned was that nearly half (44%) wanted action taken to help the economy recover even if it was bad for the environment. The misinformation continued with the blanket claim that working at home is climate friendly when this is only the case in the summer. Research shows a typical British commuter working at home all year round would have a carbon footprint that is 80% higher than the average office worker (WSP, 2020). For all the talk about global economics and finance, there is much missing. No mention of the implications of the dollar coming off the gold standard in 1971. No mention of Bitcoin, a well-established global digital currency, available to all. The truth about global finance cannot be found here. It can really only be found with people like Mike Maloney and James Rickards. As for climate change and the environment, there is no mention of the green washing which has inveigled its way into every facet of our lives. Recycling has spectacularly failed the world over. The devastation of the natural environment, and the death and displacement of wildlife, caused by global wind farm development is one of the most appalling crimes of the century and continues unabated. Fourteen million trees have been felled for wind farms in Scotland alone. This is the tip of the iceberg. The world is being systematically destroyed by 'green' energy development. Climate change is big business and the authors of the book are using it as leverage to push for global control.
I would have liked to have seen less self-citation from Schwab, the WEF and to a lesser extent Malleret. Referencing a book with your previous work is not a crime but doesn't sit well with a lot of people. The rhetoric regarding Covid-19, providing the opportunity for a fairer greener future where wealth will be distributed from the rich to the poor, is laughable. Members of WEF and attendees of Davos are some of the most powerful in society, mega corporations who control and shape us, they are the elite, Royalty, the bankers of the world, the cream of the crop. Presumably, these are the people we are supposed to be handing over global governance to. You would have to be seriously deluded to think that any of them will give up their wealth. In addition, they have had plenty of time to make a fairer, more eco-friendly, world but their track record speaks for itself. I fail to see any reason why we should put any faith in them and this book hasn't changed my mind. The WEF is an exclusive club and, by its very nature, excludes the majority of the citizens of the world. It's real aim is global control of the billions of ordinary people and the destruction of nation states. In other words, the imposition of a totalitarian government. The Great Reset is a sham of epic proportions. Read this book with extreme caution. It is a Trojan horse.
911 people found this helpful
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R. Hill
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unconditional Love will be the revolution. Not this.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2020Verified Purchase
The manifesto of a dying organisation. The book speaks volumously of revolutions in all sectors including political, economical, social and technological. What it is blind to however is the imminent spiritual revolution that humanity has been denied for so many years. If there is one thing we can be absolutely certain of, it is the impossibility of death (as state) due to the inability of Un-consciousness to manifest in the 1st-person. In the absence of 1st-person Un-consciousness, all that remains is 1st-person Consciousness. There can never be a moment when you are not having an experience - all that can change is the nature of the experience. People are waking up to the logical understanding that we are an eternal collective consciousness. Once fully completed, compassion and empathy will be our natural foundation Unconditional Love will be the revolution. Not this book. Sorry.
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Flutlicht
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Techno-Totalitarian Lovestory
Reviewed in Germany on August 31, 2020Verified Purchase
I bought this book to gain some knowledge about the mindset of globalists, who are the selfproclaimed "elite" of this world, while nobody has ever voted for them to govern our lives. This book is good evidence that these people are living in a bubble, having lost all connection to reality. I will now summarize the main problems I have figured out about the author's perception of reality depicted in this book:
1) The free market is responsible for all evil, what we need is stronger governments, preferably such a 'democratic' one as in China. Consequently, the book is full with praise for the Chinese way of life. An assumption which cannot be made by reasonable people who want to live in a free and sustainable world in which the individuum's rights are protected, and not exposed to constant surveillance, which we have in Chinese communism today. Here are some quotes from the book:
"[The situation might provoke changes such as] an augmented search for the common good as a policy objective, the notion of fairness acquiring political potency, radical welfare and taxation measures, [...]" (p.18)
"the Confucianism prevalent in so many Asian countries places a sense of duty and generational solidarity before individual rights; it also puts high value on measures and rules that benefit the community as a whole." (p.88)
"The Covid-19 pandemic has made government important again. Not just powerful again, but also vital again[...]" (p.89, the author quoting John Micklethwait)
"Acute crises contribute to boosting the power of the state. It's always been the case and there is no reason why it should be different with the Covid-19 pandemic." (p.89)
"[...] the role of the state has shrunk considerably. This is a situation that is set to change because it is hard to imagine how an exogenous shock of such magnitute [...]could be addressed with purely market-based solutions." (p.91)
"On the dial that measures the continuum between the government and the markets, the needle has decisively moved towards the left." (p.92)
"For the first time [...] governments have the upper hand. [...] Rather than simply fixing market failures when they arise, they should, as suggested by the economist Mariana Mazzucato: 'move towards actively shaping and creating markets that deliver sustainable and inclusive growth.' " (p.92)
"A significant element of new "bigger" government is already in place with the vastly increased and quasi-immediate government control of the economy." (p.92)
"Looking to the future, governments will most likely [...] decide that it's in the best interest of society to rewrite some of the rules of the game and permanently increase their role." (p.93)
"the role of the state will increase and, in doing so, will materially affect the way business is conducted. [...] business executives in all industries and all countries will have to adapt to greater government intervention. [...] Taxation will increase, particularly for the most privileged" (p.94)
"While in the past the US was always the first to arrive with aid where assistance was needed, this role now belongs to China" (p. 123)
2) The author is also totally in love with the concept of mass surveillance. He writes:
"The containment of the coronavirus pandemic will necessitate a global surveillance network" (p.33)
"We will see how contact tracing has an unequalled capacity and a quasi.-essential place in the armoury needed to combat Covid-19, while at the same time being positioned to become an enabler of mass surveillance." (p.153)
"An important lesson can be learned from the countries that were more effective in dealing with the pandemic (in particular Asian nations): technology in general and digital in particular help. Successful contact tracing proved to be a key component of a successful strategy against Covid-19." (p.159)
"Contact tracing and tracking are therefore essential components of our public-health response to Covid-19" (p.160)
"China, Hong Kong SAR and South Korea implemented coercive and intrusive measures of digital tracing. They took the decision to track individuals without their consent, through their mobile and credit card data, and even employed video surveillance" (p.160)
"The digital tracing solution most lauded and talked about was the TraceTogether app run by Singapore's Ministry of Health. It seems to offer the "ideal" balance between efficiency and privacy concerns[...]" (p.160)
"No voluntary contact-tracing app will work if people are unwilling to provide their own personal data to the governmental agency that monitors the system" (p.164)
"[...]the corporate move will be towards greater surveillance; for better or for worse, companies will be watching and sometimes recording what their workforce does." (p.165)
"[...] any digital experience that we have can be turned into a "product" destined to monitor and anticipate our behaviour." (p.166f)
"Then, when the crisis is over, some may realize that their country has suddenly be transformed into a place where they no longer wish to live." (p.167)
Even after mentioning all the dangers of constant surveillance, the author concludes that "the genie of tech surveillance will not be put back into the bottle." (p.171)
He also really thinks that "Dystopian scenarios are not a fatality."(p.171)
How we can avoid this dystopia, he does not explain in the book. But that does not seem to be the aim of the book anyway - it is rather a praise of mass surveillance and privacy does not concern the author very much.
At the same time the author admits that "the consequences of Covid-19 in terms of health and mortality will be mild compared to previous pandemics. At the end of June 2020, Covid-19 has killed less than 0,006% of the world population." (p.247) And admitting that "the average age of those dying of Covid-19 is almost 80 years [in Italy]" (p.221) But that does not change his mind, he still propagates mass surveillance and the necessity of lockdowns.
4) While I understand that it is good to also see the advantages to this worldwide disaster, the author is using surprisingly positive language during his analysis of the situation:
"The possibilities for change and the resulting new order are now unlimited and only bound to our imagination" and "We should take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to reimagine our world" (p.19)
Later he even uses phrases like "not letting the crisis go to waste" (p.145 or p.142f) and "making good use of the pandemic" (p.145). My personal impression is that the author is very happy about the coronavirus and its induced opportunities. He even says that this crisis is "accelerating progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals" (p.248f). He is certainly not concerned much about the whole situation.
5) Paradoxical are also the author's statements concerning unemployment, work and poverty. On one page he is praising the new jobs created by the crisis in the digital/online/robotic industry, but on other pages he also sees the danger of millions of people being put out of work. But his book does not sound like a warning, it sounds like an advertisement for the first group of industry which is profitting from the crisis. It sounds like this: "It is good that the ship is sinking, because we will create some jobs, when the shipwreck has to be lifted out of the water."
During the whole book the author keeps talking about "social safety nets" necessary to prevent uproars and riots, because of all the unemployment, which will be the result of the lockdowns. The idea sounds good, but who is going to pay the safety net when huge amounts of people rely on the state? The powerful state, propagated in this book needs massively high taxes anyway, which is putting even higher pressure on the working population. It does not look realistic to me. The book does not really give different answers to all the massive problems, except for "the state saving us". Which I personally find ridiculous, because the state never cares about individuals as we can clearly see in China.
6) The underlying message of the book is: We need a global governance to be better prepared for such situations. The virus, the C02 problem, climate change etc. could only be tackled with a global leadership. The idea sounds ridiculous to me - how would a world government have changed the spreading of a virus? By more surveillance and more lockdowns? How would it reduce C02 emission? By forbidding certain industries and putting 80% of the world's population into unemployment? How would this reduce climate change? By more laws and regulations? I think these are all just excuses to install a world leadership and many people can see that by now.
7) While writing about how the virus and the lockdown messed up the "whole world", he completely forgot to mention countries which did not have a lockdown at all. Many of his thesises can be debunked by simply looking at Sweden. This country has successfully avoided destroying its own economy while having no lockdown, no masks, no social distancing etc. at all. No need for surveillance, technology etc. It is no surprise that the author does not mention this country a single time in the whole book. On page 45 he is talking about two studies that "modelled what could have happened without lockdown", instead of simply looking at the real example of Sweden, I guess it did not fit the narrative.
8) The author often talks about "clean energy" (e.g. p.145) and he is obviously condemning fossile fuels, while wishing for a future full with (electric) sensors and "remoted devices", surveillance cameras etc. which all need energy. He nowhere explains where this energy should come from. Solar and wind power are long debunked. They are inefficient and not stable sources of energy. Nuclear and coal most propably are not appreciated by the author either, so what is left? (Maybe the author knows something, we do not know). I also like to remind the fans of electric devices how batteries are made, with huge environmental damage. Here is one more quote about the author's idea of energy supply: "A group of green activists could demonstrate in front of a coal-fired power plant" (p.149)
9) The author is so entangled in his vision of the future, economics, numbers and science, that he makes a lot of unreasonable assumptions in this book. Especially when it comes to human, social behaviour. Here are some of them, which are particularly entertaining:
"As consumers may prefer automated services to face-to-face interactions [...]" (p.55)
"changing course will require a shift in the mindset of world leaders to place greater focus and priority on the well-being of all citizens and the planet" (p.58)
"The idea [of helicopter money] is appealing and realizable" (p.68)
"[Central bankers] will have to define an upper limit at which inflation becomes disruptive and a real concern." (p.69)
"The post-pandemic era will usher in a period of massive wealth redistribution, from the rich to the poor [!!] and from capital to labour." (p.78)
"In America as in many other countries, African Americans are poorer, more likely to be unemployed or underemployed and victims of substandard housing and living conditions. As a result they suffer more from pre-existing health conditions like obesity, heart disease or diabetes" (p.80f) (Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are mostly caused by overeating, bad diets, or unhealthy livestyle and not by social inequality.)
"the three things that matter most to a great majority of us: housing, healthcare and education" (p.96)
How about family, friends, peace or a good job?
"calls for more spending (and therefore higher taxes) will get louder" (p.99)
"An increasing number of scientists have shown that it is in fact the destruction of biodiversity caused by humans that is the source of new viruses like Covid-19" (p.138) (of course it has nothing to do with the Wuhan lab...)
"bicycling and walking instead of driving to keep the air of our cities as clean as it was during the lockdowns, vacationing nearer to home[...]could lead to a sustained reduction in carbon emissions." (p.142) (I can already imagine the author on a bicycle... Well, I guess it is only the solution for the poor masses which cannot afford a car any longer due to taxes and green unemployment?! It is also ironic that the author mentions somewhere else in the book that most carbon emission comes from the industry and other sources anyway, not from cars or home applications - as long as you do not have a smart house full of sensors, I guess...)
"[Mobile devices] helping us on many different fronts, anticipating our needs, listening to us and locating us, even when not asked to do so..." (p.152) (Sounds like a great "help" to me...)
" [Instead of] driving to a distant family gathering for the weekend" using "the WhatsApp family group" which "is not as fun but, again, safer, cheaper and greener" (p.155)
"[Robots] saving nurses as much as three hours' work per day." (p.159) (Which leads to more unemployed nurses)
"just as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 triggered greater and permanent security in the name of public safety." (p.168) (So that's what it was good for, thanks for letting us know.)
"This won't happen, because it can't happen." (p.173) (Author talking about industry leaders which might want to go back to the old way of making business.)
"It is likely that the markets or the consumers, or both, will punish those companies that performed poorly on social issues (p.188) (Good example is the big website on which I publish this review)
"Simple pleasures like smelling a melon or squeezing a fruit will be frowned upon and may even become a thing of the past." (p.198) (For the sake of hygiene...)
10) The author's ideological understanding of human beings is also very interesting:
"if, as human beings, we do not collaborate to confront our existential challenges, we are doomed. Thus, we have no choice but to summon up the better angels of our nature." (p.217) On other occasions the author is talking about man as "a social animal" showing a Darwinian mindset, but here it sounds quite religious. A typical contradiction of utopian thought. He further speculates: "if in the future we abandon the posture of self-interest that pollutes so many of our social interactions, [...]" (p.224) This has not happened for the last thousands of years and no ideology will change this. I therefore highly question the author's knowledge about the character of human beings and ask him to be more realistic, please.
11) After elaborating on the devastating psychological effects of isolation and fear, because of the lockdown, incl. high suicide rates, depressions, mental disorders etc. , he still dares to see something positive in that:
"What the pandemic has achieved with respect to mental health [...] heightened public awareness of the severity of the problem. [...] In the post-pandemic area, these issues may now be given the priority they deserve." (p.231)
What a great comfort for all the mentally sick people. Especially, when the unemployment rate is going to be so high, that most people will not be able to afford getting professional help. (But I guess the state is going to finance that with helicopter money, because money solves all problems...) Maybe there will be a "kind" robot "listening" to their problems?
But the author gives us even more reasons to "cheer up":
He writes that in times of high pressure and need a lot of good world literature has been written, because such times are so "inspiring". (No joke, see p.234f)
Afterwards he reminds us of the good effect of having more time now, since many of us are unemployed or in home office (p.236f) and how some of us might learn to appreciate being in nature again. (For those who forgot about the forests out there - they still exist.)
Then he is advertising a minimalistic livestyle (Marie Kondo style), which most probably soon will not be the free choice of some people, but an obligatory adjustment to poverty.
But it is also possible that I am all wrong in my criticism and instead of living in a "dark future of techno-totalitarian state surveillance" (p.170) we are all going to enter "a new era of prosperity" (p.249)
12) Problems with the printing itself. The font has bad quality (you can easily see the resolution of the letters, which makes it harder to read the book). On page 24 there is a graphic which is supposed to be in colour, because the text says that certain elements are represented by red, green, purple and so on, yet the graphic is black and white, rendering its description quite useless. Another graphic on page 199 is hard to read, too, because of bad printing resolution. This does not look very professional.
PS: I would still encourage you to buy this book. It will be a valuable witness of contemporary, utopian madness.
1) The free market is responsible for all evil, what we need is stronger governments, preferably such a 'democratic' one as in China. Consequently, the book is full with praise for the Chinese way of life. An assumption which cannot be made by reasonable people who want to live in a free and sustainable world in which the individuum's rights are protected, and not exposed to constant surveillance, which we have in Chinese communism today. Here are some quotes from the book:
"[The situation might provoke changes such as] an augmented search for the common good as a policy objective, the notion of fairness acquiring political potency, radical welfare and taxation measures, [...]" (p.18)
"the Confucianism prevalent in so many Asian countries places a sense of duty and generational solidarity before individual rights; it also puts high value on measures and rules that benefit the community as a whole." (p.88)
"The Covid-19 pandemic has made government important again. Not just powerful again, but also vital again[...]" (p.89, the author quoting John Micklethwait)
"Acute crises contribute to boosting the power of the state. It's always been the case and there is no reason why it should be different with the Covid-19 pandemic." (p.89)
"[...] the role of the state has shrunk considerably. This is a situation that is set to change because it is hard to imagine how an exogenous shock of such magnitute [...]could be addressed with purely market-based solutions." (p.91)
"On the dial that measures the continuum between the government and the markets, the needle has decisively moved towards the left." (p.92)
"For the first time [...] governments have the upper hand. [...] Rather than simply fixing market failures when they arise, they should, as suggested by the economist Mariana Mazzucato: 'move towards actively shaping and creating markets that deliver sustainable and inclusive growth.' " (p.92)
"A significant element of new "bigger" government is already in place with the vastly increased and quasi-immediate government control of the economy." (p.92)
"Looking to the future, governments will most likely [...] decide that it's in the best interest of society to rewrite some of the rules of the game and permanently increase their role." (p.93)
"the role of the state will increase and, in doing so, will materially affect the way business is conducted. [...] business executives in all industries and all countries will have to adapt to greater government intervention. [...] Taxation will increase, particularly for the most privileged" (p.94)
"While in the past the US was always the first to arrive with aid where assistance was needed, this role now belongs to China" (p. 123)
2) The author is also totally in love with the concept of mass surveillance. He writes:
"The containment of the coronavirus pandemic will necessitate a global surveillance network" (p.33)
"We will see how contact tracing has an unequalled capacity and a quasi.-essential place in the armoury needed to combat Covid-19, while at the same time being positioned to become an enabler of mass surveillance." (p.153)
"An important lesson can be learned from the countries that were more effective in dealing with the pandemic (in particular Asian nations): technology in general and digital in particular help. Successful contact tracing proved to be a key component of a successful strategy against Covid-19." (p.159)
"Contact tracing and tracking are therefore essential components of our public-health response to Covid-19" (p.160)
"China, Hong Kong SAR and South Korea implemented coercive and intrusive measures of digital tracing. They took the decision to track individuals without their consent, through their mobile and credit card data, and even employed video surveillance" (p.160)
"The digital tracing solution most lauded and talked about was the TraceTogether app run by Singapore's Ministry of Health. It seems to offer the "ideal" balance between efficiency and privacy concerns[...]" (p.160)
"No voluntary contact-tracing app will work if people are unwilling to provide their own personal data to the governmental agency that monitors the system" (p.164)
"[...]the corporate move will be towards greater surveillance; for better or for worse, companies will be watching and sometimes recording what their workforce does." (p.165)
"[...] any digital experience that we have can be turned into a "product" destined to monitor and anticipate our behaviour." (p.166f)
"Then, when the crisis is over, some may realize that their country has suddenly be transformed into a place where they no longer wish to live." (p.167)
Even after mentioning all the dangers of constant surveillance, the author concludes that "the genie of tech surveillance will not be put back into the bottle." (p.171)
He also really thinks that "Dystopian scenarios are not a fatality."(p.171)
How we can avoid this dystopia, he does not explain in the book. But that does not seem to be the aim of the book anyway - it is rather a praise of mass surveillance and privacy does not concern the author very much.
At the same time the author admits that "the consequences of Covid-19 in terms of health and mortality will be mild compared to previous pandemics. At the end of June 2020, Covid-19 has killed less than 0,006% of the world population." (p.247) And admitting that "the average age of those dying of Covid-19 is almost 80 years [in Italy]" (p.221) But that does not change his mind, he still propagates mass surveillance and the necessity of lockdowns.
4) While I understand that it is good to also see the advantages to this worldwide disaster, the author is using surprisingly positive language during his analysis of the situation:
"The possibilities for change and the resulting new order are now unlimited and only bound to our imagination" and "We should take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to reimagine our world" (p.19)
Later he even uses phrases like "not letting the crisis go to waste" (p.145 or p.142f) and "making good use of the pandemic" (p.145). My personal impression is that the author is very happy about the coronavirus and its induced opportunities. He even says that this crisis is "accelerating progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals" (p.248f). He is certainly not concerned much about the whole situation.
5) Paradoxical are also the author's statements concerning unemployment, work and poverty. On one page he is praising the new jobs created by the crisis in the digital/online/robotic industry, but on other pages he also sees the danger of millions of people being put out of work. But his book does not sound like a warning, it sounds like an advertisement for the first group of industry which is profitting from the crisis. It sounds like this: "It is good that the ship is sinking, because we will create some jobs, when the shipwreck has to be lifted out of the water."
During the whole book the author keeps talking about "social safety nets" necessary to prevent uproars and riots, because of all the unemployment, which will be the result of the lockdowns. The idea sounds good, but who is going to pay the safety net when huge amounts of people rely on the state? The powerful state, propagated in this book needs massively high taxes anyway, which is putting even higher pressure on the working population. It does not look realistic to me. The book does not really give different answers to all the massive problems, except for "the state saving us". Which I personally find ridiculous, because the state never cares about individuals as we can clearly see in China.
6) The underlying message of the book is: We need a global governance to be better prepared for such situations. The virus, the C02 problem, climate change etc. could only be tackled with a global leadership. The idea sounds ridiculous to me - how would a world government have changed the spreading of a virus? By more surveillance and more lockdowns? How would it reduce C02 emission? By forbidding certain industries and putting 80% of the world's population into unemployment? How would this reduce climate change? By more laws and regulations? I think these are all just excuses to install a world leadership and many people can see that by now.
7) While writing about how the virus and the lockdown messed up the "whole world", he completely forgot to mention countries which did not have a lockdown at all. Many of his thesises can be debunked by simply looking at Sweden. This country has successfully avoided destroying its own economy while having no lockdown, no masks, no social distancing etc. at all. No need for surveillance, technology etc. It is no surprise that the author does not mention this country a single time in the whole book. On page 45 he is talking about two studies that "modelled what could have happened without lockdown", instead of simply looking at the real example of Sweden, I guess it did not fit the narrative.
8) The author often talks about "clean energy" (e.g. p.145) and he is obviously condemning fossile fuels, while wishing for a future full with (electric) sensors and "remoted devices", surveillance cameras etc. which all need energy. He nowhere explains where this energy should come from. Solar and wind power are long debunked. They are inefficient and not stable sources of energy. Nuclear and coal most propably are not appreciated by the author either, so what is left? (Maybe the author knows something, we do not know). I also like to remind the fans of electric devices how batteries are made, with huge environmental damage. Here is one more quote about the author's idea of energy supply: "A group of green activists could demonstrate in front of a coal-fired power plant" (p.149)
9) The author is so entangled in his vision of the future, economics, numbers and science, that he makes a lot of unreasonable assumptions in this book. Especially when it comes to human, social behaviour. Here are some of them, which are particularly entertaining:
"As consumers may prefer automated services to face-to-face interactions [...]" (p.55)
"changing course will require a shift in the mindset of world leaders to place greater focus and priority on the well-being of all citizens and the planet" (p.58)
"The idea [of helicopter money] is appealing and realizable" (p.68)
"[Central bankers] will have to define an upper limit at which inflation becomes disruptive and a real concern." (p.69)
"The post-pandemic era will usher in a period of massive wealth redistribution, from the rich to the poor [!!] and from capital to labour." (p.78)
"In America as in many other countries, African Americans are poorer, more likely to be unemployed or underemployed and victims of substandard housing and living conditions. As a result they suffer more from pre-existing health conditions like obesity, heart disease or diabetes" (p.80f) (Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are mostly caused by overeating, bad diets, or unhealthy livestyle and not by social inequality.)
"the three things that matter most to a great majority of us: housing, healthcare and education" (p.96)
How about family, friends, peace or a good job?
"calls for more spending (and therefore higher taxes) will get louder" (p.99)
"An increasing number of scientists have shown that it is in fact the destruction of biodiversity caused by humans that is the source of new viruses like Covid-19" (p.138) (of course it has nothing to do with the Wuhan lab...)
"bicycling and walking instead of driving to keep the air of our cities as clean as it was during the lockdowns, vacationing nearer to home[...]could lead to a sustained reduction in carbon emissions." (p.142) (I can already imagine the author on a bicycle... Well, I guess it is only the solution for the poor masses which cannot afford a car any longer due to taxes and green unemployment?! It is also ironic that the author mentions somewhere else in the book that most carbon emission comes from the industry and other sources anyway, not from cars or home applications - as long as you do not have a smart house full of sensors, I guess...)
"[Mobile devices] helping us on many different fronts, anticipating our needs, listening to us and locating us, even when not asked to do so..." (p.152) (Sounds like a great "help" to me...)
" [Instead of] driving to a distant family gathering for the weekend" using "the WhatsApp family group" which "is not as fun but, again, safer, cheaper and greener" (p.155)
"[Robots] saving nurses as much as three hours' work per day." (p.159) (Which leads to more unemployed nurses)
"just as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 triggered greater and permanent security in the name of public safety." (p.168) (So that's what it was good for, thanks for letting us know.)
"This won't happen, because it can't happen." (p.173) (Author talking about industry leaders which might want to go back to the old way of making business.)
"It is likely that the markets or the consumers, or both, will punish those companies that performed poorly on social issues (p.188) (Good example is the big website on which I publish this review)
"Simple pleasures like smelling a melon or squeezing a fruit will be frowned upon and may even become a thing of the past." (p.198) (For the sake of hygiene...)
10) The author's ideological understanding of human beings is also very interesting:
"if, as human beings, we do not collaborate to confront our existential challenges, we are doomed. Thus, we have no choice but to summon up the better angels of our nature." (p.217) On other occasions the author is talking about man as "a social animal" showing a Darwinian mindset, but here it sounds quite religious. A typical contradiction of utopian thought. He further speculates: "if in the future we abandon the posture of self-interest that pollutes so many of our social interactions, [...]" (p.224) This has not happened for the last thousands of years and no ideology will change this. I therefore highly question the author's knowledge about the character of human beings and ask him to be more realistic, please.
11) After elaborating on the devastating psychological effects of isolation and fear, because of the lockdown, incl. high suicide rates, depressions, mental disorders etc. , he still dares to see something positive in that:
"What the pandemic has achieved with respect to mental health [...] heightened public awareness of the severity of the problem. [...] In the post-pandemic area, these issues may now be given the priority they deserve." (p.231)
What a great comfort for all the mentally sick people. Especially, when the unemployment rate is going to be so high, that most people will not be able to afford getting professional help. (But I guess the state is going to finance that with helicopter money, because money solves all problems...) Maybe there will be a "kind" robot "listening" to their problems?
But the author gives us even more reasons to "cheer up":
He writes that in times of high pressure and need a lot of good world literature has been written, because such times are so "inspiring". (No joke, see p.234f)
Afterwards he reminds us of the good effect of having more time now, since many of us are unemployed or in home office (p.236f) and how some of us might learn to appreciate being in nature again. (For those who forgot about the forests out there - they still exist.)
Then he is advertising a minimalistic livestyle (Marie Kondo style), which most probably soon will not be the free choice of some people, but an obligatory adjustment to poverty.
But it is also possible that I am all wrong in my criticism and instead of living in a "dark future of techno-totalitarian state surveillance" (p.170) we are all going to enter "a new era of prosperity" (p.249)
12) Problems with the printing itself. The font has bad quality (you can easily see the resolution of the letters, which makes it harder to read the book). On page 24 there is a graphic which is supposed to be in colour, because the text says that certain elements are represented by red, green, purple and so on, yet the graphic is black and white, rendering its description quite useless. Another graphic on page 199 is hard to read, too, because of bad printing resolution. This does not look very professional.
PS: I would still encourage you to buy this book. It will be a valuable witness of contemporary, utopian madness.
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Techno-Totalitarian Lovestory
Reviewed in Germany on August 31, 2020
I bought this book to gain some knowledge about the mindset of globalists, who are the selfproclaimed "elite" of this world, while nobody has ever voted for them to govern our lives. This book is good evidence that these people are living in a bubble, having lost all connection to reality. I will now summarize the main problems I have figured out about the author's perception of reality depicted in this book:Reviewed in Germany on August 31, 2020
1) The free market is responsible for all evil, what we need is stronger governments, preferably such a 'democratic' one as in China. Consequently, the book is full with praise for the Chinese way of life. An assumption which cannot be made by reasonable people who want to live in a free and sustainable world in which the individuum's rights are protected, and not exposed to constant surveillance, which we have in Chinese communism today. Here are some quotes from the book:
"[The situation might provoke changes such as] an augmented search for the common good as a policy objective, the notion of fairness acquiring political potency, radical welfare and taxation measures, [...]" (p.18)
"the Confucianism prevalent in so many Asian countries places a sense of duty and generational solidarity before individual rights; it also puts high value on measures and rules that benefit the community as a whole." (p.88)
"The Covid-19 pandemic has made government important again. Not just powerful again, but also vital again[...]" (p.89, the author quoting John Micklethwait)
"Acute crises contribute to boosting the power of the state. It's always been the case and there is no reason why it should be different with the Covid-19 pandemic." (p.89)
"[...] the role of the state has shrunk considerably. This is a situation that is set to change because it is hard to imagine how an exogenous shock of such magnitute [...]could be addressed with purely market-based solutions." (p.91)
"On the dial that measures the continuum between the government and the markets, the needle has decisively moved towards the left." (p.92)
"For the first time [...] governments have the upper hand. [...] Rather than simply fixing market failures when they arise, they should, as suggested by the economist Mariana Mazzucato: 'move towards actively shaping and creating markets that deliver sustainable and inclusive growth.' " (p.92)
"A significant element of new "bigger" government is already in place with the vastly increased and quasi-immediate government control of the economy." (p.92)
"Looking to the future, governments will most likely [...] decide that it's in the best interest of society to rewrite some of the rules of the game and permanently increase their role." (p.93)
"the role of the state will increase and, in doing so, will materially affect the way business is conducted. [...] business executives in all industries and all countries will have to adapt to greater government intervention. [...] Taxation will increase, particularly for the most privileged" (p.94)
"While in the past the US was always the first to arrive with aid where assistance was needed, this role now belongs to China" (p. 123)
2) The author is also totally in love with the concept of mass surveillance. He writes:
"The containment of the coronavirus pandemic will necessitate a global surveillance network" (p.33)
"We will see how contact tracing has an unequalled capacity and a quasi.-essential place in the armoury needed to combat Covid-19, while at the same time being positioned to become an enabler of mass surveillance." (p.153)
"An important lesson can be learned from the countries that were more effective in dealing with the pandemic (in particular Asian nations): technology in general and digital in particular help. Successful contact tracing proved to be a key component of a successful strategy against Covid-19." (p.159)
"Contact tracing and tracking are therefore essential components of our public-health response to Covid-19" (p.160)
"China, Hong Kong SAR and South Korea implemented coercive and intrusive measures of digital tracing. They took the decision to track individuals without their consent, through their mobile and credit card data, and even employed video surveillance" (p.160)
"The digital tracing solution most lauded and talked about was the TraceTogether app run by Singapore's Ministry of Health. It seems to offer the "ideal" balance between efficiency and privacy concerns[...]" (p.160)
"No voluntary contact-tracing app will work if people are unwilling to provide their own personal data to the governmental agency that monitors the system" (p.164)
"[...]the corporate move will be towards greater surveillance; for better or for worse, companies will be watching and sometimes recording what their workforce does." (p.165)
"[...] any digital experience that we have can be turned into a "product" destined to monitor and anticipate our behaviour." (p.166f)
"Then, when the crisis is over, some may realize that their country has suddenly be transformed into a place where they no longer wish to live." (p.167)
Even after mentioning all the dangers of constant surveillance, the author concludes that "the genie of tech surveillance will not be put back into the bottle." (p.171)
He also really thinks that "Dystopian scenarios are not a fatality."(p.171)
How we can avoid this dystopia, he does not explain in the book. But that does not seem to be the aim of the book anyway - it is rather a praise of mass surveillance and privacy does not concern the author very much.
At the same time the author admits that "the consequences of Covid-19 in terms of health and mortality will be mild compared to previous pandemics. At the end of June 2020, Covid-19 has killed less than 0,006% of the world population." (p.247) And admitting that "the average age of those dying of Covid-19 is almost 80 years [in Italy]" (p.221) But that does not change his mind, he still propagates mass surveillance and the necessity of lockdowns.
4) While I understand that it is good to also see the advantages to this worldwide disaster, the author is using surprisingly positive language during his analysis of the situation:
"The possibilities for change and the resulting new order are now unlimited and only bound to our imagination" and "We should take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to reimagine our world" (p.19)
Later he even uses phrases like "not letting the crisis go to waste" (p.145 or p.142f) and "making good use of the pandemic" (p.145). My personal impression is that the author is very happy about the coronavirus and its induced opportunities. He even says that this crisis is "accelerating progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals" (p.248f). He is certainly not concerned much about the whole situation.
5) Paradoxical are also the author's statements concerning unemployment, work and poverty. On one page he is praising the new jobs created by the crisis in the digital/online/robotic industry, but on other pages he also sees the danger of millions of people being put out of work. But his book does not sound like a warning, it sounds like an advertisement for the first group of industry which is profitting from the crisis. It sounds like this: "It is good that the ship is sinking, because we will create some jobs, when the shipwreck has to be lifted out of the water."
During the whole book the author keeps talking about "social safety nets" necessary to prevent uproars and riots, because of all the unemployment, which will be the result of the lockdowns. The idea sounds good, but who is going to pay the safety net when huge amounts of people rely on the state? The powerful state, propagated in this book needs massively high taxes anyway, which is putting even higher pressure on the working population. It does not look realistic to me. The book does not really give different answers to all the massive problems, except for "the state saving us". Which I personally find ridiculous, because the state never cares about individuals as we can clearly see in China.
6) The underlying message of the book is: We need a global governance to be better prepared for such situations. The virus, the C02 problem, climate change etc. could only be tackled with a global leadership. The idea sounds ridiculous to me - how would a world government have changed the spreading of a virus? By more surveillance and more lockdowns? How would it reduce C02 emission? By forbidding certain industries and putting 80% of the world's population into unemployment? How would this reduce climate change? By more laws and regulations? I think these are all just excuses to install a world leadership and many people can see that by now.
7) While writing about how the virus and the lockdown messed up the "whole world", he completely forgot to mention countries which did not have a lockdown at all. Many of his thesises can be debunked by simply looking at Sweden. This country has successfully avoided destroying its own economy while having no lockdown, no masks, no social distancing etc. at all. No need for surveillance, technology etc. It is no surprise that the author does not mention this country a single time in the whole book. On page 45 he is talking about two studies that "modelled what could have happened without lockdown", instead of simply looking at the real example of Sweden, I guess it did not fit the narrative.
8) The author often talks about "clean energy" (e.g. p.145) and he is obviously condemning fossile fuels, while wishing for a future full with (electric) sensors and "remoted devices", surveillance cameras etc. which all need energy. He nowhere explains where this energy should come from. Solar and wind power are long debunked. They are inefficient and not stable sources of energy. Nuclear and coal most propably are not appreciated by the author either, so what is left? (Maybe the author knows something, we do not know). I also like to remind the fans of electric devices how batteries are made, with huge environmental damage. Here is one more quote about the author's idea of energy supply: "A group of green activists could demonstrate in front of a coal-fired power plant" (p.149)
9) The author is so entangled in his vision of the future, economics, numbers and science, that he makes a lot of unreasonable assumptions in this book. Especially when it comes to human, social behaviour. Here are some of them, which are particularly entertaining:
"As consumers may prefer automated services to face-to-face interactions [...]" (p.55)
"changing course will require a shift in the mindset of world leaders to place greater focus and priority on the well-being of all citizens and the planet" (p.58)
"The idea [of helicopter money] is appealing and realizable" (p.68)
"[Central bankers] will have to define an upper limit at which inflation becomes disruptive and a real concern." (p.69)
"The post-pandemic era will usher in a period of massive wealth redistribution, from the rich to the poor [!!] and from capital to labour." (p.78)
"In America as in many other countries, African Americans are poorer, more likely to be unemployed or underemployed and victims of substandard housing and living conditions. As a result they suffer more from pre-existing health conditions like obesity, heart disease or diabetes" (p.80f) (Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are mostly caused by overeating, bad diets, or unhealthy livestyle and not by social inequality.)
"the three things that matter most to a great majority of us: housing, healthcare and education" (p.96)
How about family, friends, peace or a good job?
"calls for more spending (and therefore higher taxes) will get louder" (p.99)
"An increasing number of scientists have shown that it is in fact the destruction of biodiversity caused by humans that is the source of new viruses like Covid-19" (p.138) (of course it has nothing to do with the Wuhan lab...)
"bicycling and walking instead of driving to keep the air of our cities as clean as it was during the lockdowns, vacationing nearer to home[...]could lead to a sustained reduction in carbon emissions." (p.142) (I can already imagine the author on a bicycle... Well, I guess it is only the solution for the poor masses which cannot afford a car any longer due to taxes and green unemployment?! It is also ironic that the author mentions somewhere else in the book that most carbon emission comes from the industry and other sources anyway, not from cars or home applications - as long as you do not have a smart house full of sensors, I guess...)
"[Mobile devices] helping us on many different fronts, anticipating our needs, listening to us and locating us, even when not asked to do so..." (p.152) (Sounds like a great "help" to me...)
" [Instead of] driving to a distant family gathering for the weekend" using "the WhatsApp family group" which "is not as fun but, again, safer, cheaper and greener" (p.155)
"[Robots] saving nurses as much as three hours' work per day." (p.159) (Which leads to more unemployed nurses)
"just as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 triggered greater and permanent security in the name of public safety." (p.168) (So that's what it was good for, thanks for letting us know.)
"This won't happen, because it can't happen." (p.173) (Author talking about industry leaders which might want to go back to the old way of making business.)
"It is likely that the markets or the consumers, or both, will punish those companies that performed poorly on social issues (p.188) (Good example is the big website on which I publish this review)
"Simple pleasures like smelling a melon or squeezing a fruit will be frowned upon and may even become a thing of the past." (p.198) (For the sake of hygiene...)
10) The author's ideological understanding of human beings is also very interesting:
"if, as human beings, we do not collaborate to confront our existential challenges, we are doomed. Thus, we have no choice but to summon up the better angels of our nature." (p.217) On other occasions the author is talking about man as "a social animal" showing a Darwinian mindset, but here it sounds quite religious. A typical contradiction of utopian thought. He further speculates: "if in the future we abandon the posture of self-interest that pollutes so many of our social interactions, [...]" (p.224) This has not happened for the last thousands of years and no ideology will change this. I therefore highly question the author's knowledge about the character of human beings and ask him to be more realistic, please.
11) After elaborating on the devastating psychological effects of isolation and fear, because of the lockdown, incl. high suicide rates, depressions, mental disorders etc. , he still dares to see something positive in that:
"What the pandemic has achieved with respect to mental health [...] heightened public awareness of the severity of the problem. [...] In the post-pandemic area, these issues may now be given the priority they deserve." (p.231)
What a great comfort for all the mentally sick people. Especially, when the unemployment rate is going to be so high, that most people will not be able to afford getting professional help. (But I guess the state is going to finance that with helicopter money, because money solves all problems...) Maybe there will be a "kind" robot "listening" to their problems?
But the author gives us even more reasons to "cheer up":
He writes that in times of high pressure and need a lot of good world literature has been written, because such times are so "inspiring". (No joke, see p.234f)
Afterwards he reminds us of the good effect of having more time now, since many of us are unemployed or in home office (p.236f) and how some of us might learn to appreciate being in nature again. (For those who forgot about the forests out there - they still exist.)
Then he is advertising a minimalistic livestyle (Marie Kondo style), which most probably soon will not be the free choice of some people, but an obligatory adjustment to poverty.
But it is also possible that I am all wrong in my criticism and instead of living in a "dark future of techno-totalitarian state surveillance" (p.170) we are all going to enter "a new era of prosperity" (p.249)
12) Problems with the printing itself. The font has bad quality (you can easily see the resolution of the letters, which makes it harder to read the book). On page 24 there is a graphic which is supposed to be in colour, because the text says that certain elements are represented by red, green, purple and so on, yet the graphic is black and white, rendering its description quite useless. Another graphic on page 199 is hard to read, too, because of bad printing resolution. This does not look very professional.
PS: I would still encourage you to buy this book. It will be a valuable witness of contemporary, utopian madness.
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