Totalitarianism is only the focus for a brief section of Chapter 5
But the rest of the book is excellent anyway
I’ve roughly ranked this as 1st out of 44 EA-related books for how generally useful to me it seemed (not just for totalitarianism etc.)
I’d recommend this book in general, and would recommend the relevant section of Chapter 5 for the specific purpose of learning about things like totalitarianism
See here for some thoughts on this and other nuclear-risk-related books.
Despite being a novel, I think this book is actually the most detailed exploration I’ve seen of how a stable, global totalitarian system could arise and sustain itself.
I think this is a sign that there needs to be more actual research on that topic—a novel published more than 70 years ago shouldn’t be one of the best sources on an important topic!
I’d recommend this book both for reading for enjoyment and for learning about things like totalitarianism
One point in favor of 1984 and Animal Farm is that Orwell was intimitely familiar with real-life totalitarian regimes, having fought for the communists in Spain etc. His writing is more credible IMO because he’s criticizing the side he fought for rather than the side he fought against. (I mean, he’s criticizing both, for sure—his critiques apply equally to fascism—but most authors who warn us of dystopian futures are warning us against their outgroup, so to speak, whereas Orwell is warning us against what used to be his ingroup.)
Books I’ve read that relevant to things like the possibility of stable and/or global totalitarianism
The Totalitarian Threat, by Caplan, 2008
This is actually one chapter from the book Global Catastrophic Risk, which was edited by Bostrom and Cirkovic
And I haven’t read most of the rest of the book
Clicking on the following link will download a doc version of this chapter: link
You can see the link here
This is the only chapter/paper-length treatment of this topic that I’m aware of
I’d recommend this chapter both in general and for the specific purpose of learning about this topic
The Precipice, by Ord, 2020
Totalitarianism is only the focus for a brief section of Chapter 5
But the rest of the book is excellent anyway
I’ve roughly ranked this as 1st out of 44 EA-related books for how generally useful to me it seemed (not just for totalitarianism etc.)
I’d recommend this book in general, and would recommend the relevant section of Chapter 5 for the specific purpose of learning about things like totalitarianism
See here for some thoughts on this and other nuclear-risk-related books.
Novels:
1984, by Orwell, 1949
Despite being a novel, I think this book is actually the most detailed exploration I’ve seen of how a stable, global totalitarian system could arise and sustain itself.
I think this is a sign that there needs to be more actual research on that topic—a novel published more than 70 years ago shouldn’t be one of the best sources on an important topic!
I’d recommend this book both for reading for enjoyment and for learning about things like totalitarianism
Animal Farm, by Orwell, 1945
I’ve roughly ranked this as 42nd out of 44 EA-related books for how generally useful to me it seemed
I wouldn’t recommend this book except for reading for enjoyment
Brave New World, by Huxley, 1932
I’ve roughly ranked this as 43rd out of 44 EA-related books for how generally useful to me it seemed
I might recommend this as an interesting exploration of a possible type of future, but probably not
I probably wouldn’t recommend for reading for enjoyment (I found it dull at times)
One point in favor of 1984 and Animal Farm is that Orwell was intimitely familiar with real-life totalitarian regimes, having fought for the communists in Spain etc. His writing is more credible IMO because he’s criticizing the side he fought for rather than the side he fought against. (I mean, he’s criticizing both, for sure—his critiques apply equally to fascism—but most authors who warn us of dystopian futures are warning us against their outgroup, so to speak, whereas Orwell is warning us against what used to be his ingroup.)