World After Capital: Plan for Part Four

NOTE: I have been posting excerpts from World After Capital on Mondays. But because I am doing a more substantial rewrite of Part Four, today’s post describes what I am planning to cover.

I want Part Four to be more practical by pointing out ways we can take responsibility today for making the transition to the Knowledge Age. Here are areas I am planning to cover. I am curious if anyone has additional suggestions. First there are direct contributions to the three freedoms.

1. Mindfulness research and applications (Psychological Freedom)

There have been recent breakthroughs in understanding the physiological and neurological underpinnings of mindfulness practices. More work here is needed including ranging from foundational (such as mathematical models of the neural networks) to practical (such as treatment with Psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs). There are also great opportunities to contribute to mindfulness through computer applications, from practice apps such as Simple Habit to more elaborate ones based on reading brainwave activity. Finally, there is a ton of work to be done around embedding mindfulness in to our every day applications such as email, social media, etc.

2. UBI advocacy and politics (Economic Freedom)

For the first time with Andrew Yang there is a candidate running on a UBI platform for 2020 presidential elections. People can volunteer for his campaign. Even if that comes to an end there are other ways to engage in moving the idea of UBI forward. There are several ongoing research projects, such as the one in Kenya run by Give Directly. There is work on policies that can provide an onramp to UBI, such as the Economic Security Projects evaluation of an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.

3. Creating open source and Creative Commons content, advancing protocols (Informational Freedom)

While reforming is copyright is hard (still someone should work on that) it is much easier to create reduce the restrictions of copyright for content by making it available as Creative Commons. Same goes for software that is made available under an open source license. Finally there is a lot of work these days on open protocols, particularly in the blockchain area. All of these can help advance informational freedom now. Of course it would also be great to have more people advocate for better policies.

Above and beyond working on these three freedoms, there are other foundational areas that require work if we are to transition successfully into the Knowledge Age. These include

1. Fighting Climate Change

Climate change is a clear and present danger. Much of the current way of living including where on the world people are, how they are fed, where water comes from are on the brink of changing dramatically. We are not prepared for the degree of change that’s ahead and if we don’t intervene now there is a high likelihood of cataclysmic change with massive loss of human lives ahead. There is a multi prong approach that’s required. We need to aggressively work on non carbon based energy sources (not just solar and renewables but also nuclear, including further work on fusion), we must have some kind of carbon tax style regulation and because we are late we need to research ways of delaying the big change such as solar radiation management. If you are looking for a model of what to do,

2. Defending Democracy

It is sometimes argued that democracy cannot successfully make big transitions and that we should look to different models for the change we need. People point to China as an example of a technocratic government that they claim is doing a better job coping with change. And it is entirely true that many democracies are struggling today. Nonetheless I believe it is essential that we redouble our efforts to defend democracy. This is a rich field of engagement including working on the campaigns of new candidates, fighting gerrymandering at the state level, innovating on voting methods with rank choice voting and experimental techniques such as quadratic voting.

3. Advancing Humanism

This may strike some as the least important of the areas I have mentioned for engagement so far. And while it may have the least short term impact it strikes me as the most important in the long run. What does it even mean to engage here? For starters I think it is about advancing the thinking around what a revived modern humanism needs to look like. I have taken a stab at that but much remains to be done, such as a deeper exploration of the moral consequences. Then there is the need to package humanism as memes that can spread online. Of starting a movement that can grow.

There are of course many other important ways people can contribute to the Knowledge Loop today and in the future that will also help move us forward towards the Knowledge Age.

As I am reworking this, I would love to hear whether people think of these suggestions and what other areas of engagement I absolutely should cover.