Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
As both China and the U.S. go hurtling ever faster toward Armageddon in the race to dominate in AI, they have both bought into techno-utopian ideologies, lock, stock and barrel. We should all take a deep breath and ask the question: Is accessible, open-source AI really a good thing for anyone?
In my 2021 book, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival, I traced how social power arose among humans and how it has been used in societies large and small, ancient and modern. Whatever insights that book contains, now is a good time to put them to the test.
One conceptualisation of this new narrative is as a ‘Thrutopia’. This is the middle passage between utopia and dystopia. The hour is too late to avoid reaping the destruction we have sown, but neither is complex human civilisation beyond hope.
Personal computers and the internet were supposed to democratize information and the power to analyze and use it. Instead, they are contributing to the increasing concentration of wealth and power and putting us on the road to authoritarian rule.
In this episode, Nate is joined by complexity scientist, Peter Turchin, to discuss his work modeling the key factors that drive patterns of peace, turmoil, and revolution in nations throughout history – and how those connect to the situation in the United States today.
This focus on resilient agrarianism underlines the point that ‘taking care of ourselves in a world on fire’ – to invoke the subtitle of Adam’s book – is going to be a heavily rural affair.
So rather than take from the world, take yourself out of this system and go responsively and responsibly contribute to living. Go live your whole and healthy life in the edge spaces. And pretty soon there will be no center. (Because we all know it can’t hold…)
Is it smart to intentionally give up control over the release of modern GM plants at the very moment when AI technology will transform this technology to the extent that human intelligence may no longer be in the driving seat?
There are moments in life when we are called to listen—not just to words, but to the silence beneath them. To listen not just with our ears, but with our whole being.
The best way to sell the low-carbon heating transition is locally, where the kinds of attachments and allegiances to heat that we have uncovered are best appreciated and understood. Local authorities are typically best placed to do that.
As we head into a future shaped by climate change, we must find ways to stabilize societies and reduce conflict. Solutions may lie in the archaeological record.
I have no illusions about what I can accomplish individually by not buying a Tesla or giving up my Prime membership. But as one of many – well, that’s a different story. There’s still power in the people.
