Rivalrous dynamics in modern civilization pose existential risks, emphasizing the need for anti-rivalrous systems.
Epistemic nihilism from information warfare hinders sense-making, impacting decision-making processes.
Designing holistic solutions to problems is crucial to avoid unintended consequences and externalized harm.
Deep dives
Rivalrous Dynamics and the Acceleration of Technological Power
Considering the accelerating technological power in modern civilization, the podcast discusses the presence of rivalrous dynamics and the implications of such competition. As individuals, corporations, and nation-states vie for power, the capacity to externalize harm exponentially increases. This dynamic poses a significant risk as power asymmetry leads to a destabilization of the system, highlighting the need for anti-rivalrous systems to navigate the challenges presented by technological advancements.
Epistemic Nihilism and Information Warfare
The podcast delves into the concept of epistemic nihilism arising from information warfare and a breakdown in sense-making. With the proliferation of disinformation in competitive environments, the capacity for meaningful sense-making declines, leading to societal challenges in discerning factual information. The adverse effects of rivalrous dynamics extend beyond physical and economic warfare to include information and narrative warfare, influencing decision-making processes and distorting reality.
Solving Problems to Create Worse Problems
Examining the historical trend of problem-solving leading to unintended consequences, the discussion centers on humanity's propensity to address challenges in ways that exacerbate existing issues. The podcast emphasizes the importance of designing solutions that are larger than narrow problem definitions and capable of mitigating externalized harm. By redefining problems in a holistic context and considering multifaceted impacts, the podcast advocates for solutions that avoid creating new and complex problems in the process.
The Nature of Technology and its Inexorable Effects
Technology, regardless of how it is used, is inherently problematic. Its value is neutral, and its impact depends on the values guiding its use. The podcast highlights that technology, when embedded in a rivalrous context, leads to its utilization for rivalrous purposes, regardless of intentions. This dynamic creates a multipolar trap where any use of technology for negative purposes forces others to follow suit, emphasizing the need for a shift in how we approach technology and its inevitable effects.
Ecosystem Disruption and the Need for Sustainable Resource Practices
The podcast delves into the disruption caused by human activity on the biosphere. By extracting toxic elements like lead and mercury from deep underground and introducing them into the environment, we undermine billions of years of natural balance. This disruption calls for a shift towards using elements found in nature or implementing closed-loop atomic cycling to prevent pollution. The discussion underlines the importance of reevaluating our resource extraction practices to maintain a healthy biosphere and highlights the need for sustainable approaches to mitigate ecosystem damage.
This week I'm speaking with Daniel Schmachtenberger.
Daniel is a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue.
The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal.
Towards these ends, he’s had particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, civilization and institutional decay and collapse as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science.
Motivated by the belief that advancing collective intelligence and capacity is foundational to the integrity of any civilization, and necessary to address the unique risks we currently face given the intersection of globalization and exponential technology, he has spoken publicly on many of these topics, hoping to popularize and deepen important conversations and engage more people in working towards their solutions. Many of these can be found here.
We talk about the current state of the phase shift, whether we are past the point of no return for social collapse, Daniel’s three generator functions of existential risk, the definition of an adequate social architecture that avoids existential risk, how technology creates asymmetric advantage that debases the planetary life support system, why we need to create technology that leads to ‘metastability’, the pollution of the epistemic commons, why we need to define problems in a comprehensive way where the solutions don’t create worse problems, the vows Daniel made as a teenager, what progress is being made at solving the generator functions of existential risk, the auto-poetic nature of trauma, and the necessity of a mature relationship between certainty and uncertainty.
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