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Roosevelt or the robot? The choice facing humanity

ALAN SIMPSON warns of a dystopian crossroads where Trump’s wrecking ball meets AI-driven alienation, and argues only a Green New Deal can repair our fractured society before techno-feudalism consumes us all

Franklyn Roosevelt, November 1932

BIZARRE AS it may seem, Donald Trump and the TV series Adolescence might turn out to be the wake-up call we’ve desperately needed.

Trump is hell-bent on bringing globalisation to its knees; a blessing in itself. But Adolescence offers the starker warning of the techno-feudalism that might follow. It is this alienation from ourselves that brings the biggest challenge. To do so, we need a fundamental rethink of today’s politics and economics.

None of this will stop Trump from reducing the US to a feral, semi-feudal society. It may have been coming anyway. But Trump’s whimsical, on/off, up/down approach to tariffs has left even his most ardent supporters wincing. If the US can no longer be seen as anyone’s reliable ally, the search for a better plan becomes all the more urgent. This is where Adolescence comes in.

Delusions of progress

If you want to save the kids...

Looking for Frank

Sleepwalking into a nightmare

Replacing humanity

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