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.

A new year, but the challenges and dilemmas tumble forward with us. An important theme in my notes last year was the sense that we are disorientated and that there is a pressing need to reorientate ourselves. How to do so when we are so lost and confused? The sky is dark, it is unclear which way is north, how to orientate?

The last few notes have been framed around the question of ‘what time is it?’ (first note, second note, third note). Another question I have been asking alongside it is, ‘where are we’? Together these prompts speak to the sense of confusion and disorientation that prevails as events race ahead of our capacity to comprehend and assign meaning to them.

Intentionally or not, as the year ends, I’ve been engaging in some summative notes framed around ‘knowing the time’ (first note, second note). The plan is to finish working through some of these ideas before shōgatsu in Japan, a special time when this place goes quiet and stops for a few days. And for whatever reason, it appears there has been a recent uptick in subscribers.

In a recent note, I reflected on the need - and difficulty - of ‘knowing the time’. One is struck by the sense of disorientation that prevails, as events tumble ahead of our capacity to comprehend them. The demand is for content and quick takes, and so we are immediately told why an election outcome was to be expected, why the fall of a regime was a matter of time.

Ivan Illich, The Rivers North of the Future (c. 1997): - Paul Virilio, Crepuscular Dawn (2002): - Oliver Sacks, ‘The Machine Stops’ (c. 2015): - Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985): - Thomas Pynchon, ‘Is it O.K. to be a Luddite?’ (1984): - Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings (1950):