Ivo Wakounig
Energy Policy, Politics, System Change
Hi, good to have you here! On this website you can find information about me, some blog articles, and everything you need to get to know me and my work.
Why this, why now?
We currently experience a paradigm shift, most importantly in the so-called liberal West. We see that fascism, hatred, and evil is not something of the past but thriving in the present. We also see that history repeats itself, this time as farce. Doublespeak has become the norm and our political arenas are slowly degrading into competitions over who can be more isolationist, securitised, and short-sighted. We see that the so-called rules based West remains an imperial construct enforcing ‘rights’ which are reserved for the ruling class and were never meant to apply to the poor, marginalised, and victims of genocide.
Adding to this political mess is a raging technologisation of everyday life. Gone are the times when we appreciated perspectives of people who looked critically at developments which are forced onto us. Not fully committing to digital technologies, Al, and the overtake of technocratic thinking is equated to being backwards. There is little talk about how OpenAI and other Large Language Model providers steal our data to train their models, which belongs to one of the greatest incidents of (intellectual) theft we have ever experienced in human history. Rather than sparking critical discussions about what role new technologies can play in the future, people willingly subordinate themselves to their smartphones.
The turn to fascism and technologisation is currently unfolding. Facebook / Meta, which was initially designed to rate women’s appearance, has turned into one of the largest sources of misinformation worldwide, succumbing to the requirements of a government they pretend to be independent from. Twitter is another platform which was lost to the fascist wave and I fear that it is only a matter of time until other platforms will fall prey. Social media has turned from a tool for exchange to a tool of manipulation.
The tragedy is that digital life has become so pervasive that our sole existence depends on the internet. Rather than fighting a pointless war against the digital world, which can be one of the greatest sources of inspiration and good, I created my own website. This digital repository contains some information about me and some thought pieces, hoping to maintain ownership over the things I produce amidst the current chaos.
What to expect?
If you care about the current state of affairs and are interested in political discourse you are at the right place. On this website you can find more information about me and my blog articles. In these articles I will dive deeper into contemporary issues, elaborate on some (academic) concepts, or just blow off some steam. I would appreciate engagement with my work and productive discourse, which can not only complement my work but challenge it too. Just as you I am a constant learner and learning is more fun when it is done together!