To Serve Man

An invasive species — a globally invasive species — is loose.

It is a fierce predator, an apex predator of vast appetites. Its limitless ambitions span planet Earth, pole to pole.

This fi-fo-fum presently besieges a tiny burgh high in the Alps of Switzerland.

Private jet aircraft lower him in… and haul him out.

Rolex watches encircle his wrists, Armani clothing adorns his back. He rolls around in expensive automobiles pushed by electricity.

What is this creature, precisely?

It is a homunculus named Homo Davos — Davos Man.

Where the Elite Meet

Each year he descends upon the high Swiss resort of Davos. There he lives a grand and gorgeous week in the company of like fellows.

These are the world’s kingpins, the world’s chieftains, the world’s great and — in their estimation — the world’s good.

These are the world’s grandees, the world’s visionaries, the world’s prophets.

These are the one-worlders, the planners, the humanitarians with guillotines.

These are the think-tankers, the propaganda-drummers, the deep staters.

And these are your betters.

In Davos they huddle in astounding profusion… like locusts in a Dust Bowl farm.

2,800 of them from 120 nations can presently be located therein.

Why do they choose Davos?

Highly Symbolic

Davos lacks the dining, drinking and entertainment venues of a Paris, of a London, of a New York.

Our men inform us the resorts of St. Moritz and Gstaad — to name two alone — boast superior skiing.

Yet Davos is the very penthouse of Europe. It is the highest city on the continent, a sort of Olympus.

Is it coincidence Davos Man selects the highest city on the continent? We hazard it is far from coincidence. Its symbolism is vast.

As Davos Man is above you… you are beneath him… as lord rises above serf… as bigwig rises above little wig.

From this high perch he sets the world to rights and bosses it about.

And let it be known: Davos Man is a very vain and self-regarding fellow.

“The future is not just happening,” uber-Davos Man Klaus Schwab gloated at the 2022 confabulation, adding:

The future is built by us, by a powerful community as you here in this room. We have the means to improve the state of the world…

The Fatal Conceit

Thus Davos Man believes he is an unrivaled engineer — not of matter but of men. Yet here he falls into fatal error…

Man’s toolmaking skills have made him master of his physical habitat. They have propelled him even into space beyond.

Alas, man’s undeniable engineering skills have planted within him a massive self-overestimation.

He mistakes his ability to engineer his physical world for his ability to engineer his social world.

He mistakes the inner human universe for the external clockwork universe.

In theory they are one — engineering is engineering. In reality they are two.

The hormone-governed, capricious and willful human being has no existence along the engineer’s x and y axes.

As well plot a delirious love affair along the x and y axes… or a riot.

Yet Davos Man believes this divine ability is within him.

Mr. Hayek famously labeled it the “fatal conceit.”

Herr Schwab, yesterday:

We face a fractured world and growing societal divides, leading to pervasive uncertainty and pessimism. We have to rebuild trust in our future by moving beyond crisis management, looking at the root causes of the present problems and building together a more promising future. 

“Rebuilding Trust”

This year’s slogan, in fact, is “Rebuilding Trust.”

Yet why must trust be rebuilt? Why was trust wrecked in the first instance?

Perhaps it was because Davos Man bared his lordly aspirations during the 2020 pandemic?

He was a passionate fanaticist of lockdowns, mass vaccination and general government gooning of citizens.

Subsequent inquiries have brought these measures into question — often vastly into question.

Yet Davos Man taped the mouths of any dissident who defied him.

Thus Davos Man is correct to fear for his reputation… such as it is.

He has earned our distrust. Why should anyone trust him?

“Misinformation and Disinformation” 

Perhaps that is why this year’s gathering lists “misinformation and disinformation” among the world’s greatest menaces.

For much of 2020’s “misinformation and disinformation” has proven to be information.

This is a gnawing thorn in Davos Man’s flesh. It embarrasses him. And so he is hot to restore his noble authority.

Thus his Global Risks Report 2024 reads:

“The threat from misinformation and disinformation is identified as the most severe short-term threat in the 2024 report.”

Hey, That’s Our Job!

Perhaps that is also why Davos Man wrings his wrists and gnashes his teeth over artificial intelligence.

He fears it will break his grip over men’s minds:

The growing concern about misinformation and disinformation is in large part driven by the potential for AI, in the hands of bad actors, to flood global information systems with false narratives.

It is the consecrated duty and responsibility of Davos Man — after all — to flood global information systems with false narratives.

And he is resentful of competition.

Is Davos Man above implementing Artificial Intelligence for his own ends and purposes?

Davos Man proceeds to inform us that democracy itself dangles in the balance:

Foreign and domestic actors alike will leverage misinformation and disinformation to widen societal and political divides. This risk is enhanced by a large number of elections in the near future, with more than 3 billion people due to head to the polls in 2024 and 2025, including in major economies like the United States, India and the United Kingdom.

The report suggests that the spread of mis- and disinformation around the globe could result in civil unrest, but could also drive government-driven censorship, domestic propaganda and controls on the free flow of information.

Just so. Yet turn once again to the pandemic year of 2020.

It’s All About Control

Who was heart and soul for government-driven censorship, domestic propaganda and controls on the free flow of information?

The answer is Davos Man.

Thus we hazard that Davos Man does not fear government-driven censorship, domestic propaganda and controls on the free flow of information.

He rather fears the wrong governments will drive censorship and domestic propaganda and control the free flow of information.

For example, Mr. Trump’s government… should he claim the laurel in this year’s election.

We further hazard Davos Man aches and sweats for government-driven censorship, domestic propaganda and controls on the free flow of information should it ensure Mr. Trump’s electoral defeat.

Climate Control

Yet ss we have argued before: Climate is Davos Man’s greatest hobbyhorse. It is his central fixation.

Climate change is, after all, a menace truly global. Only a concerted global effort can rout it.

And the weaponry required is readily on offer: Centralized economic planning, taxation, wealth redistribution… all on a global scale.

Imagine it — placing a taxable claim on the very respiration of civilization — carbon dioxide.

Old Archimedes claimed he could move the world with a lever of adequate length:

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”

Carbon dioxide is Davos Man’s lever. The alpine city of Davos is his fulcrum.

From there he intends to move the world.

To Serve Man

Davos Man would have you believe he is out to save the world. He wishes you to believe he is a very benevolent fellow.

His sole concerns are humanity,its salvation and its deliverance from evil.

Yet we trust Davos Man with our future no more than we trust a dog with our dinner.

As noted the irreplaceable Mencken:

“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. Power is what all messiahs really seek: not the chance to serve.”

We are once again reminded of the old Twilight Zone television series.

In one episode an apparently benevolent alien race descends upon Earth. The very deserts will bloom under their mentorship.

These spacemen bear a book with them: To Serve Man.

Only too late did the humans realize it was a cookbook…