From: jimruttshow8596
The world currently faces unique problems due to exponential technology and digital globalization, problems that were not previously encountered [00:01:41]. Solving these requires new problem-solving capacities and new social institutions for governance, factoring in the complexity, scale, speed, and nature of these issues [00:01:51].
The Nature of Modern Problems
Societal problems have significantly complexified, while the quality of public understanding and civic discourse has declined [00:05:50]. This means that a true republic, where citizens understand and participate in governance, no longer exists in practice, only in narrative [00:05:57].
The world now operates with much larger power asymmetries and vastly more complex systems [00:09:49]. Quantitative differences in scale can cross thresholds to become qualitative changes, transforming the nature of the problem [00:10:20].
For instance, the continuous evolution of military capacity, from catapults to cannons, underwent a qualitative change with the advent of the nuclear bomb in World War II [00:10:27]. This marked the first time humanity had the ability to destroy the habitability of the planet [00:11:14]. This new scale of destructive capacity meant that a previous social system, where empires engaged in warfare, was no longer viable, leading to the necessity of new social capacities to mediate conflict [00:11:57].
This era led to globalization, fostering technological and economic interdependence [00:12:37]. However, this exponential positive-sum growth on a finite planet has led to hitting planetary boundaries, an issue previously non-existent [00:13:06]. The world’s dependence on radically complicated global supply chains also creates fragility, where a single break can cause cascading failures, as observed during the COVID-19 pandemic [00:13:23].
Problem-Solving in a Complex World
Existing problem-solving processes are inadequate to the current catastrophic risk landscape [00:18:00]. They either fail to solve problems or create worse, cumulative issues [00:18:08]. Historically, humanity’s current problems are often the result of how past problems were “solved” [00:18:41]. For example, increasing GDP and wealth has led to environmental issues [00:18:47].
Solving complex problems requires defining the problem space and the inter-connectivity of problems well enough to devise viable solutions that do not externalize harm [00:20:38]. The core challenge is not just the existence of problems like climate change or geopolitical tensions, but understanding the underlying generative dynamics and interconnections [00:21:25].
The Role of Information and Media
An essential prerequisite for an open society or democracy to function is an educated citizenry and a press that honestly informs the public [00:04:14]. This is because people need the capacity to participate in governance and engage with the issues government addresses [00:04:24].
The rise of the internet introduced decentralized, many-to-many communication [00:44:50]. However, information curation platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Google have become monopolies that determine what information people see [00:45:01]. Their ad-based business model prioritizes time on site, which leads to algorithms promoting content that confirms existing biases, instills fear of out-groups, and triggers emotional responses [00:45:16]. This has led to greater polarization and extremism, without the platforms necessarily intending it [00:46:27].
The ability to predict responses based on demographics, sometimes better than predicting AI algorithms, suggests that much of human interaction online is driven by memetic propagation rather than genuine thought [00:39:16]. This lack of genuine thinking leads to “runaway confirmation bias,” where any slight reinforcement of one’s worldview is accepted as truth [00:38:00].
The extreme polarization means that people often refuse to engage with information from opposing viewpoints, reacting tribally to sources rather than the content itself [00:52:26]. This internal infighting and lack of shared identity lead to systemic decay, making a society vulnerable to more unified, even autocratic, external powers [00:53:26].
New Social Capacities
Solving these challenges requires a new cultural renaissance or enlightenment [00:02:27]. This includes:
- Deep understanding of global issues [00:02:30]
- Improved sense-making and communication capacities [00:02:45]
- Development and participation in new systems of problem-solving and governance, arising bottom-up rather than being imposed [00:02:55]
The concept of an “epistemic commons” is crucial, referring not just to a body of knowledge, but to the shared process of coming to belief and understanding what is true [00:29:16]. This includes dialogue processes, trust in institutions, and the ability of citizens to critically check thinking processes [00:29:35].
A necessary cultural enlightenment must integrate first-person, second-person, and third-person epistemologies [01:11:06].
- First-person epistemology: Understanding one’s own cognitive biases, desire for certainty, and resistance to admitting error [01:10:39]. This requires courage to resist in-group pressure and comfort with uncertainty [01:41:00].
- Second-person epistemology: The ability to understand and inhabit another person’s perspective, to grasp their thoughts and feelings, and seek synthesis rather than mere rhetorical argument [01:10:07].
- Third-person epistemology: The philosophy of science, focusing on repeatable, measurable aspects of the objective world through experimentation [01:09:55]. While not perfect, science is the only system developed to provide inter-subjective verification of reality [01:06:34].
Since traditional science focuses on “is” but not “ought,” it doesn’t provide a basis for ethical choices [01:08:07]. This can lead to choices being based solely on game theory—winning in rivalry and externalizing harm [01:08:32]. Therefore, moving beyond Game A to Game B requires a basis for choice-making beyond mere rivalry, incorporating ethical considerations into sense-making [01:08:53].
“Either we figure out how to coordinate or the thing is not going to keep going.” [01:29:30]