“I am worried about the rise of clowns and Führers”

Imre Kondor

“With the highest alarm I see the rise of clowns and Führers”

Imre Kondor is a professor at the Parmenides Foundation. He chose to read a single page that expresses his deep concern about the rise of political leaders who propagate toxic ideologies.  

“Contemplating complex systems like a living cell, the brain, or society,” Imre reads, “one can invariably see a large number of components or agents which are in constant competition and collaboration with each other. Such a system is never in equilibrium. Rather it executes movements, shifts, fluctuations around a more or less well-defined working point. This state is flexible, can accommodate to changes in the environment without losing its identity. It may happen, however, that a major crisis totally upsets this delicate system of collaboration and competition, excitation and inhibition, checks and balances. This then results in cancer, madness, or totalitarian dictatorship.”

“At this point the complexity of the system is greatly reduced, ultimately leading to the equilibrium of death. It is with the highest alarm that I see the rise of clowns and Führers, who propagate toxic ideologies which we belived had long been buried in the permafrost of the past.”

“There is a prescient quote from Jacob Burkhardt: The denial of complexity is the essence of tyranny.”

Click for Imre’s slide.

See the video in full lenght here: