Bert Olivier, Author at Brownstone Institute

Technology and a Tyranny Worse than Prison

Bert Olivier March 27, 2023 Economics, Philosophy, Technology 12 minute read

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There is a lesson in this as far as the ineluctable need for action is concerned when rational argument with would-be oppressors gets one nowhere. This is especially the case when it becomes obvious that these oppressors are not remotely interested in a reasonable exchange of ideas, but summarily resort to the current unreasonable incarnation of technical rationality, namely AI-controlled mass surveillance, with the purpose of subjugating entire populations.

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Why Totalitarianism Can Never Be Total

Bert Olivier February 18, 2023 Philosophy 9 minute read

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Today there are millions of people across the globe (some of them comprising the ranks of those associated with Brownstone Institute) who have chosen to do battle against the technocrats who believe that they are invincible. The latter have miscalculated their anticipated triumph in an irreparable manner, however.

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A Freudian Critique of the Pandemic Response

Bert Olivier January 31, 2023 Psychology 12 minute read

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Considering that Freud associates the life instinct (Eros) with the aggregation of families and communities, and with the panoply of creative endeavours comprising culture, and its antithesis, the death instinct (Thanatos), with decomposition, diverse kinds of destruction, and with aggressiveness, the current predominance of the latter – Thanatos – in the world should be obvious, if not conspicuous.

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