Are There Alternating Cycles of Hot and Cool in American Cultural History?
Are There Alternating Cycles of Hot and Cool in American Cultural History?
Section titled “Are There Alternating Cycles of Hot and Cool in American Cultural History?”
Metadata
Section titled “Metadata”- Author: Ted Gioia
- Full Title: Are There Alternating Cycles of Hot and Cool in American Cultural History?
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://www.honest-broker.com/p/are-there-alternating-cycles-of-hot?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Highlights
Section titled “Highlights”- The key kernel of wisdom here is that when people make decisions, they aren’t based on reality but, instead, on the prevailing concept of reality that dominates their society. So instead of examining the facts, individuals look at how other people are reacting to the supposed facts, and have a strong urge to imitate what everyone else is doing. René Girard calls this mimetic desire, and I’ve come to believe that it is the most powerful force in modern culture.
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- But Soros’s brilliant insight is that a situation like this is highly unstable, with trends feeding on themselves—thus going beyond any reasonable point. Hence even everyday situations reach irrational extremes. And at that juncture—when matters have progressed to unstable levels—the trend reverses sharply.
- Here’s the rule (and you do well to memorize it): Once a cycle is in motion, it continues in the same direction much longer than is reasonable, until it reaches a ridiculous extreme—only then does it make a sharp reversal.