Quit Everything the new book by Franco “Bifo” Berardi is out today in English, published by Repeater Books

It’s a book for burned-out activists, and maybe for those who were always too depressed to become activists in the first place. Although it doesn’t mention Daoism anywhere, this approach seems to fit well with the Daoist concept of Wu Wei. Like a lot of the key Daoist terms, definitions and explanations of the concept will only make sense if you have an inkling of the whole philosophy…but it’s often translated as non-activity.

I singled out this quote from Berardi in my mastodon:

"we have finally reached the point when inactivity is more brainy (and more ethical) than activity."

In a different historical moment (1893), Tolstoy wrote about “wu wei” in his essay “Неделание” (Non-activity). The essay was his response to a debate between two French authors:
Émile Zola - who recognised that people might be tired after the huge technical and artistic progress of the 19th century. However he calls on young people to keep their faith in work, that a person who works is always going to have a good moral position.
Alexandre Dumas - on the opposing side, states that work tends to be motivated by the search for wealth or fame. He argues that to continue in this way is wrong, and that we need to cultivate love for each other instead.

Tolstoy’s commentary on this is that people have been recommending brotherly love for millennia - you would think that this would either succeed, or they would give up on it as an impossible dream. (Neither of which has happened in his view.) He recommends them to stop all activity, and, after thinking it through, to realise that much of what they are working on is counterproductive. What they should be working on would be motivated by love, but a lot of their present projects will become unnecessary.

Great changes in society, says Tolstoy, require thought - which in turn requires non-activity. He bases this on his interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, ¹ suggesting that non-activity is the way to get understanding of the Tao…truth, the path.