Worldview

Grant Rayner, the founder of the crisis management firm Spartan9, wrote the following in the last newsletter for 2025. Highly recommeded you subscribe to it, a lot of great information.

"For the first time in my life, I find myself genuinely unsettled by the trajectory of global affairs.

This unease is driven by several converging trends.

First, there is a visible resurgence of authoritarianism, accompanied by the deliberate erosion of democratic institutions and norms. This is not occurring accidentally, but through engineered processes that weaken accountability, undermine trust in elections, and normalise illiberal governance.

Second, extraordinary concentrations of wealth are increasingly paired with a lack of corresponding moral or civic responsibility. Some individuals and entities have concluded—rationally, from their own perspective—that autocratic systems serve their interests better than democratic ones, particularly where democracy imposes transparency, regulation, or public accountability.

Related to this is the consolidation of both legacy and digital media platforms in the hands of a small number of billionaires. These platforms are not neutral infrastructure: they are powerful tools for shaping narratives, amplifying preferred viewpoints, and legitimising regimes or policies that would otherwise face scrutiny or resistance.

The rapid deployment of generative AI compounds this problem. While the technology has legitimate and valuable applications, it also dramatically lowers the cost of misinformation, manipulation, and intellectual laziness. In an environment already characterised by shallow media consumption, AI becomes an accelerant rather than a neutral tool.

These dynamics are further enabled by an electorate that is, in aggregate, vulnerable to manipulation—whether through disinformation, emotional framing, or the amplification of outrage. Social media business models, optimised for engagement rather than truth, actively reward polarisation and simplification, particularly when ownership incentives align with continued wealth accumulation rather than social responsibility.

Geopolitically, the failure to decisively constrain Russia—economically or militarily—in Ukraine carries consequences well beyond the immediate conflict. It signals tolerance for territorial revisionism and increases the likelihood of further destabilisation in Europe. Russia’s demonstrated success in exploiting political and informational weaknesses in the United States only reinforces this risk, making future confrontations more dangerous and less predictable.

At the same time, the United States appears increasingly erratic in its use of power. Decisions to conduct military strikes with limited transparency or coherent strategic justification contribute to global instability and erode whatever moral authority remains. What is increasingly visible is not merely poor leadership, but leadership unassuming of ethical constraint—and the downstream effects are significant.

Taken together, these trends are dangerous. They reinforce one another, reduce the space for principled governance, and increase the likelihood of outcomes that are difficult to reverse.

As an individual—and as a business owner—it is not always clear what meaningful leverage I have over these forces. But while democracy is imperfect, slow, and often frustrating, it remains preferable to systems where power is unchecked and dissent is suppressed. History is unambiguous on that point."

As grim as this is, I agree with him. I'm scared of what's in store for the world next. I'm jaded because of how we are allowing this, and I'm not sure we'll be able to revert all the changes that are happening. The 21st century is shaping up to be very much like William Gibson painted it back in 1984 with Neuromancer.

Ok then.