The Operating System

Description

What do we mean when we talk about “the State”? Multiple polls show a

growing disillusionment with the State and representative government as

vehicles for progressive change, and particularly as means to tame

capitalism, let alone as a basis for seeing beyond it. In a quick and

readable format, Eric Laursen proposes thinking about the State in an

entirely new way—not simply as government or legal institutions, but as

humanity’s analog to a computer operating system—opening up a new

interpretation of the system of governance that emerged in Europe five-

hundred years ago and now drives almost every aspect of human society. He

also demonstrates powerfully why humanity’s life-and-death

challenges—including racism, climate change, and rising economic

exploitation—cannot be addressed as long as the State continues to exercise

dominion.