We live in a time of creative destruction.
Disruptive technologies and cross-cultural interactions are perpetually fraying
the social fabric we had previously become accustomed to. Old ways of doing
things are no longer viable. Mobilizing activists who want to participate in
solutions is not something that can be pulled off using traditional means of
organizing, but new capacities have also created new opportunities for
collaboration. Most of us have not even begun to wrap our heads around the
daunting but extraordinarily fertile social realities that are now emerging. We
have barely scratched the surface in imagining possibilities for collaboratively
solving complicated and previously intractable problems. Given the depth and
the complexity of the problems that need to be solved, we need all hands on
deck; however, coordination of the effort can’t be a top-down function from a
centralized point. We have to come to terms with new challenges and seize new
opportunities.
·
We need to forge together a precarious alloy of
extraordinary and ordinary human qualities. In other words, we can’t afford to
ignore, dismiss, or neglect the professional expertise and skills of the most
brilliant among us, nor can we afford to waste, bury, or thwart the valuable
contributions from the most talented, competent, heroic, and self-sacrificing
would-be participants in the solution; nonetheless, the most crucial feature in
strategic solutions of complex problems is an ability to inspire and empower an
unlikely gaggle of self-organizing, loosely coordinated amateurs who are
committed to working together toward real solutions.
·
Without sufficient buy-in, we will never achieve
critical mass nor overcome the entrenched resistance to change and circumnavigate
the well-funded special interest opposition to the common welfare.
·
There are significant challenges involved in the
intricate coordination of the all the little pieces that have to fall into
place. Even apart from conflicts within the ranks and overt opposition from the
outside, we still have to come to terms with challenges having to do with imperfect
information, the usual points of friction that impair everyday human
interaction, covering the costs of organizing, inefficiency, impatience, and
scalability.
The human capacity for collective problem solving
is mostly embedded within the “six-degrees-of-separation” network that loosely
links the human community together. Significant contributions are made by
advances within academia and research communities, but we need to broaden the
base of contributors. We need find ways for more people to be able to
contribute to the knowledge commons and to expand its
functionality. Building a platform that would facilitate an awakening of a
powerful collaborative effort might seem far fetched, but then, according to
conventional wisdom, Wikipedia is not supposed to work. The number of creative
individuals who are willing to spend their valuable time contributing articles,
spotting problems, and working out disagreements regarding specific content is
nothing short of astounding. Can we aspire to anything less when it comes to
the central questions of our times? Wikipedia didn’t just happen. Jimmy Wales translated his very specific vision
into action, created the kernel around which it has thrived, and has put a lot
of work into facilitating its success. We need to become catalysts for a
richer, more diverse, and more robust knowledge commons. Wikipedia didn’t just
happen. An actual human being named Jimmy Wales translated his very specific
vision into action, created the kernel around which it has thrived, and has put
a lot of work into facilitating its success.
Embracing a vision of a brighter future may not be
as cute as pet videos, but it can become more deeply compelling if we can
summon the courage to imagine ourselves as fully actualized human beings and
can craft a deeply resonant rallying point. We can put our faith in the
democratic process, not because it’s perfect, but instead because the results
are usually greater than the sum of the ingredients that go into it. We know how
easy it is to become derailed by intransigent selfishness, but we also know
that can translate our imperfection as individuals into a collective strength. Rather
than seeing each other mainly as competitors for scarce resources, we can
create vibrant pockets of human responsiveness where any willing individual can
bring assets to the table and make a contribution. It’s our best chance for
success. While there are many among us who are fearful, reluctant, resistant,
or unwilling to get involved, preferring to sit on the sidelines, to take
without contributing, to mount frontal attacks, to disingenuously sabotage, or
to create mischief, there are enough of us who would like to see different
outcomes from what we’ve been doing is getting us.
But summoning the political will and actually bringing
it to bear in the realm of concrete activism requires participation at the
individual level. We have to stand in solidarity with each other and speak out
against injustice, irresponsible business practices, political corruption,
oppression, bigotry, and violence. Influencing behaviors involves a carrot and
stick approach, sweetening the deal by providing attractive alternatives and
incentivizing desirable behaviors yet also holding government, law enforcement,
business interests, and each other accountable, putting teeth in the
enforcement of new norms and expecting offenders to pay the price for their
violations and suffer real consequences. There is a lot of outrage in the air,
but to bring an effective political action to fruition we need to build unity,
and that involves creating warm pockets of empathy and compassion, enriching the
social spaces right around us, and sending ripples through the rest of the
human community. We need to simultaneously focus on two levels, the individual
and the collective, and enhance the reciprocal relationship between personal self
actualization and the work of building a thriving society.
We need to direct our caring in a targeted way but
also use our heads to restrain unproductive responses, to respond intelligently
and pragmatically, to strategically leverage our strengths, to connect with
others and build alliances, to plan, to execute, to build up a spirit of cooperation,
to coordinate our efforts, devote rigorous attention to realities on the ground,
and plow the insights that come from feedback back into the effort. While the
collective patterns we are most aware of might be groupthink, mob psychology, and
general stupidity that is greater than the sum of its parts, we can actually be
smarter together than we are apart. Obviously, the process by which we get
there is crucial. Collective intelligence depends on intelligent participation,
but also on design. It is important to not only find ways to solve the
signal-to-noise ratio problem but also to move beyond mere talk, beyond
abstract ideas, and beyond theoretical solutions and to reach concrete,
actionable decisions. We need heart, not only in our desire for something
different, our motivation to succeed, and our willingness to contribute, but
also in our need to stay focused, to be courageous, and to persevere.
Recovering
Humanity is about the modest suggestion that anyone can make a difference
by using their hands and feet to vote for a society that is all about employing
win/win approaches, finding deeper and more enduring satisfactions, making
those satisfactions more broadly available, creating a rising tide that lifts
all boats, building up experiences of success and momentum, achieving a stable
sense of confidence, articulating (in word and deed) a different narrative about
who we are, bringing about a shift in cultural values, and advancing values
that are less about greed, competition, self-glorification, and ego
gratification and more about interdependence, beauty, adventurous pursuits of
sublime delight, having a real stake in actualizing the brightest and most
exciting possibilities, and living out our fondest dreams. It would take us on
a path that will often be discouraging and won’t always seem worth the angst,
the risks involved, the inconvenience, the expense, the frustration, the pain,
and the inevitable disappointments; nonetheless, when the dust settles, we will
find that we are left with an intangible profitability that is of great
personal benefit.
And in the meantime, we will have immediate access
to updrafts of inspirational energy and will, against all odds, accumulate many
encouraging experiences along the way that are not dependent on what anyone
else thinks about us. We will fall short, but we don’t have to take our losses as
a sign of defeat or be reduced to lifeless acquiescence. The crucial work of
rekindling the longing for greatness that is within each of our hearts and of translating
that longing into commitment and strategic action that can mitigate the
catastrophic consequences of human malice, arrogance, reckless overreach, and irresponsibility
has to start somewhere.
