Jordan Peterson and the Program for an Alternative Future

Last month, headlines coming out of the World Economic Forum dominated the media landscape as the political and business leaders of the globe gathered in Davos to discuss what an ‘ideal’ future would look like. In recent years, the WEF and its founder, Klaus Schwab, have been facing widespread criticism for their 2030 agenda, dubbed as “The Great Reset,” so much so that the Swiss army had to deploy up to 5,000 soldiers to secure this year’s summit in anticipation of protests. 

The Great Reset—a purposefully vague and somewhat already trivial trope—represents all aspects of a dark future in the eyes of its (mainly conservative) opposition, complete with a full-fledged sharing economy absent of most private property, restricted freedom of movement and speech, constant AI surveillance, the proliferation of vegetable and insect-based proteins, as well as tighter control over every aspect of our lives, maintained by some cloudy global governance body. In short, an Orwellian nightmare painted green, all in the name of equity, sustainability, and peace, of course. 

Regardless of what the Great Reset would actually look like if successfully implemented, the main problem of the agenda is not its contents, but the values and principles along which it was devised, being that they appear to have been explicitly rooted in cultural Marxism and other strains of modern progressivism. Most conservatives clearly see the long-term danger involved in such ideas overtaking governments unchallenged. Nonetheless, with a few national-conservative countries resisting the globalist temptation alone but having no common approach to an alternative future, we were steadily marching toward the future envisioned atop the Swiss Alps.

Until now, it seems. The renowned Canadian psychologist and author Jordan B. Peterson almost quietly announced perhaps the biggest news on the cultural front this year: the launch of an “international consortium” to provide an alternative vision of the future to the “apocalyptic narrative” of the WEF’s and to come up with a program that’s based on “pro-human” principles instead of the interests of the globalist elite.

As a regular guest of Joe Rogan’s, Peterson made his announcement on one of the most recent episodes of the podcast. He uploaded the relevant segment to his own YouTube channel as well, calling it “An Invitation to the Future.” Just a few minutes of the video is enough to justify the dramatic phrasing; Peterson’s initiative does indeed promise world-changing perspectives.

There’s not much detail about Peterson’s future consortium yet, apart from that it will be based in London, planned to be launched in the fall of 2023, and that it will (eventually) be open to public membership “as broad as possible.” The inauguration will be at a three-day international conference of over two thousand like-minded intellectuals between October 31 and November 2, roughly matching the scale of the rival forum in Davos. “We want to put forward a vision that’s enticing and inviting,” Peterson told Rogan.

A Program for Humanity

So, what is Peterson’s vision exactly? In short, he wants his program to be designed as a clear alternative to the WEF’s Malthusian, zero-growth approach that’s trying to limit population development to save the planet by imposing a top-down “utopian vision in the service of [its] narcissism on the poor”. So, Peterson chose not to impose anything on anyone. He doesn’t claim to have definitive answers; instead, his program is made up of questions to be collectively answered by all who wish to participate.

• Energy policy: how do we get energy and resources at the lowest possible cost, as rapidly, and to the largest number of people, as possible? The current model seeks to limit energy consumption by driving up the prices, disproportionately affecting the global poor, Peterson suggests. “That’s off the table,” he says. “We’re trying to alleviate absolute poverty. Pro-human view.”
• Environment: what are the major problems confronting us and how do we prioritize human well-being while addressing them? We need to live in harmony with nature, Peterson says, but “not predicated by the idea there are too many mouths to feed and that you’re evil if you think about having children.”
• Governance: how do we arrange systems of governance to stop the march of “pathological gigantism”? In essence, Peterson argues for a more transparent and democratic leadership model instead of corporate-fascist collusions of interest at the highest levels. “The powerful players in the world are increasingly collaborating to impose a top-down vision of the future on everyone.” It’s time for people to take back the power.
• Family policy: how do we facilitate the encouragement and maintenance of long-term, monogamous, child-centered relationships to increase the birth rate? We need to have a serious conversation about what marriage means, Peterson believes. It’s immature to think that the purpose of marriage is simply happiness, he thinks, and a more responsible answer would be the partners’ “spiritual development and the establishment of an environment that’s beneficial to children.” Surprisingly close to the Hungarian government’s position, incidentally.
• Leadership:  how do we establish a world that is ruled not by power, but by a hierarchical structure of responsibility? The current glorification of power gives rise to tyranny, Peterson explained. An antidote to that would be returning to subsidiarity, a key element of Western culture, in which personal responsibility is taken at each step of oneself, family, community, and nation. “All the responsibility you abdicate will be taken up by tyrants,” he said. “That’s the cardinal rule of social organization.”

So far, only a few publications have taken notice of Peterson’s unusual announcement, although it is safe to assume the initiative will gain a considerable following as we approach the launch date. If anything is indicative, the professor’s initial “invitation” was watched by a million people in the first four days. More details are expected to be announced, but in the meanwhile, Peterson will continue to discuss his version of an ideal world in the upcoming episodes of The Daily Wire’s Exodus documentary show.