nationalism
Article
nationalism is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between June 03, 2022 and August 05, 2025. The archive places it in contexts such as “new forms of our current -isms (nationalism, racism, sexism, etc.)”; "" strong Gods ” of populism, nationalism, and religion”. It most often appears alongside 18th century, A Eunuch’s Dream, Alessandro Moreschi.
Metadata
- Category: Concepts
- Mention count: 2
- Issue count: 2
- First seen: June 03, 2022
- Last seen: August 05, 2025
Appears In
Related Pages
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- 18th century (1 shared issues)
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- A Eunuch’s Dream (1 shared issues)
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- Alessandro Moreschi (1 shared issues)
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- American football (1 shared issues)
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- Amish (1 shared issues)
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- Anna Mons (1 shared issues)
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- Anonymous (1 shared issues)
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- Antigono (1 shared issues)
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- Anton Maria Zanetti (1 shared issues)
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- Antonio Bernacchi (1 shared issues)
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- aristocracy (1 shared issues)
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- Arnaboldi (1 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
A return to feudalism may or may not be necessary for the return of some new castrati-like practice, but either way it likely won’t be sufficient. For the castrati, the Catholic church supplied much of the legal, social, and financial resources that developed and sustained the practice, however it also provided the emotional and conceptual resources (e.g. the Catholic notion of sacrifice) through which families and the castrati themselves understood and justified the practice. What new religion or ideology might come to play the same role in the future? Maybe radical new forms of our current -isms (nationalism, racism, sexism, etc.) will provide the requisite physical and psychological resources, or perhaps it will be an almost entirely new ideology, one that is only dimly hinted at in our own times (or maybe it will be Catholicism that once again supports the production of specialized class of transhumans). Here’s a wild speculation: future ecological collapse will propel the rise of militant eco-cults that use elaborate schemes of genetic modification, plastic surgery, and hormone therapy (and whatever else is needed) to create animal-human hybrids (think Thundercats or Stalking Cat) as a part of some master plan to bring about radical environmental restoration (steal this premise). Of course this specific scenario is probably a little far-fetched (or is it?!?), but the general picture—an ideology that currently exists in benign form turning virulent and co-opting powerful biological or psychological modifications for its ends—might not be.
Inline links: Thundercats, Stalking Cat
According to R. R. Reno, editor of the magazine First Things, the liberal project of the past three generations has sought to weaken the “strong Gods” of populism, nationalism, and religion that were held to be the drivers of the bloody conflicts of the early 20th century. Those gods are now returning, and are present in the politics of both the progressive left and far right—particularly the right, which is characterized today by demands for strong national identities or religious foundations for national communities.
Inline links: strong Gods