A society in motion — but without visible directiont.

“Crowded systems. Fragmented meaning.”

We often describe our era using the BANI framework developed by futurist Jamais Cascio.

BANI suggests that our world is:


  • Brittle – systems that appear robust but fracture under pressure
  • Anxious – decision-making shaped by collective uncertainty
  • Non-linear – disproportionate cause and effect
  • Incomprehensible – complexity exceeding our cognitive models


This framework highlights not just instability, but a structural shift in how we experience reality.

In reflecting on this shift, I propose the term:

Wertlosgesellschaft


Not as a moral accusation.
Not as cultural pessimism.

But as an analytical hypothesis.


A Wertlosgesellschaft, then, is not a society without values. Rather, it is a society in which:

  • Long-term orientation collapses into short-term reaction.
  • Trust becomes conditional and transactional.
  • Economic measures dominate as meaning fades.
  • Information floods us, yet interpretation stalls.

Within such a brittle and anxious structure, value itself becomes volatile.

Given this situation, the core question is not whether we live in a “good” or “bad” time.
Instead, the question is whether we are entering a phase in which value itself becomes unstable as a societal organising principle.

With these considerations, it is worth asking: Is Wertlosgesellschaft an overstatement?
Is Wertlosgesellschaft exaggerated, or does it reveal a transition we refuse to face?



I invite you to challenge or build on this concept: How do you perceive shifts in value today? What concrete examples or counterpoints can you share? Your insights will sharpen this discussion—let’s confront the future of value together.