Hobsbawm’s Long Nineteenth Century—in which his unshakeable bedrock foundational commitment to Marxist teleology is both his superpower & his Akhilleus's heel...
It is striking that the arch-capitalist "effective altruists" of today share the communist Hobsbawm's utilitarian calculus: it is a worthwhile exchange if billions die today for the sake of the trillions yet to be born who will be uploaded to the cloud, there to enjoy unending life. Of course, we may question the degree of actual altruism underlying this reasoning; it reeks of the rationalization of their own enrichment, whereas Hobsbawm presumably really did hope for improvement in the human condition. And yet Hobsbawm and the oligarchs share a rather unattractive overconfidence in their own moral reasoning, even when it leads them to absurd conclusions.
In a snarky mood today. Perhaps following the 20th party congress Hobsbawm considered Stalin and thought "No true Leninist would ... " Then following the Soviet incursion into Hungary, he thought "No true communist state would ... "
It is striking that the arch-capitalist "effective altruists" of today share the communist Hobsbawm's utilitarian calculus: it is a worthwhile exchange if billions die today for the sake of the trillions yet to be born who will be uploaded to the cloud, there to enjoy unending life. Of course, we may question the degree of actual altruism underlying this reasoning; it reeks of the rationalization of their own enrichment, whereas Hobsbawm presumably really did hope for improvement in the human condition. And yet Hobsbawm and the oligarchs share a rather unattractive overconfidence in their own moral reasoning, even when it leads them to absurd conclusions.
In a snarky mood today. Perhaps following the 20th party congress Hobsbawm considered Stalin and thought "No true Leninist would ... " Then following the Soviet incursion into Hungary, he thought "No true communist state would ... "