There's trouble ahead

It is now a trope to say that we live in unprecedented times. Perhaps we should stop and think about that. It's now universally understood – at the human species level – that what is happening around us, to us, through us, and is ahead of us has never – in all our human existence – happened.

Video via π™»πšŽπš— π™Ίπš’πšŽπšπšŽπš›, Deputy Chief Economist at Freddie Mac, original source.

And, so, I feel drawn to write more. Again.

Who am I

Currently, I run a startup called Monax. At Monax, we build a system that helps companies to better create, track, and manage their legal contracts. This is something that I've long felt was a glaring hole in the technical capabilities offered to businesses. As I often say on sales or fundraising calls, I've had a windy road through life.

Before I ran Monax, I ran a law firm in Somalia. To the insiders here, it was Somaliland – a self-declared republic that broke away from Somalia. Despite the urgent appeals by Somalilanders, it is still, technically, Somalia. I started that law firm with some partners after running a governance reform project there. Before that I was in law school and before law school I was an infantry officer in the Marine Corps. And before that I did a degree in structural engineering.

Along my path I've been fascinated as to how large, complex systems operate. And this blog has always been my chance to think about and share those observations. If you would like to see the entries from long ago they are available under the Muniments tab.

What do I intend to speak about

For the last five years, I've been telling many around me that it feels like we are living in the 1930's. There has been a subtle pressure point, a feeling ever so fleeting, yet certainly there, that something big and catastrophic was coming.

There has been a steady crescendo of nationalism arising from the undercurrents to the mainstream. There are fascist elements organizing now in broad daylight across much of the developed world. Governments I previously thought impervious to authoritarianism are now patently leaning in those directions. Developed world countries with resources, experience, and power are increasingly acting in a manner unbefitting of their “developed” world status.

Social and political systems are now in a position where they could potentially leverage a giant upheaval in public health and economic systems. And potentially the full collapse of those latter systems. Because we have purposefully dismantled our safety nets. We have ignored risks. We have devalued resilience. And to what end? If we face systemic collapse of important parts of our world how will we replace these? What lessons will we learn as a species from this trying period we face?

What stays on my mind these days in the quiet moments after my son and wife are in bed and before I fall asleep are the interplays between the rise of authoritarianism and the demise of resiliency. Please follow however you like to follow such things (the options for doing so are on the home page).

More tomorrow; because, after all, other than run a business and parent and home school what do I really have to do?


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