Peter Thiel “Stagnation or Progress” Syllabus, Stanford 2020 Course (German 277)

Vibrant cultures draw on the dynamism of innovation and creativity, but they decline through stagnation, forms of which we have been facing in recent years: deceleration of technological innovation, prospects of slowed economic growth, and a generalized cultural malaise or decadence. This seminar examines this problem and asks about antidotes, wether as progress, renaissance or disruption.

1 - OUR PRESENT DECADENCE:

Leo Strauss, The City and Man, Introduction p 1-12

Ross Douthat, The Decadent Society, entire

2 - DECLINE:

Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West, abridged edition, selections p 3-114; 176-225; 245-254; 360-415

3 - SCIENCE:

Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, entire p 63-111

Derek de Solla Prince, Science since Babylon, entire

4 - TECHNOLOGY:

Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atom Bomb, selections p 13-28; 104-197; 279-317; 443-485; 617-678

Film: The Right Stuff

5 - FEAR:

Soencer Weart, The Rise of Nuclear Fear, entire

René Girard, "Hamlet's Dull Revenge" from Theater of Envy p 271-289

Film: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

6 - COUNTERCULTURE:

Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, title essay p 84-128

Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, entire

Film: Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

7 - STAGNATION I: JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNTS

Christopher Caldwell, the Age of Entitlement, p 3-279

Camile Paglia, Provocations, selections p 465-480

8 - STAGNATION II: THEORETICAL AND NOVELISTIC ACCOUNTS

Carl Schmitt, The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy, entire

Michel Houllebecq, Submission, entire

9 THE CASE AGAINST GROWTH:

Dietrich Vollrath, Fully Grown, entire

Donella Meadows et al., The Limits to Growth, selections p 45-155

10 WAYS OUT?:

Ernst Juenger, The Forest Passage, entire

Henry George, Progress and Poverty, entire

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Anyone interested in discussing this books, I would love to meet you. DM me on Twitter: @PabloPeniche