Addiction by Subtraction

“The effect of mass media is not to elicit belief but maintain the apparatus of addiction.” [Wiggin Sessions] April 23, 2022 Addiction by Subtraction “The effect of mass media is not to elicit belief but maintain the apparatus of addiction.” — Christopher Lasch [Addison Wiggin]Dear Reader, Poor Barack Obama. He’s no longer president of the free world. But can’t help himself from getting paid to give speeches at the nation’s [elite universities](. As we pointed out yesterday, Obama would like to see online disinformation regulated. By what ministry of truth? He didn’t say. But we’re sure he would be willing to choose the arbiter, or be one himself. Alas, for the rest of us, we have to (gasp!) fend for ourselves. Thankfully, John Robb gives us some tools. We summarize from yesterday. Here’s what happens when we’re confronted with our laptops and smartphones these days: We Scan. We can’t read all the news we receive, there’s too much of it, and it would be impossible to make sense of it all even if we did. Instead of reading it, we scanit, looking for novelty and patterns. We look for social cues. We don’t simply read the news and form opinions in isolation anymore. Online, the news is packaged as a social cue that lets us figure out what other people are thinking. And... we get addicted. The news isn’t just a one-way flow of information anymore. Online, it’s interactive, with social feedback loops and induced hormone release (cortisol in fear of getting it wrong and dopamine for getting it right) that make it addictive. If you understand it, no need for a ministry of truth at all, right? All worth keeping in mind as you comb your way through this week’s theoretical exercise. As always, Our goal with The Wiggin Sessions is to provide context to the news cycle… and help you make better decisions about your investments, your personal choices and help you guide your family in a productive and happy life! – Addison [The Extraordinary Madness of Popular Delusions]( We were reminded this morning, by[Dave Gonigam of the 5 Min. Forecast]( of the opprobrium heaped on upon us by our own readers back then. Dave forwarded us this article [“People Just Want To Feel Good About War Again”]( suggesting it could help us with framing our Wiggin Sessions interview with John Robb this week. “Even if you take the dominant position on Ukraine,” author Freddie deBoer writes “which is that Ukraine is a blameless victim and Russia an evil aggressor, that nothing other powers have done does anything to explain Russia’s behavior, let alone excuse it, and that NATO and the United States must take extraordinary measures to support Ukraine in this conflict.” None of that is incompatible with the observation deBoer is making, which is this: The fickle American imagination will turn to other things. And the future of Ukraine, even in an optimistic vision where they resist any substantial permanent capture of land by the Russians, will still be unsettled, still saddled with a weak central government, endemic corruption, a virulent strain of ultra-nationalist far-right sentiment, and the consequences of now being stuffed full of foreign arms and ordnance. [Into “The Long Night” of Network Tyranny]( “How do you get up every day and write about this stuff?” I asked John Robb after [speaking to him for about an hour](. As you know, I’ve been writing about the financial mayhem for over two decades. It takes a bit to give me the willies. During our discussion John outlined what he is preparing for: “The arrival of the ‘long night’ of networked tyranny.” It’s not nearly as pleasing as it sounds. I first met the polyglot John Robb after the invasion of Iraq during the Second Gulf War. His description of “network swarms” fundamentally changed the way I view international politics and its extended family, war. He’d done a stint with the Navy Seals and had been a data analyst in the defense industry. He’d just published a book called [Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and The End of Globalization](. (The book and Mr. Robb’s explanation of how networks would transform politics, the economy and commerce also led me to completely overhaul how we do online marketing in our business. That’s, of course, a story for another day.) [Toward A Dystopian Hell-World?]( The New Right’s worldview, according to author James Pogue, “runs counter to the American narrative of the last century – that economic growth and technological innovation inevitably lead us toward a better future.” Not so, say this new breed of non-Trump thinkers on the right side of the political spectrum. Rather, they see something much bleeker: a world in which “individualist, liberal ideology, increasingly bureaucratic governments and big tech are all combining into a world that is tyrannical, chaotic, and devoid of systems of value and morality that give human life richness and meaning.” As one of the characters in the story, Blake Masters, a 30-something running for a Senate seat in Arizona, calls it a “dystopian hell-world.” You may recall, after speaking to John Robb for an hour or so, I was left wondering how you can hold this kind of world view and continue to think and write every day. It’s a bleak one. [Empathy Triggers, Disinformation ant Network Swarms]( We’re on a slippery slope if we follow Mr. Obama’s suggestion to start regulating speech online. It’s true, I care about as much about what Obama said last night as I do Florida Governor DeSantis’ opinion of Mickey Mouse’s sexual proclivities. But I am intrigued, especially having spent the week considering John Robb, from Global Guerillas, exposition of the “network swarm” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “During the initial week of the Ukraine conflict,” Robb observes, “the assumptions were reset towards this moral conflict, this absolute tribal conflict, where there's an existential evil that cannot be allowed to exist anymore and has to go away. That we have to save our tribesmen in Ukraine and they are absolute good and everything they've ever done is absolute good. Regardless of any knowledge of their history or any kind of accurate moral judgment of their actions.” During that “outrage” Biden gave his now infamous outburst “For God’s sake, [Putin] cannot remain in power!” The White House “walked” the comment back, yada, yada. “Biden tried to lead the swarm,” Robb says, referring to the president’s moral outrage. “But it’s a contingent leadership. A simulacrum of the old network model.” [Click here to learn more]( Watch John Robb explain the dark side of the global network swarm, right [here](. During the period of “outrage” following the Ukrainian invasion, Biden gave his now infamous outburst “For God’s sake, [Putin] cannot remain in power!” The White House “walked” the comment back, yada, yada. “Biden tried to lead the swarm,” Robb says, referring to the president’s moral outrage. “But it’s a contingent leadership. A simulacrum of the old network model.” Follow your bliss, [Addison Wiggin] Addison Wiggin Founder, The Financial Reserve P.S. On a lighter note, let me ask you a question: What makes a billionaire different from you and me? We all have 24 hours a day and yet guys like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, founders of PayPal, have used their 24 to amass billions! Next week, we’ll be talking to author Jimmy Soni whose latest book The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley is hot off the press. Investing in Physical Gold & Silver Is Now Even Easier The new Hard Assets Alliance Mobile app makes it easy to trade, fund and monitor your precious metals portfolio. It puts instant, digital access to real assets at your fingertips. Invest with confidence knowing your account and activity is encrypted through the app and protected by biometric authentication. [Download the FREE app and open your account today]( Ed. note: Got something to say? Send your feedback to The Wiggin Sessions, [here.](mailto:WigginSessions@5minforecast.com) Follow the Wiggin Sessions on Social Media! [Facebook Group]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( [LinkedIn]( [The Financial Reserve]The Wiggin Sessions is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. 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