How to wrap up the last 12 months? How to make sense of everything that happened?
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of some major topics of 2025: War in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza (and many other places); AI-LLM-mania; far right gaining election victories in a lot of places; Trump, MAGA and his cronies (ICE) terrorizing people in what was previously called the model democracy of the world.
It’s a daunting mess. So what are the overarching themes?
For once, I stopped denying that we are fucking up (“we” as in the whole of humanity and especially the wealthier, more powerful countries). We are fucking up big style. People are dying and suffering because of it. The war in Gaza should have ended sooner (and the situation is still fragile and far from any kind of stable situation). The war in Ukraine drags on while Europe is still buying Russian gas. People in Sudan are facing a genocide reminiscent of Rwanda in 1994. These are just the three most prominent examples. Sadly, there are many more. There’s a story for each person killed or victimized. The boy in Gaza, the Ukrainian soldier, the Tatar fighting in the Russian army, the old woman and her granddaughter in Darfur. Please continue the list. Each one is a human being and their deaths are a tragedy. We should mourn them.
Then we have the rise of Authoritarianism which has moved on from creeping into our societies and political systems to taking them over. This is probably most obvious in the USA. And it is no longer something that is confined to the world of politics (which is a delusional assumption in any case) but it’s affecting the work place and everyday life. Authoritarianism is successfully building an alliance with big money and big tech. People getting laid off or forced into obedience by ruthless henchmen. Due process, worker’s rights, legal considerations are deemed no longer binding – especially if standing in the way of dismantling public services or increasing corporate profits.
I’ve listened to a podcast narrating Victor Klemperer’s diaries . The similarities to our world today are too striking to ignore. So where do we stand today? Maybe around 1933? The decline into the abyss happens gradually. One step at a time. And with each step the horror of something not quite imaginable becomes reality while the writings are always on the wall. So is history really always repeating itself?
Is there resistance? Yes, there is. Is it enough? Not nearly. Denial and complacency are prevailing. And the prevailing answer to the authoritarian takeover is conformity and obedience. Not becoming the target. Not hurting one’s own economic interests. Going along.
Instead of solidarity there’s alienation. People leading more and more confined and solitary lives. Spending their time with mobile games and social media. Disinformation and hate taking up the room left by emotional emptiness. With the rise of large language models these trends might well accelerate in an unprecedented way. I reread Brave New World this year. Huxley’s dystopia seems more and more like a reality. People numbing themselves, losing their ability for critical thinking and losing meaningful connection to others.
We are living through a world in decline. 2025 stands testimony to that. So on the cusp of the new year I’m thinking of Lord of the Rings. Written during the second World War. This is not the first crisis in human history and it won’t be the last. Tolkien emphasises the responsibility of each and everyone to do what he or she can. To keep doing the right thing even if the odds are stacked against you. Reading Faramir’s encounter with Frodo and Sam in The Two Towers will be my first reread of the new year.