The End of Escapism
I first read Thomas Klaffke’s post on LinkedIn last week and instinctively nodded along in agreement then saved for later.
He was writing about Douglas Rushkoff’s Survival of the Richest and “the insulation equation”: the belief that with enough money, tech, or hustle, you can shield yourself from the very problems your lifestyle contributes to. The logic goes: don’t change the system, just get far enough ahead of it.
It stayed with me. But I didn’t fully grasp its full impact until the power went out across Portugal on Monday. What happens when the system fails anyway - and takes you with it?
In the dark, together
Not just our building, not just the city - the whole country, and Spain too for good measure. At one point, the rumour was that the blackout had swept across all of Europe. Cue that instinctive glance to the sky, searching for answers in the shape of falling foreign objects. Sabotage, obviously. A millisecond of panic followed by someone at the gym saying: “Well, I guess no one’s working today.”
And then we went to the park. In every crisis: an opportunity.
No electricity. Patchy data. Shops closed in the dark. Nobody had answers but everybody showed up. A tiny minimercado stayed open, using a calculator to punch out cash sales. Neighbours snaked through the store calmly. We passed cereal boxes and apples in the dark. “Do you have enough money?” someone asked. Grandma goes first. On the street, kids yelled up to their friends’ balconies. Strangers met in the park. Cars slowed for pedestrians at blank traffic lights. For a few hours, capitalism paused and community switched on.
“When crisis hits, we humans become our best selves.”
– Rutger Bregman, Humankind
No idea how long it would last, or what had caused it. But for those of us with “bullshit jobs,” it felt like a return to childhood snow days. (Spare a thought for the emergency services and astronomical stress-levels for those fixing the grid.) Back in the park, even the dogs shared their tennis balls. Is this what life could be like?
Over a game of candlelight chess with long-forgotten breadsticks, came the friendly beep of our boiler brought back to life - answered by celebratory cheers outside. The power came back but the question remained: What if we can’t insulate ourselves after all?
What are we running from?
All this just two weeks after Katy Perry sang in Space. Orbit, Moon, Mars whatever - a product of the desire to just go somewhere, anywhere else. While Earth’s infrastructure is on the struggle bus, the 1% spend billions to explore the fantasy of starting over. It’s the most literal version of escape ideology: don’t fix it - just leave the planet.
Beyond space-race antics, the insulation equation pitches the idea that if you earn enough, you can buy safety. Buy out of collapse or ‘The Event’. But as the blackout across Portugal and Spain made clear - when the grid goes down, an optimized life might just leave you lonely.
“Our greatest fears lie in anticipation”, Balzac
A fear-based strategy; wealth buys comfort, but it doesn’t buy interdependence, nor community. And when everything goes to shit, community is the only thing that works. So when humans come together in crisis, what is it the wealthy are really escaping if not the best of humanity? The entire point of existence.
Why miss the point of it all, just when it really matters.
“We are not isolated individuals but interconnected parts of a global ecosystem.”
– Lily Cole, Who Cares Wins
Work in Progress
Fortunately, back here on Earth there are fantastically cooperative folks out there doing the meaningful work of shifting escapist ideologies towards building things.
Maybe it’s time to move slow and fix things? In the last week alone we see it in:
British fashion reconnecting with farms, building regenerative, local supply chains. Nobody’s Child sharing first insights from their DPP testing.
Climate TRACE’s live emissions dashboards, replacing vague pledges with verifiable, transparent data. Finally! ‘Real-time’ data in-sync with finance guys.
Futures thinking frameworks like Hillary Carey’s, which move us from imagining change to prefiguring it in real time. Frameworks for less talk, more action.
As Baiba Matisone points out, imagination is no longer enough on its own. It’s time to add a layer of action-orientation, to live the future into being - through prototypes, community alignment, and embodied practice.
“What we assume in others is what we bring out in them.”
– Rutger Bregman, Humankind
Ok, nice story, but what can I do with this insight?
It might sound idealistic, but it’s the work that needs to be done. So whether you’re C-suite, studying or navigating the corporate ladder here are a few prompts to start asking yourself:
In your day-to-day are you selling escape, or building infrastructure? And what are you buying into?
Can your product, experience or other evolve or enable a space for something more community-led?
Are you designing for participation, or performance? What needs to happen to enable more co-creation?
There’s real opportunity in designing systems people can connect and benefit from within, instead of just consuming from. That can look like circular supply chains, mutual aid models, or shared ownership platforms.
It will feel messy. It will take time. And best to start small. But it’s something we can build - together.
That’s what we’re working on with nouvôt: designing systems, stories, and strategies that help brands contribute positively to the world we’re all still living in.
What do you want to create?