MTBC: Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects
This is the regular meeting of the Moving Train Bookclub, for February, 2010.
The selection this month is Dmtry Orlov's "Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects."
Mostly raised in the US, Orlov, an MIT engineer, traveled back and forth between the US and the Soviet Union for extended stays as the USSR collapsed at the end of the 20th century. Its his opinion that the US will collapse eventually for many of the same reasons. He uses his knowledge and personal experiences of the similarities and differences between the two super powers to describe what we can expect and how the differences between our cultures and economies may play out differently.
He presents some unconventional insights such as that the failure of the USSR as a consumer economy actually preadapted it to fare better during its collapse than we are likely to fare during ours, and how we might better prepare ourselves for what is to come.
The Soviet Union and the United States are each either the winner or the runner-up in the following categories: the space race, the arms race, the jails race, the hated evil empire race, the squandering of natural resources race and the bankruptcy race. In some of these categories, the United States is, shall we say, a late bloomer, setting new records after its rival was forced to forfeit. Both believed, with giddy zeal, in science, technology and progress, right up until the Chernobyl disaster occurred. After that, there was only one true believer left.
Despite the rather grim and morose subject of the book, it is actually a fairly humorous book and not as depressing as its premis would lead you to believe.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Feb-2010.odt - discussion outline and notes for the meeting. | 32.99 KB |
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