New Barbarians at the Gate: The New Spirit Emerging in India

We are on the cusp of a new social reality. The changes brought on by the information age are as far reaching as those of the industrial age. In such times of profound change, taken-for-granted assumptions from the previous age are no longer appropriate, and the opportunity surfaces for a society—previously on the periphery—to emerge. One element of Nietzsche's philosophy is the exaltation of the free man, the “New Barbarian,” who rejects the morality of the herd. We propose that a “New Barbarian” spirit is alive in India. While the West struggles to understand the information age using its outmoded ways of thinking, a subclass in India is defining this new era. However, the future will be contentious. Future conflicts will emerge that can be conceptualized as a clash between Old and New Barbarians.