Franz Kafka, The Zürau Aphorisms : - Arthur Miller, ‘Why I Wrote The Crucible ’ : - Robert Musil, ‘Questions for Volume Two’ of The Man Without Qualities : - Joseph Roth: ‘Our Homeland, Our Epoch’ - Neil Postman, ‘Future Shlock’: - Hannah Arendt, ‘Franz Kafka: A Revaluation’: - Franz Kafka, The Zürau Aphorisms : -

A few weeks ago I gave a lecture entitled ‘The Great Disorientation’. It covered a lot of ground, as our present disorientation is indeed very great. Confused, overloaded, we stumble from update to update, constantly refreshing, all the while reducing our individual and collective capacities to comprehend and respond.

As shocks and surprises mount up, in time so do the anniversaries. Another year passes since a disaster was visited on a people and a place. Today is one of those days. On 11 March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck the Tohoku region, triggering a massive tsunami and nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

An AI prompt might suggest starting the note with a reference to these being ‘interesting times’. These are certainly eventful, fateful times, but how interesting? As opposed to simply being stupid and dangerous? Brittleness makes breaking more likely, one can be shocked by the shocking, but whether one should be surprised by it is a different matter.

If there are any readers in Canberra, I will be giving a lecture on the evening of Tuesday 25 February entitled, ‘The Great Disorientation’. It is based on a chapter from the book manuscript I am working on. The event is in-person only, but I can try to record and post it if there is interest.

This month will already be the fourth anniversary of ‘Imperfect Notes’, which commenced in February 2021.

A news story from Japan, where a gaping hole has appeared in a road, swallowing a truck and its driver: The Japan Times reports: And from AFP: A hole that continues to expand, sewage and debris getting in the way. Another image from Japan, taken this morning. In a neighbourhood park in Tokyo, it is possible to see Mt Fuji, but only from one particular spot.

Joseph Roth, ‘The Inexpressible’ (1938): - Eric Hobsbawm, ‘Barbarism, A User’s Guide’ (1994): - Ivan Illich, The Rivers North of the Future (c. 1997): - Hermann Broch, The Sleepwalkers (1931-21): - Cecil Day Lewis, ‘Where are the War Poets?’ (1943): -

Apology and explanation: This is the last of the ‘polycrisis pairings’ series (see notes one and two), then a pause. I am keenly aware one of the issues I raise below is the problem of immediacy and yet I am sending these out in a flurry. I also end up using the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’, which I generally try to avoid.

Apology and explanation: a brief change in the tempo of notes. Normally I try to avoid more than one per week. Yet these are not exactly normal times… This note is somewhat of a bridge between the previous one, which offered an updated reflection on some of the major forces shaping the present, and the next note in coming days that will revisit comprehending the contemporary through the polycrisis frame.

Late last year I published a series of notes around the theme of ‘what time is it?’ (first note, second note, third note), reckoning with the sense of confusion and change we are feeling and experiencing. This culminated in a presentation I shared asking the accompanying question, ‘where are we?’, in which I tried to offer somewhat of a synthesis. has recently shared a lecture he gave in November 2024 on ‘Polycrisis and the Fraying of U.S.