> "Brexit and the election of President Trump are the symptoms of society’s preference to cling to the past rather than engage with the challenge of making the most of the future, says Nail." That's a rather naive view of what's going on in the world right now.

How so? It strikes me as pretty accurate.

It's economically naive to think that "people clinging to the past" is somehow the root cause of Brexit and Trump. Why do people cling to the past? It's usually because they feel uncertainty around something in the present and foreseeable future. And for many who cast their vote in favor of these dubious causes, the present was materially bad enough for them, whether through unemployment, stagnating wages, or pay cuts, to take the chance.

In our bubble where we work in tech with stable, high-paying jobs, health insurance, and benefits, these people look hopelessly provincial. But it was by ignoring or dismissing them in the first place that Brexit and Trump were allowed to happen.

> And for many who cast their vote in favor of these dubious causes, the present was materially bad enough for them, whether through unemployment, stagnating wages, or pay cuts, to take the chance.

That's largely a false narrative though. Trump's support was much stronger among wealthy whites in areas that were doing relatively better than most of the nation economically.

They didn't like the way the future was being made (no voice and no dignity. Coastal elites controlling the wealth of the nation.)

Fundamentally Brexit and Trump are symptoms of a rejection of free-market liberalism as a good idea for the future of the world. People like localism. They like work. People are hungry for a good future. It's certainly not being offered to them by some google-glass Orwellian world ruled by silicon valley and wall street.

People rejected Kurzeil and Nail and the people attending this course. But they didn't reject the challenge of making the most of the future.

Can you say more about why you think that? I've been thinking about basically permanent future shock being a major cause of where we've ended up but I'm all ears for why that's not true. Seems like lots of people wanting to go back to the past to me.

If people feel they have no future, and the present has nothing for them, only one time domain remains to provide shelter.

> That's a rather naive view of what's going on in the world right now.

Is it? Did you watch the inauguration with all of its cheesy old-old-school references? Make what 'again?'