ABSTRACT
In the thirteenth century the clock gave society an artificial rhythm distinct from the one characterized by bodily functions and the change of night and day. Increasingly the elites discover that the disjointing mechanism triggered by systematic functionalism in all walks of life has made society impenetrable. Many utopias have been acted out in real life, the largest one being the planned economy. When the planned economies in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union fell it was less the counterpart of the market economy that was exposed than an important sector of the rationality project of which the market economy is another. For decades the West was very taken with the concept of "flexible response", which was touted as the reigning strategy, while in reality all decisionmakers assumed the immediate use of nuclear weapons should Western Europe come under attack.
