The tyranny of our times

The “tyranny of the quantifiable” - these luminous words were a chance encounter for me, in a piece of writing by Rebecca Solnit ( The Guardian, 29 January 2026 ) – What technology takes from us and how to take it back. Environmental activist and author Chip Ward, I learnt was the one who coined this term. Like all of Solnit’s writings- this one I thought was brilliant too, but what stayed on and etched itself sharply in my heart was the expression itself .

Ordinary words? Not for me. For me, the interconnectedness of two ideas that I personally find distasteful was like finding an anthem that seemed to capture my angst of the moment.

Like love and misery (possibly a host of other things in life) tyranny comes in many forms. I wondered, when did my encounter with this brand of tyranny begin? Memory scrambled back to my battles against Mathematics/Arithmetic (call it whatever you will - for me, it continues to be the subject that shall never be named, besides, a thorn by any name, stings). The years have changed nothing - I lost the battle then, I am losing it now and I do not see any miracle unfolding in the future. As you see vividly and painfully for me – this marked my first encounter with that, which must/needs to be quantified. Let me rush to add, this is no rant against arithmetic/mathematics. While it continues to be an elusive enigma to me, I am well aware of its vital importance and sheer necessity.

My resentment is against everything that the quantifiable symbolizes (in my warped head) -living as we do in a performative world where almost EVERYTHING is subjected to quantification and EVERYONE is a statistic.

In my defense, this vitriol could possibly be blamed on middle aged angst. Admittedly, nothing that I am venting about is new. Afterall, we live in a world driven and fueled by the “quantifiable”. We are a society that worships the” quantifiable” in all forms.

All manner of things are subjected to quantification. Standardized testing in education, the deified exaltation of STEM courses, the algorithms that drive market forces, the measure of productivity and efficiency in domains where numbers should not be a deciding force. The list is nauseatingly endless.

A recent Substack post I devoured ‘Reading as a resistance to hustle culture’ highlighted that, in an “accomplishment driven culture even reading starts to feel like something to accomplish. Reading goals. Reading trackers….” Aha! See? Validation for my ranting.

A society reveals itself by what it chooses to deify and demonize. What does it tell about us as a society then – this “tyranny of the quantifiable”?

This is not to be insensitive to the multiple oppressive tyrannies that plague our world. Political tyranny in any hue and form anywhere is despicable and must be opposed to keep the flame of freedom burning. The silent tyrannies that creep into our life to overwhelm us and devour us completely – they must be paid attention to, if not resisted.

Since I have shared my first encounter with my personal “tyranny of the quantifiable” it is only befitting that I should also share my first encounter with what I view as a resistance to tyranny – that jewel of literature - Shakespeare’s King Lear. This is unapologetic bias, I realize.

When Lear famously asks of his daughters,“ Which of you shall we say doth love us most ?” and two of his daughters have made exaggerated “quantifiable” claims of their love, Cordelia’s answer is “ Nothing, my lord.”

To me, this is resistance. And while to many ,it maybe be foolish, to me, Cordelia’s words are glorious defiance. She will never submit to the “ tyranny of the quantifiable.”

Meanwhile, I comfort myself in finding the validation I so fervently seek - in words, books, literature, art - our eternal resistances to ALL tyrannies.