Are We Living In The End Times? According to Slavoj Zizek, We Are!

Are we on the verge of another mass global extinction?

According to Slavoj Zizek, very much so.

Who Is Slavoj Zizek?

Slavoj Zizkl is a brilliant Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic, whose thinking is both dense and esoteric yet deeply practical.

In his book, Living in The End Times, published in 2010, Zizek explores the modern condition through the lens of ideology, psychoanalysis socio-political critique.

He identifies four crises facing the world, which he metaphorically labels as the four riders of the Apocolypse:

Zizek's Four Riders of the Apocolypse

1. The Ecological Crisis (The Rider on the White Horse)
2. The Economic Crisis (The Rider on the Red Horse)
3. The Biogenetic Revolution, including AI (The Rider on the Black Horse)
4. Systemic Violence or Social Disintegration (The Rider on the Pale Horse)

What is Causing the Crises Above?

• Zizek points the finger squarely at Global Capitalism
• While he acknowledges its dynamism and capacity for innovation, he is deeply critical of the social inequalities Capilatism perpetuates and its impact on the environment
• In short, Zizek argues that the four crises are symptoms of a larger, systemic problem which is deeply rooted in capitalist ideology and the way it shapes our interactions with the world and each other.

My Key Take Outs From This Book

Zizek is warning us that our current efforts to deal with the four crises are woefully inadequate

Zizek is asking us to rethink the fundamental assumptions of our society, to rethink what it is to be human within the system limits of the planet.

It is this imperative to revalue what it means to be human that resonates so strongly with me, an imperative I intend to pursue further in my 'Human Animal' Project.