A couple of weeks ago I did some psychohistorical reflecting about the next decade, and decided it should be called the Searing Twenties. The mood and energy I’m sensing is a darker, rougher version of the Roaring Twenties a century ago.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1205735286761615360 …
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The temporal rhyming with the 1920s is strong: Exactly 100 years later, after a decade of conflict and 30y of a new tech eating the world (mass industrial urban consumerism). A sense of one era ending and another starting. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Twenties …
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The Roaring Twenties were marked by an economic boom and bust and the artistic peak of the Lost Generation (b. 1883-1900) who came of age in WW1 and hit their 30s/40s caught between worlds. That sounds like the outer situation of the Millennials to me: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation …
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By Strauss-Howe though, the rhyme is off. The Lost Generation was a nomad generation like Gen X, while Millennials are a Hero generation like the Greatest (WW2). So either we blend in a different decadal analogy (1940s) or drop Strauss-Howe. Let’s blend! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss–Howe_generational_theory …
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Rob Salkowitz
Co-opting whatever Rob has to say here into my thread and definition of Searing Twenties, since he’s a Strauss-Howe expert and wrote the book Generation Blend
https://twitter.com/robsalk/status/1211090905794404352?s=21 …https://twitter.com/robsalk/status/1211090905794404352 …Venkatesh Rao added,
Rob Salkowitz @robsalkReplying to @vgrTo complete your analogy, the "Searing 20s" actually began in 2017, when the country, exhausted from 8 years of a polarizing, idealistic crusading President, embraced instead a morally-lax businessman pledging a return to simplicity. A financial boom kicked off... 1/x1 reply 0 retweets 6 likesShow this thread -
So our rough framework for Searing Twenties: strong rhyme with 1920s, weaker rhyme with 1940s, Strauss-Howe generational analysis off by 20y. Some basic inferences.
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Gen X is nominally in charge in most leadership positions. We are mostly past creative peak unlike the Losts, so a weak artistic boom of mature works may be expected. It’ll be nothing like Hemingway etc but we’ll do our mediocre best at both the art and lame duck leadership.
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Replying to @vgr
In that sense, it's more like the late 40s when the Losts were our age, roughly... lots of superficial prosperity masking a very hard-edged and intolerant society, not much moral leadership. The Noir Age, if you like.
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Yeah I’m going for a 20s+40s blend in my projections, see later tweets in my thread 
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