Making me ponder the overlap between fundamentalist thinking and ‘populism’. (Currently reading Nexus). How a belief in ‘power of the people’ and a distrust of ruling elites leads ironically to trust being placed in a single leader to monopolise all power (the messiah!) - or the ‘strongman’. It also assumes the ‘will of the people’ are a unified mystical body - not a diverse group of individuals of different interests, faiths and opinions. I worry about its insidious nature- dangerous because it masquerades as ‘people power’ when in reality it seeks to establish dictatorships. Certainly fundamentalists employ populist tactics and vice versa. I wonder how this might influence leadership in the coming years (accelerated by the AI age- driven through the hands of a few powerful tech giants)?
Making me ponder the overlap between fundamentalist thinking and ‘populism’. (Currently reading Nexus). How a belief in ‘power of the people’ and a distrust of ruling elites leads ironically to trust being placed in a single leader to monopolise all power (the messiah!) - or the ‘strongman’. It also assumes the ‘will of the people’ are a unified mystical body - not a diverse group of individuals of different interests, faiths and opinions. I worry about its insidious nature- dangerous because it masquerades as ‘people power’ when in reality it seeks to establish dictatorships. Certainly fundamentalists employ populist tactics and vice versa. I wonder how this might influence leadership in the coming years (accelerated by the AI age- driven through the hands of a few powerful tech giants)?
Lovely read, Simon. Thank you.
What does being a founder mean ?