Marc Andreessen on the heros we’re allowed to have
The anti-hero is the portrait of the Nietzschean superhero that we are allowed to have. Tony Soprano, Walter White, Don Draper. We can have someone who does Great Things, so long as that person is fundamentally bad by the standards of modern morality.
We are not allowed to have the full version of the Nietzschean superman doing something outstanding. We’re not allowed Napoleon figures, the building of the pyramids, Beethoven, or even the person who built the transcontinental railroad, the car industry, that sort of thing.
The full Nietzschean superman is the person who says ‘I really am going to rule the world, and rule it much better’. Those narratives are gone. They’re too scary. They’re absolutely frightening, because if we rediscover that kind of morality it would upend our entire order.
Marc is right. It is scary.@FukuyamaFrancis, with Nietzsche, fears that the return of thymos will cause terrible wars of the spirit, this time with modern weapons.
— Peter Hartree (@peterhartree) January 15, 2023
Fukuyama reminds us of the scenes in 1914: huge *pro-war* protests in Berlin, Paris, Petrograd, London & Vienna.
Since then, we've mostly avoided enthusiasm for war due to fear of nuclear holocaust.
— Peter Hartree (@peterhartree) January 15, 2023
How long will this keep working?
"Effective altruism" & "progress studies" might satisfy us for a while, but I see people chafing (e.g. @palladiummag).
According to me, the best recent anti-hero is Pope Pius XIII. pic.twitter.com/dz1sliQMmv
— Peter Hartree (@peterhartree) January 15, 2023