Beware the Breakthrough Institute

I just stumbled on a piece by a fellow at the Break. Inst. named Alex Tremblath. It is super- accelerationist, with a devotion to technology and libertarian "non-ideological" ideology that is actually pretty stunning. The author claims the politics of Left/ Right are outmoded, that now we can divide folks into two new camps; the "upwinging and downwinging", shorthand for optimist true believers and pessimist downers. These Breakthrough folks are the newest champions for growth, development and progress, all uncritically embraced as humanities great destiny.

let's give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are not just corporate shills but that they just haven't heard of Faustus, that they got addicted to the kool-aid (easy enough to do)and truly believe "human ingenuity" in a competitive setting can solve any problem.

"...growth, technology and accelerated modernization can solve the twin problems of poverty and environmental devastation." In other words, when you have bet large and you are losing your shirt, the best policy is to double-down. Sure, 1 in 6 deaths are attributable to pollution, sure, the insect population is crashing, sure, we have entered the anthropocene, but don't be a "downswinger" a "collapse-porn addict" (Leigh Phillips) and lose faith in progress.

One of Breakthrough's biggest fans is Mr. Reason and Rationality himself, David Brooks of the NYTimes. In a recent column he said we need to keep the faith in "an innovative breakthrough that benefits society" and here I suspect they are talking about nuclear power and fracking for energy, robots and AI for labor and space exploration for a new place to live.

Of course historical amnesia is the key marker for our age, along with worship of the Wise and Powerful Market. Downswinging dommsdayers are being targeted as the enemy of the Enlightenment and Rationality, of hope and optimism by those whose only gaze is Forward. But the ecomodernists: Nordhaus, Shellenberger and crew, are just pigs with lipstick. Their so-called utopian courage is just an apology for maintaining the status quo of the profit system.