The Future and Its Enemies
The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress
Postrel divides the world into the “stasists,” who mostly want to control things and keep them the same, and the “dynamists,” who believe in growth and progress. This cuts across traditional left-right lines. The most interesting idea is that the stasists are actually a coalition of the technocrats, who want to control development in order to guide it and make sure nothing bad happens, and the reactionaries, who are against progress as such. But there is crossover—e.g., the reactionaries often use technocratic methods, such as demanding detailed adherence to bureaucratic standards. Combine with my thoughts on technocracy and the counterculture.