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This week on a special Q&A edition of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau confront the uncomfortable truths of 2025. From the economic death trap currently paralysing German society, to why nationalist parties like the AfD are sympathetic to Putin, America’s waning interest in NATO, and BRICS’s blockchain-based new world order – Yanis and Wolfgang look back on a year in which global values were rubbished.
This was definitely interesting. WM has talked about the extent to which Europe is stuck in 20th century economic and strategic thinking, because the Europeans can’t bring themselves to confront the the pain of engaging with the 21st century. What struck me was the extent to which YV is stuck in 20th century political thinking, and he can’t bring himself to move away from seeing the world through anything other than a Marxist lens, which in truth is obselete in a world where machine learning is emerging.
If you tie yourself to a belief then everything you see must be rationalised to fit that belief.
Why do this ?
Ideally I would see everything as though it were the first time. Unconstrained by my previous assumptions.
In short, I do not see the value in beliefs, Whether they are religious or political or any other. They stop you being able to adapt.
And here we find agreement across the board: WM thinks the real issue with Germany is deeper, YV thinks the real issue with ‘fake YV’ is deeper, … and Flo thinks the real issue with something or other (b**b enlargement perhaps?) is deeper.
I have to admit, I find the huckstering mechanisms that are emerging and fitting in into the small gaps around the control of the new media leviathans, absolutely fascinating. In this particular case you have very respectable podcasters embedding advertising content of products they have absolutely no interest in and are likely scornful of, in the middle of the podcast – it reminds me of this: https://youtube.com/shorts/bhICElvVdBM?si=mLP5xLnZo6owlmMt
In another parallel universe, Flo would be Truman’s Mococoa pushing wife.
YouTube can hardly be unaware that this stuff cuts directly into their advertising revenue, yet they clearly tolerate it – due to some perverse but symbiotic, hidden-to-most, complex incentivisation. None of this looks very stable to me, and when it crumbles I imagine someone somewhere will get hurt.
What I suggest to UnHerd is, why don’t you do an investigative piece on this, a podcast, exploring what’s *really* going on here: the serpent eating it’s own tail.
Can I just ask Yannis, are you on a commission scheme with Cory Doctorow by any chance? And if not, should you be?
Actually this is a good programme. Thanks UH.