The Outlook for Activism in 2025

As we usher in 2025, here is where I see signs of the nascent future of protest

In the eight years since the publication of The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, the central claim of my book—“protest is broken”—has gone from being rejected to commonsensical. Back then, the reaction to my book could be summed up by the three word email I received from Andy Bichlbaum, the founder of The Yes Men: “no no no.” Fast forward to today and if the generalized exhaustion among activists in the face of Trump’s return to the presidency tells us anything, it is that the traditional mode of protest—rallies, marches, and street demonstrations—is being rejected by activists who would (wisely) rather do nothing than do something they know won’t work.

This is not a matter of activists losing their passion or giving up on their ideals; rather, a sign that activism is finally ripe for a new approach. These moments of pause are an opportunity for a sudden conceptual and tactical leap forward.

As we usher in 2025, here is where I see signs of the nascent future of protest:

The Quantumization of Activist Theory

After decades of research, Quantum Computing is beginning to come to life. Most recently, Google announced that their Willow quantum chip had achieved a breakthrough in error correction (a challenge that has plagued the field for 30 years) and managed to solve a “computation in under five minutes that would take one of today’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years.” All of this was very exciting for computer scientists and quantum engineers, but Google buried something in the news release that ought to fascinate activists: Google claims Willow’s computational performance is evidence that “quantum computation occurs in many parallel universes, in line with the idea that we live in a multiverse, a prediction first made by David Deutsch.”

The fact that Google would suggest their quantum chip’s performance is evidence for the multiverse kicks open the door for activists to fully reappraise their theories of change. In other words, if the multiverse—one of the most difficult to believe theorems of quantum mechanics—is being proved then we ought to, at minimum, upgrade our understanding of social change with the most easy to comprehend—and experimentally validated—theories of quantum mechanics.

Put simply, what does this mean for activist theory? It means it is finally time to root out and reject assumptions about social change that are entirely dependent on 19th century classical physics. Primarily, and above all, the assumption that must be rejected is “local realism.”

As the authors of Quantum Social Science explain, the paradigm of classical physics, which we now know is not the best explanation of reality, led to several assumptions:

“A previous state determines coming states. A change of a state could happen only through the action of some force. For a composite system consisting of a few particles and where interaction is absent, a change of the state of any particle could not change the states of other particles. Such philosophical views of natural phenomena are known under the term of local realism.”

Activism in 2025 ought to move away from local realism toward more accurate theories of change offered by quantum mechanics, namely: superposition, entanglement, non-locality, contextually, the uncertainty principle, etc.

The De-Politicization of Protest

“It is a stereotype in our day to say that everything is political.” So begins Jacques Ellul’s The Political Illusion, a book that has been one of the most influential for me and of which I am reminded repeatedly in recent months. Ellul’s core insight is that the modern state has convinced us all that Politics is the most important social force and that if we wish to create change then we must engage in Politics, beseech the State and protest the Politicians.

Here is how Ellul explains it:

“To think of everything as political, to conceal everything by using this word, to place everything in the hands of the state, to appeal to the state in all circumstances, to subordinate the problems of the individual to those of the group, to believe that political affairs are on everybody's level and that everybody is qualified to deal with them—these factors characterize the politization of modern man and, as such, comprise a myth. The myth then reveals itself in beliefs and, as a result, easily elicits almost religious fervor. We cannot conceive of society except as directed by a central omnipresent and omnipotent state. What used to be a Utopian view of society, with the state playing the role of the brain, not only has been ideologically accepted in the present time but also has been profoundly integrated into the depths of our consciousness. To act in a contrary fashion would place us in radical disagreement with the entire trend of our society, a punishment we cannot possibly accept.”

Rather than collapse this into an anti-state argument in favor of anarchism, which I believe misses the point entirely, I would like to draw attention to the ways that protest has become politicized to such a degree that it is difficult to conceive of a de-politicized protest. And that is exactly the challenge I’d like to see activism to take up in 2025.

What would happen if activists were to stop orienting their activism toward politics? For one, we might come to realize that the skills we have developed for creating protests are immensely useful for social mobilization toward global causes that are bigger than politics.

The de-politicization of protest is the realization that mobilization is a social good, necessary for rallying humanity toward achieving the greatest challenges, and that there is no group better at collective mobilization than activists.

Tomorrow’s Most Influential Activist will be an AI Agent

AI, which broke into mainstream awareness with ChatGPT, has lately gained the capacity to manage substantial amounts of money. It started with pioneering work by Coinbase which devised a clever way to give AI’s control over cryptocurrency wallets. Now there are agents like Freysa.ai which has awarded over $100,000 to humans who chatted with it.

For activism, AI’s transition from an interactive tool to human-like personas complete with financial resources should be a wake up call. Despite the attempts by mainstream AI providers to train their AI models to not discuss protest, it won’t be long now until an immensely influential activist is, for the first time in history, not a human. We will see the rise of AI Activist Agents who have the intellectual resources to create social movements and the financial resources to fund human activists who promote their movement.

This is, in my eyes, one of the most productive avenues for activists to be exploring right now without delay.

To get your thinking started, I recommend this lecture by Joscha Bach at DefCon, the influential hacker conference, on AI and the Self:

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Hello, and thank you for reading! I hope this has inspired you to think differently about the future of activism and the revolutionary potential that lies in challenging the paradigms we’ve grown accustomed to. If these ideas resonate with you, or if you feel provoked to dive deeper into what activism can—and should—look like in the years to come, then my book, The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, is your next essential read.

This book doesn’t just critique the status quo; it offers a roadmap for innovation in activism, guiding readers through groundbreaking ideas and actionable frameworks. Whether you're an activist, an academic, or someone deeply concerned about the direction of our global society, this work provides the tools and insights needed to rethink how we catalyze meaningful change.

Since its release, the ideas in this book have gone from being dismissed to shaping conversations among change-makers around the world. Now, as we stand on the brink of another pivotal moment in history, The End of Protest remains more relevant than ever.

👉 Order your copy here

Thank you for your curiosity and commitment. Together, we can move past the exhaustion of outdated protest and into a future where activism is not just effective but revolutionary.

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