Apologies for the technical difficulties at the top of the chat!
Thank you Brian, Boris Blum, Tamera, Freedom Convo / Riff Raft pod, Christine Mose, Pat Browne and everyone else for tuning into this week’s Book Chat.
This was our third (and last) installment talking about Reinventing Collapse, and we drew on Dmitry Orlov’s account of the Soviet collapse to explore how real resistance rarely looks like protest. In the USSR, people didn’t overthrow the system so much as quietly withdraw from it and learn to live beside it. Trust in institutions eroded to zero, and in its place grew informal networks, barter economies, practical skills, and local loyalties. Survival depended less on ideology than on being useful, being adaptable, and being connected to the right people.
We talked about why protests often serve the system they oppose, how organized movements become manageable to the powers that be, and why people living on the margins are often better prepared than those in the mainstream. Orlov’s unsettling insight surfaced again and again: the most dangerous people in collapse aren’t passive — they’re ideological.
The discussion also traced the psychological terrain of collapse: the loss of legitimacy, the slow disappearance of “normal,” and the dangers faced by those whose identities are tied entirely to career, status, or advancement. In contrast, cultures that already made room for idleness, improvisation, and informal cooperation proved more resilient when systems failed.
The conversation hinged on Orlov’s “no regrets” position: prepare as if the future has already arrived. That way, if collapse deepens you’re ready for it; and if it doesn’t, you’ve still built a more grounded, connected, and resilient life.
Next week we’ll start digging into The Global Coup D’Etat: The Fourth Industrial Revolution and The Great Reset, by Jacob Nordangård. Hope you’ll join us! Subscribe now to be sure you receive a reminder when the live is about to start.
