Tools for an age of existential uncertainty
LF74 | Part Two of a 2-part post about UK urban theorist Indy Johar's ideas; 17 suggestions for preventing collapse
Listening to Indy Johar is good for the brain but exhausting for the soul.
He makes a calm, rational, data-driven and unrelenting case that we, as a society, are careening off a cliff. The worry I have (he’s more sanguine), is that we’re not collectively smart, motivated or organized enough to change course. Or even step off the gas.
I had three opportunities to hear him talk during his recent trip to Melbourne, which was a part of RMIT’s exhibition, Wild Hope: Conversations for a Planetary Commons (runs until end September). As part of this tour, RMIT announced a collaboration with Indy’s Dark Matter Labs (creating a Planetary Civics Initiative) and Indy’s appointment as a visiting professor of practice.
Last week’s post focused on the enormity of the problems we’re facing, this one describes some of the mindset shifts and practical steps that may help address them. A smorgasbord of solution design, if you will.
Be careful with language. Indy notes that terms such as ‘degrowth’, ‘sustainability’, ‘community’, ‘local’, and ‘freedom’ require nuance. Degrowth is logical, but practically challenging - benefits to one group come at the expense of another, unlike perpetual growth. Which systems and default modes do we want to ensure are ‘sustained’? Community means they’re those on the inside and those outside; and it’s too easy to create ‘positional violence’ that divides. As such, community is better as a verb than a noun. Similarly, localism can suggest jingoism, and a failure to recognize we live in an interdependent planetary economy. ‘Freedom’ is a term that has been captured by the right.
Seek interdisciplinary expertise. Indy quoted Palantir Founder (and rare Silicon Valley Trump supporter) Peter Thiel, who noted that our expertise is based on silos of knowledge, whereas breakthrough solutions come from the gaps between the disciplines.
Explore ‘self sovereignty’. This idea is about putting the power and ownership out into the network. One example is a project Dark Matter Las are running with ‘self-sovereign surveillance cameras’ that record, store and own the visual information captured, and provide access based on digital licenses. This recognizes that surveillance cameras are not going away, but instead of a company or the government owning this infrastructure, this creates a potentially more neutral solution.
Grow next generation assets: Related to this is the idea of ‘Civic Commons’ - collectively owned and operated public assets. There are already many efforts to recognize natural assets as having agency, The ‘Embassy of the North Sea’ is one idea in this direction.
Account for new metrics of success. Given today’s economic model isn’t working and dependent on outdated notions of extracting carbon-based natural resources and ignoring externalities, there’s a need for new accounting systems. Indy mentioned a lovely idea about a Swedish inheritance tax that’s based on quality of the soil! (You pay less tax if you inherit high quality soil).
Consider health as a strategic asset. The collective health or mental health of a city or State could be a strategic asset. We currently see health and nature as costs so we need to recode our accounting systems.
Emphasize learning over managing. CEOs and leaders becoming ‘Chief Learning Officers’ as the traditional bureaucratic management structure (“humans as bad robots’) fails to meet the needs of the dynamic complex world we’re in.
Develop basic income models. Pay people a personal basic income to let them do the work they want to do. This is the approach that Dark Matter Labs takes with its own employees.
The power of framing. ‘Electric vehicles’ sounds like a great step forward, but the reality is the EVs are saving the car industry, not the planet. Indy thinks e-bikes are the best local transportation solution and envisages street transformations that are half urban forests and half electric bikes.
Different interest rates for different stakeholders. Indy is working with the central bank in the UK to explore the idea of using different interest rates for different uses eg negative interest rates for nature based systems.
Look for new areas of abundance. In a materially constrained environment, where is the new abundance? Examples he cited:Care, creativity and collective intelligence.
Reject smallness. ‘That’s not how Elon Musk thinks’. We’ve become so indoctrinated into the thesis of the small, it’s become self limiting. Don’t be obsessed by big or small, be obsessed by what’s required.
Focus on the real threats of AI: information pollution. Rather than killer Terminators, Indy is more worried more about “information pollution” as the biggest threat of AI. We won’t know what’s true and be able to make plans. Hi
New democratic models for a complex world. Industrial democracy is not able to organise in complexity. How do you build the new capability in society? Part of the answer lies in a network of better local ‘data sensing’ such as they’re discussing in the UK. Dark Matter Labs are exploring reinventing the local town halls in the UK to provide a network of sensing and collective data.
Target the 3%. Don’t try and change the middle. Don’t preach; provide a scaffold to help people climb. A $0.49 metal fork is just wrong, and people know it. They need language and community to help them act on what they already feel.
Recognize that “prevention is doing something but seeing nothing”. A great quote came out of our first session. This resonated for the public health agenda - just 2% of health budgets on prevention.
Prepare for game-changing financing shifts. Indy expects a foundation to make a nine-figure commitment to systems change in the next month.. Philanthropy is moving quickly.
Wild Hope is a powerful if scary, name for the mindset shift we’ll need. I look forward to following Indy’s work, collaboration with RMIT and exploring ways of putting some of these game-changing systems change ideas into practice.