Revitalizing Societies
For most of history, humans have primarily reacted to pressing, undeniable problems. We didn't have to dream up projects to work on because urgent demands were thrust onto us: disease, hunger, cold, and war. We were busy surviving.
There has been a huge explosion of wealth in the last few centuries. Humanity has decisively vaulted itself out of the morass of privation and basic insecurity to the lofty upper levels of Maslow's pyramid. Not everywhere, not perfectly, but we live in a fundamentally different world than ever before. We live in abundance.
This is a huge step, an incredible accomplishment, but now we really don't know what we're doing here. We don’t know what to do without pressing problems. So we exaggerate small problems and fight about them to feel like we’re doing something important. This is the culture war in America. Meanwhile, in other rich countries, people ignore real, manageable problems until they become urgent problems (energy security in Europe). It all feels a bit silly. It’s reactive and somewhat mindless. It’s kind of lazy.
What if, instead, we tried to make great societies? Because it’s hard, of course, so we don’t even try. But maybe it’s not so hard anymore. It’s easier than ever to organize people into purposeful groups, starting online, and collaborate on large projects: startups, currencies, and maybe even societies.
This is the network state concept. The idea is for people to organize themselves into aligned communities, first online, then on land, gradually collaborating more and eventually even colocating. This would create more choices in what kind of society to live in. In itself, it is a new way for people to organize new societies, certainly a grand, challenging, fulfilling project. As a second-order effect, it can open up frontiers that are blocked by current regulatory regimes. Biomedical, nuclear, and autonomous vehicle innovation are a few promising areas for regulatory experimentation.
We could start to create new societies with an optimistic, creative mindset, in efforts to create our version of an ideal society. These wouldn’t be reactive moves coming from hatred of the other side, but from striving to build something new and great. These societies could be in friendly competition, each competing to be the healthiest, happiest, most productive society.
It feels like a wild and improbable idea, but maybe that's just because we live in a complacent, pessimistic time. Maybe this is how we should be thinking, and increasingly will be thinking. The sprouts of new possibilities are there. We need to develop them into a better world that will make our current apathy seem strange.