The Age of Feeling Powerless

The provided text, an article by Greg Twemlow titled "Politics, Capitalism, and AI are Forging the ‘Age of Feeling Powerless’," argues that modern society is suffering from a paradoxical loss of individual control despite being technologically advanced. The author posits that this pervasive feeling of powerlessness stems from a self-reinforcing crisis where capitalism, politics, and technology (specifically AI) align to dismantle personal autonomy. Economically, the massive financial commitment to AI infrastructure necessitates the displacement of knowledge workers, viewed as "cannon fodder," under what is called the “logic of concrete.” Politically, this economic pressure fuels political gridlock and inequality, leading to "stealth authoritarianism" and citizen paralysis, thereby encouraging individuals to surrender judgment to AI due to its convenience. As an antidote, the article proposes a path toward personal sovereignty through the Sovereign Partnership Framework, which advocates for individual bravery, discernment, and agency to choose complexity over convenience, transforming personal practice into the necessary infrastructure for collective resistance. Read the article.About the Author - Greg Twemlow writes and teaches at the intersection of technology, education, and human judgment. He works with educators and businesses to make AI explainable and assessable in classrooms and boardrooms — to ensure AI users show their process and own their decisions. His cognition protocol, the Context & Critique Rule™, is built on a three-step process: Evidence → Cognition → Discernment — a bridge from what’s scattered to what’s chosen. Context & Critique → Accountable AI™. © 2025 Greg Twemlow. “Context & Critique → Accountable AI” and “Context & Critique Rule” are unregistered trademarks (™).