End Times
by Peter Turchin · first published 2023
11mentions
5recommended by
9HN commenters
2023–2026first – last mentioned
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Data-driven look at historical cycles of elite competition and political instability, using past episodes to judge where current politics stands; suits readers who want analysis beyond commentary on the present.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…is rigged against economically insecure retail investors. The more money that gets funneled from the middle class into Michael Saylor and crew's pocket the closer it brings us to civil war. Checkout End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin https://www.amazon.com/End-Times-Counter-Elites-Political-Di...
on “Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC” ↗It's in the interests of the wealthy and powerful to do something about inequality. Revolutions don't usually end well for those in power. Recommended reading: End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration https://www.amazon.com/End-Times-Counter-Elites-Political-Di... "Peter Turchin, one of the most interesting social scientists of our…
on “How Monopolists drive the power and wealth divide” ↗…playbook. For related reading I suggest Turchin[1], who tries to strike a balance between US-centric commentary and looking at international trends. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62926960-end-times EDIT: Near the top of BBC-world today is a related article about villagers in Romania, highlighting once again that this is very much an ongoing thing, and that populism, fascism, and decline in quality…
on “Amazon wants a product safety regulator declared unconstitutional” ↗End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin. Instead of just bemoaning the current state of politics, Turchin uses a data-informed comparison to previous, similar…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗…are all mechanisms rigging the economy in favor of the already wealthy. If we don't unrig it we will eventually get civil war. Popular immiseration eventually leads to upheaval. Checkout the book - End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin
on “Spot Bitcoin ETF receives official approval from the SEC” ↗…incomparable Donald Clark has often been an intriguing source when it comes to AI-powered learning and education). Instead, I'll share Donald Clark's remarkable review of Peter Turchin's landmark book, End Times. The book is essential reading, the review shakes you up.
on “Turchin's Terrifying Predictions” ↗…leveragism, in France people talk a lot about "financiarisation de l'immobilier", i.e. how real estate was a commodities in the 70s and is now a financial asset. The video made me think of Peter Turchin's "End Times", a book that I recommend, for whatever it's worth, to you anonymous internet fellows. The book talks about many of the same arguments, and adds more. Its main thesis is that the author studied hundreds…
on “The Richest Country Is Pretty Mid Now [video]” ↗I recently finished Peter Turchin's "End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62926960-end-times. I thought his insight (that societies often fall into so-called secular cycles,…
on “The Social Recession Is Accelerating” ↗He suggests we should increase the number of spots at top schools. Perhaps. But I’m reading “End Times” by Turchin and this suggests “elite overproduction” is a major source of cultural instability. Maybe that’s wrong, but if so it would add an important reason to instead focus on the well being of “the…
on “Who cares about the Ivy League?” ↗I recently read Peter Turchin's "End Times" (the title is sorta clickbaity I think, as it's not a doomsday book), and in it, he describes a model of societal instability which features "popular immiseration" as a factor. Essentially he claims…
on “Oregon Decriminalized Hard Drugs” ↗…ossified into a system requires even more effort than maintaining the complexity, with no guarantee of success. I believe it was either Joseph Tainter (Collapse of Complex Societies) or Peter Turchin (End Times) that mentioned the only example he could give of a civilization successfully simplifying itself, at least for a time, was the Byzantine Empire, which of course did not make the resurgence that those…
on “Effects of Gen AI on High Skilled Work: Experiments with Software Developers” ↗