We discussed the social and psychological factors that yield one’s position on the spectrum of (a) folks fiercely resistant to non-mainstream ideas, (b) people open to re-evaluation of their beliefs, whether mainstream or not. (c) people who are inescapably attracted by non-mainstream theory generally.
We played with the factors that would go into a “Drake’s Equation” of worldview.
We talked about the ridiculous unwieldiness of forcing multidimensional political complexity into a “left wing” and a “right wing”.
We discussed royal family trees, legitimacy of various types of state, the different types of revolution that occur (republican (not in the US sense), military, tankie, etc. We opened exploration of what happens to the previous rulers / royalty in different kinds of revolution including France, England, Japan, Nepal and Russia.
We drew cartoons of Maoist Saudi Arabia.
We discussed the Council of Nicea, the February and October Revolutions, and how “populist movements are often the lubrication for oligarchical conflicts”.
We talked about the correlation between press freedom and fear-mongering, Orwell’s 1984, “The Origins Of Virtue”, and what an improved form of participatory government might look.
From there, we dove into fully automated food production, global transportation networks, and the glories of Buckminster Fuller.
I think next time we’re going to create an alternate future timeline involving a three state world (not related to Orwell) and exploring its geography, politics, transportation, economy, and other assorted goodies