Mentatul

Category: Analysis

Analysis articles.

  • Novel Measures to Cope with a Novel Virus

    Novel Measures to Cope with a Novel Virus

    The world will never be the same. If there’s a time to raise to the occasion, that time is now. But what to do? You’re smart. You’ll figure something out! And when you do, please reach out. Not necessarily in the comments below, but to your friends, particularly those whom you feel as a good partner.

    If any idea is just outright BAD, please call it.

    Obvious information (hygiene, supplies, social distance) intentionally left out. This is about thinking outside the box.

    Space & resources running out

    There are many people working from home so there’s A LOT of centrally-located real-estate is just waiting to be used.

    Not to mention tourism is on pause, so countless hotels are empty. In Romania, one family is in talks to allow their hotel to be used for corona virus patients.

    Donations for temporary using real estate could be compensated by the government with tax breaks.

    Such locations could be used for:

    • Warehouses
    • Temporary hospitals
    • Locally-driven crisis management hubs

    There is, of course, the matter of WHO (pun not intended) will operate all this! Perhaps if we had more protection equipment, such as hazmat suits, a lot of volunteers would show up. But how to produce all this?

    Ford and several other automobile makers in the USA, as well as many other companies that own factories across the globe have already started producing^ ventilators and other medical supplies.

    Well… if capitalism is good at one thing, that’s ADAPTING. FAST.

    Emergency Mobilization

    During the past few weeks, it has become clear that it’s now or never. Nation-states, corporations and people should consider themselves in a greater emergency than being “at war”. This is not about killing each other. This is about saving each other. This is about showing each other that we deserve to live! We can rise to the occasion. And so we will!

    Many people are now without a job

    We can use our technology to our advantage to partially turn this around.

    Governments pledged (lots of) money to save companies. Well, then perhaps some money could be redirected towards hiring some of the jobless (if they wish) to help in any of the following areas:

    • Help lines
      • Information
      • Somebody to talk to for the elderly and those that are afraid (there are already services for this but they are already overloaded). People in the tourism industry may be particularly good at this.
    • Tracking the spread of the virus
    • Delivery of goods
    • LEADERS for various ideas & initiatives. We need leaders today more than any time in history. Leaders in ANY CONCEIVABLE MEANING OF THE WORD.

    Long term, people can develop new skills. Temporary jobs can be created:

    • in manufacturing of protection equipment such as:
      • Hazmat suits
      • Masks
    • in manufacturing healthcare equipment such as:
      • Respirators
      • Beds

    Volunteer

    First, I will volunteer myself. I’m going to put at least 30 minutes of my own time, every day, to help this crisis, in any way I feel fit #30minutes4covid . Today, it was writing this (which actually took 2 hours including research).

    I’ve kept thinking about how to help and kept updating this article. I enrolled to participate in a Hackathon (since I’m a software engineer). I dropped my weekly couple of hours of entertainment to fully focus on doing something good during these troubled times: coding, writing, talking, whatever I can! I keep my ears open and my eyes peeled. Not only do I seek how to help, I look & listen for what life shows me.

    If you want to do something similar, just post on social media and take it from there :). You’re smart. You’ll find ways to help.

    Useful Online Tools

    A collection of useful online tools to combat loneliness. They all depend on HOW you want to deal with your loneliness. Some tools may not be good for you.

    https://meetup.com^ – shocking, this website is actually used for REAL LIFE meetups. But here’s the thing: the way it categorizes interests & provides suggestions is very well built. So, start with meetup and then work your way to…

    Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, FaceTime, the list goes on and on.

    Keep an eye on what amazing people are coming up with during Hackathons around the world. Here’s the one I enrolled in. I’m eagerly waiting for the list of winners!

    https://covid-global-hackathon.devpost.com/updates/12497-covid-19-global-hackathon-ending-beginning^

    Don’t wait

    Don’t wait for a vaccine. From Wikipedia^: “There are yet to be vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections.”

    Don’t count on “herd immunity”. There may be 2nd and 3rd waves of infections before this fully develops. See:

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-18/as-china-virus-cases-near-zero-experts-warn-of-second-wave

    Don’t hate

    In case you’re thinking I’ve drifted off the original topic of the post, think again. The corona outbreak does not only test our physical bodies, but also our minds. At times like this, it’s easy to fall prey to fear, mistrust and hate.

    Don’t think we’ll tear each other apart for survival’s sake.

    Let’s prove we’re different. Mankind has evolved.

    Don’t preach

    Not everybody has the willpower, energy or interest to help just yet, or maybe they’ll never have it. Don’t let this stop you. Don’t blame. Act according to your moral compass. You have it.

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/04256-Coronavirus-Thumb.png’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Novel Measures to Cope with a Novel Virus’ desc=’The world will never be the same. If there’s a time to raise to the occasion, that time is now. #30minutes4corona’]

  • Preparing for Hot Earth

    Preparing for Hot Earth

    This article was written about 2 weeks before COVID-19^. Within this article, “Beware the falling empire” is of particular interest to the current situation. Please read this extra carefully. To say that COVID-19 is a game-changer is an understatement. COVID-19 will get its own article soon.

    It doesn’t matter if you believe that humans are contributing to global warming or not. Doesn’t matter if you believe the current scientific consensus or not. What matters is that Earth is getting hotter. Some of the major consequences are:

    • Weather patterns will become more chaotic, with extreme weather to become increasingly common.
    • Some areas of Earth will become harder to live in. Yet, it’s to also important to be aware that others areas will become easier to live in. This reshaping of the ecosystem will make and break societies, turn farming upside down and remake transport networks.
    • Oceans will rise, risking to cause major conflicts over coastline loss.
    • Acceleration of global warming. Sadly, as average temperatures increase around the globe, there will be a number of elements that will further contribute to global warming. For example forest fires (much worse than the ones Australia just experienced^) and, much worse^, the release of methane from permafrost^.

    Oh, and a solar maximum is on its way too, currently scheduled between 2023 and 2026^.

    Sure, if our civilization finally reaches consensus on doing something about global warming, we may be able to slow or even reverse the process. But, given the current political outlook and economic dogmas, it doesn’t seem that we’ll see any serious measures being taken in the coming years. So, let’s get ready for what may be coming and let’s meet it with the best we’ve got.

    Tipping the scales

    While it may be discouraging to see that the large polluters seem stuck in the wrong millennium (or worse, they know exactly what’s going to happen), this doesn’t mean small changes won’t help. In fact, it is exactly these small changes that may eventually convince/force corporations & governments to do something more meaningful about global warming.

    A powerful intent changes everything. If we set our mind to it, we, the people, can build any world we wish, because we are the civilization. Small changes gather into trends, trends break new ground and, at last, fundamental change follows.

    Here are just a few of the changes any individual can participate with:

    • The market for ecological and ethical products is growing. Buy healthy and/or local products.
    • Choose jobs that benefit society or see how you can improve your current job and/or do what you can to improve your company’s social responsibility.
    • Remember that up until last century, before the emergence of monstrous industrial fast-food chains, meat consumption was much lower. It is easy to adjust to a lower meat consumption, focusing on higher quality meat.
    • If you own a house, invest in clean energy such as solar panels and heat pumps. You will get your money back while also improving your carbon footprint.
    • Consider ethical consumerism^. It’s an interesting instrument for change.
    • Do not underestimate the power of grassroots activism. Walk the talk, but also talk the walk: show friends and family what can be done. Some of these people may end up in places of power where they will build a sustainable future.
    • Consider ethical economy^ and what can be done to get us there.

    There is a (pretty good) chance that enough people make enough changes to start tipping the scales and trigger a chain reaction towards the evolution of our civilization. If not, in time, the change will have to happen anyway. However…

    Beware the falling empire

    Endless economic growth cannot continue with finite resources. Either our growth will halt and then crash into an unprecedented recession, or the resources we prize (and how we consume them) will have to change, refocusing our economy on growing in other areas. Imagine an economy that focuses on producing quality products that last a lifetime. In any case, the current civilization will at one point go into decline. Global warming will probably accelerate this downfall.

    If we don’t invent a better civilization in time, the forced modification of the current world order may be, at times, violent. Like an epileptic seizure, the old structures will thrash and convulse before they finally succumb to their inevitable fate, rendered obsolete by the civilization that has adapted to a new ecosystem. Hopefully, we’ll have something better in place by then. And if not…

    It’s wise to plan ahead and make sure that we and our families don’t get in the way of the crumbling titan. Here are some things to watch out for, most of which are already happening:

    • Failing public services (particularly healthcare and pensions).
    • Conflict caused by societies fractured by inequality and extreme political/ideological polarization.
    • Vulnerable geographic areas when it comes to food growing capabilities and food&water supply.
    • Military conflicts between nation states stuck in our tribal past.

    Consider the long-term outlook of geographical locations on Earth. Coastal, polluted, crowded or already hot areas may not be suitable to live in long-term. Northern latitudes, however, are well positioned to flourish thanks to the warming climate. Consider possible conflicts for land, especially in water-deprived areas or countries that may lose important territory due to flooding and/or raising temperatures.

    Indeed, there are countless variables to keep track of if a “survival of the fittest” chaos ensues. Luckily, we now have some pretty amazing technology and communication methods. Well-prepared networks of individuals will weather whatever storm follows.

    “Evolution cannot be stopped. It can only be embraced.”

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/04188-PreparingForHotEarth-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/04188-PreparingForHotEarth-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Preparing for Hot Earth’ desc=’Evolution cannot be stopped. It can only be embraced.’]

  • Ignorance as Mental Defense

    Ignorance as Mental Defense

    It is said that „ignorance is bliss”. It’s a well-known and controversial saying. Ignorance, by most current definitions, is a bad thing. The dictionary definition is “the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.” But this definition covers a very wide range of conditions. Being uneducated is, admittedly, not a good thing. However, the state of being uninformed or unaware may, in some cases, be helpful towards one’s life. How so? Read on.

    In one of my favorite articles, I explained how “just like the body is what it eats, the mind is what it experiences^”. Very importantly, experience is created by more than just new external events (those coming from the surrounding world). Experience is also built up by new thoughts and internal images. So, the mind is also what it thinks.

    New information can seriously disturb the balance and tranquility of the internal world. It can simmer inside, creating unrest and, thus, decrease the quality of life.

    A few examples

    Let’s analyze some cognitive processes, with the purpose of showing how ignorance can be used as mental defense. To set the stage, consider the following two examples. To be clear, these are slightly exaggerated with the purpose of highlighting a middle way.

    1. There’s always some political figure that does things that one doesn’t agree with. The more one learns about that person’s statements, the more information about their political direction (or rather misdirection) one gets. This is the opposite of ignorance. Often, new statements and information surrounding that person shows up on a daily basis. Indulging in this torrent of information reinforces the mental image of that politician in one’s mind.
    2. There are still wars on Earth. Sometimes, we follow a conflict’s events on a daily basis. We live under a constant bombardment of terrible news. We are informed and aware. Again, we are not ignorant.

    The rest of the article will focus on highlighting a middle way that finds itself between a state of increased awareness and a state of ignorance. Clarification: this article does not promote ignorance, but the mastery of wielding it.

    Inner storm to inner peace

    For about 16 years straight, I’ve been reading mass-media coverage of various geo-political events. I became over-saturated with information. This took an enormous amount of memory space. Countries and politicians became as intimate as family, sapping my emotional budget.

    This January, I decided to not read my favorite news aggregator for 1 year. This doesn’t mean I went and buried my head in the sand. I continued to listen to local news, for no longer than 10 minutes per weekday (whereas before I would spend more than 60 minutes reading news, 7 days a week). Important events continued to reach me through friends and I manually searched for any other topic that interested me.

    Almost 11 months later, I find myself in a state of clarity and tranquility unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my adult life. Even better, if news about some politician I disliked reaches me, I interpret it without any negative feelings. I can even respect good things said by the worst leaders in the history of mankind, alive or dead. When I hear bad things, I take them in a much less personal way. And, of course, I realized just how horribly controlled and polarized by over-information our society is.

    Over-information

    The deluge of information eventually leads to reinforcing cognitive biases^. The effect is compounded by the increasing popularity of “AI” algorithms^ used by news aggregators and social networks, which specialize in feeding people exactly what they way to hear (because it makes them happy (ab)users). Why do you think flat Earth’ers have conventions^ now-a-days?

    We are experiencing dangerous and ever-increasing levels of social polarization. Social groups (be it political, religious, cultural or economic) focus more and more negative energy on other social groups which they see as enemies. And each moment, the mass-media and entertainment industry is busy creating more enemies. To not generalize: there are some good publications out there, but in the age of the sensational and “AI”-curated content, quality and truth are not having an easy ride.

    It has become difficult to separate the important from the meaningless, the true from the sensational, click-bait and outright lie. All this makes it very hard to take the vital decisions that a society runs on (such as voting).

    Selective exposure to information

    As I detailed, I expose myself selectively to information. I carefully listen to local news and receive other important news from friends. I pick my own information menu based on my current direction in life. This is not hard to do at all.

    The benefits are immense: an instant increase in time and a prolonged release of mental pressure. 10 months after my self-imposed “(excess) news embargo”, I feel lighter with every passing month. It looks like a second year of fasting will follow.

    Eventually, I shall desire to be more helpful towards the world through some other role that requires me to expose myself to more information again. I shall then tune in to sources that should be as diverse and contradictory as possible. Not because I hunger for gossip and bad news, but because I see the beauty of diversity and the fact that everybody’s right.

    I’ve accepted the progresses we’ve made and understand that many of the crises we’re going through are part of an intelligent species’ evolution. I wish we will be able to continue on this journey. And, if a certain theory is right, the very reason why we exist is because at some point down the line, our grandchildren’s grandchildren have done something amazing. It will be well. The show will go on.

    Pardon the surge of positivity, but this is precisely the result of clearing a massive amount of brain-space by cutting useless information, toxic news and toxic people.

    I am still well informed about the topics I care for (trade wars, semiconductor technology, AI and the environment, to name a few). But I do this with a fraction of the time I was spending last year.

    And I have the society I live in to thank for all this. In most countries, it would have been pretty damn difficult to handle selective isolation with such surgical precision (I live in Sweden).

    Selective memory

    I’m going to give a third example.

    1. I recently saw a (horror) movie trailer that seriously disturbed me. It went straight for some inner sanctuaries, risking to dirty them. Not only was I careful to reinforce the areas it attacked, I also decided to avoid that movie and am currently in the process of deleting this event from memory, save for a BOLD RED WARNING to not see anything related to that movie ever again.

    My inner world is quite solid, but some of the offensive methods used against the intellect are incredibly well crafted. I’m actually thankful for having seen that movie trailer. It presented a new sort of attack. It made me stronger and showed me how dangerous some of the “entertainment” out there can be.

    So did I just say that I am deleting, at will, something from my memory? Yes, it’s somewhat possible^. It’s not easy and sometimes “complete” deletion is difficult to achieve. For example, writing this article has re-invigorated my memory about that trailer. But it was definitely an already wrinkled memory. After just 6 months I felt it like 6 years ago. Well, now it’s stronger again but hey, I did it for science!

    Try this exercise: never, ever, from now on, think about a pink elephant. You will soon get the hang of it. Memories are deleted by forgetting them. Forgetting means not thinking about a certain thing for a long period of time. And it can be done. After all, the brain does this automatically when it blocks memories.

    Not-thinking about something is a skill that involves focusing on everything else in one’s life except that thing one wants to forget. And, like any skill, the more often one uses this process, the better one becomes at it. Sure, stray thoughts will come haunting for a while, but the will of silence is strong.

    Brain pilots

    A calm and happy existence doesn’t mean controlling life or the environment. It’s mastering how one deals with that environment and the challenges it brings. Are we to be piloted by our brains, or are we to be brain pilots?

    Our mind is only partially known to us. It’s full of hidden universes and unexpected surprises. Mysterious processes are often at play. Time spent understanding all this is the best investment one can make.

    I use ignorance to free up space and protect my core. I use ignorance to delete useless references and, with the space so created, fill my brain with diverse knowledge from the weirdest of sources. I use ignorance to destroy rules and patterns that harm me. Ignorance is my mental defense. My delete button. My “please move away from here” spaceship.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03919-IgnoranceMentalDefense-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03919-IgnoranceMentalDefense-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Ignorance as Mental Defense’ desc=’It is said that „ignorance is bliss”. It’s a well-known and controversial saying. Ignorance, by most current definitions, is a bad thing.’]

  • Social Activism and Treading Carefully

    Social Activism and Treading Carefully

    Somebody in a position of power once told a newcomer: “You have a choice. You can be an insider or an outsider. If you are an outsider you’ll retain your right to say anything you want, whatever you believe in but know that you’re going to be persecuted, you’re going to be vilified and you’ll be jettisoned. On the other hand, you can choose to be an insider, to play the game… If you chose to be an insider you’ll be given information that outsiders don’t have, you’ll be given… an opportunity… to make some… small tiny changes within the inside, but the one rule that you must respect, is that insiders do not tell outsiders the truth, and they do not turn against other insiders.”

    Well said. Except for the fact that it’s not all black and white. There is no absolute boundary between insider and outsider. Boundaries fluctuate with every situation and for every piece of information. This is very important, because it’s what successful activism is all about.

    Activism is defined as: “efforts to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, political, economic, or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society.”

    There are many ways through which activists can voice their message and act on it. Just like an activist’s relationship with a system is complex, so is the activist’s spectrum of action.

    Throughout history stretches a long list with names of activists that were persecuted, tortured and even killed. Sometimes, their suffering or death only accelerated the changes they fought for.

    But there’s an even longer (and mostly unknown) list with the names of hidden activists. Those that have treaded carefully and taken fewer risks in order to ensure their safety and thus, the longevity of their work. These are the little-known heroes that operated patiently, within the confines of a system (and often working around the system), changing it from the inside, slowly but surely (and often collaborating with the “outsiders” more than we will know in this lifetime).

    The overall effect

    What determines the success of a message? The shock and confrontation approach, or a slow and careful process of sculpting society? A sprint prodding others to act, or a marathon of implementation? The answer is: any mix of the above. That’s where an activist’s strategy comes into play. And let’s not forget that chance also plays a role.

    Activism requires a great understanding of society. Careful messaging (writing and presenting) is a must. However, the success of an activist is not determined only by skillful messaging, but also by the careful orchestration of one’s social interactions.

    The first thing on an activist’s mind should be how to ensure the most positive outcome with the least amount of risk and effort. In thinking about this, it is useful to consider the three pillars of activism: the relation with the insiders, the intensity of one’s message and the scale of one’s actions.

    The activist’s relation with the in-group

    Whatever an activist militates for, there is a social group that does things (very) differently. Within this group, there are counter-activists and leaders.

    The quote we started with is a very simplified view on the extremely complex interactions that occur between social groups. Can an activist even consider ejecting oneself as far from the insiders as possible? This all but removes the possibility of using diplomacy – the exquisite art of negotiation and trading with knowledge.

    There’s a saying: “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. How else can an activist truly understand the opposite camp? The word “enemies” is a bit too strong: a wise activist understands that there is no enemy, just different points of view. This understanding will lead to a healthy relationship with “the insiders”. This is more than a necessity; it is a prime ingredient of success.

    The intensity of the message

    “Change your beliefs, or die!”

    Could, by any chance, such a threat cause people to assume a defensive intellectual stance? Could any message accompanying such a statement be discarded? Of course yes and of course it will.

    The exaggeration above serves to illustrate the point that when crafting any message, a deep understanding of its target audience is paramount. Even if that audience is the activist’s own group, messages that are too radical are likely to alienate the opposition and do more harm than good. The opposition is likely to push back with comparable force.

    On the other hand, weak messages won’t achieve anything. Crafting and presenting a balanced message is at the very heart of meaningful activism.

    The scale of the actions

    Even though messaging and diplomacy are actions themselves, this third pillar of activism is about those concrete actions that contribute to the intensity of the message and complement diplomatic efforts.

    The scale of an action is the number of people becoming aware of it. This is not necessarily related to the number of people whose opinion is influenced by the action. Some may be indifferent, while some may see the action as a threat and steer away from the direction desired by the activist.

    Never start big: at a small scale even wrong actions may be beneficial, as they may lead to valuable lessons. However, even a good action at the wrong scale will have undesired effects, damaging a social activism campaign. More than anything, actions make or break activists.

    The predictable activist

    Whatever would one’s stance be in regards to each of the three pillars of activism, this better not change often. Vocal activists should stay vocal, patient diplomats should continue working diligently. A chaotic way of working will erode trust, which is arguably the most valuable currency an activist possesses.

    Activism is a profession like any other. And like any professional, the activist should deliver with constancy and predictability. Unpredictable activists make larger waves, but do so by taking risks that can jeopardize themselves and their campaigns.

    Treading carefully

    There’s a hidden activist in all of us. I wish for everybody to listen to that inner voice and find where we can make even the smallest difference. The world needs it now more than ever. We live in a period where the actions of the many are necessary to revert the mistakes of the few.

    But tread carefully. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. We seek evolution, not revolution^. The activists we need aren’t those that reject dialogue, but those that understand that opposites attract. Be and let be^.

     

    Disclaimer: despite what I’ve been writing on this website, I do not consider myself an activist. The closest “role” I can describe myself as is historian.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/03862-SocialActivismTreadingCarefully-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/03862-SocialActivismTreadingCarefully-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Social Activism and Treading Carefully’ desc=’Hidden activists are the little-known heroes that operated patiently, within the confines of a system (and often working around the system), changing it from the inside.’]

  • The Corporation as a Lifeform

    The Corporation as a Lifeform

    It is agreed^ that life on Earth started with single cells, around 4 billion years ago. After a very, very long time, roughly 2 billion later, multicellular life appeared. This followed a catastrophic event called the Great Oxidation Event^ (GOE). But what was catastrophic for others was a gift for us. Without the oxygen created during the GOE, we wouldn’t have been here. Multicellular life brought a plethora of evolutionary advantages and soon enough, dominant lifeforms were born. Living longer, stronger and, most importantly, smarter.

    So what does this have to do with corporations, capitalism and the stock market? As I’ll show, quite a lot. The current market ecosystem^ is a place where companies undergo natural selection. But unlike the past 4 billion years, the evolution of our economic organisms is supercharged, almost out of control – this, unfortunately, sometimes comes with a steep cost for our environment^ and current social structures.

    But what if a new breed of corporation triggers a financial chain reaction (like the GOE), wiping out most of its competition? Already, a new generation of companies is starting to take shape. And, as new ways to apply technology are found, the chance of a new business model emerging is much greater. Capitalism is bound to evolve^.

    Take a look from (very) high above

    Let’s zoom out at the level where we, individual humans, can be seen as cells, while our various social structures can be seen as multicellular organisms. From this high up, the corporation is a multicellular organism comprised of humans. A nation-state or ethnic group can also be seen in the same way, but as I will show, the corporation has many more behaviors similar to lifeforms than other social structures do.

    First of all, companies evolve at a much faster pace than any other previous social structure. Similar to most complex organisms, in a company we can find groups of cells with different roles. In this case, the cells are humans with different education and skills – including the skill of using advanced tools, which are themselves evolving rapidly. The evolution of our tools is very important, because this is precisely what supercharges the current evolutionary cycle. Not only do we evolve, but so does all our technological ecosystem.

    This new form of life has appeared for the same reasons why multicellular organisms thrive. The same natural laws of evolution apply: there are many advantages just waiting to be applied due to the synergies between different types of cellular organization. Think of departments in a company as specialized tissues in a body. Think of different technologies as new means of acting on information and generating survival-value for the company.

    Corporations are good at inventing new tools. They do so for the same “survival of the fittest” reason as any other lifeform. The only problem is that we humans are evolving slower than our tools^. As our technology skyrockets, so does the risk of catastrophic events, accidental or otherwise.

    Capitalism and the stock market

    Capitalism is fueled by an extremely strong impetus to produce more. This primal urge is one of the chief motivators for researching new technologies. The problem with this all-consuming focus is that anything that does not create profit (immediate or forecasted) is disregarded.

    The superpower of capitalism seems to be the creation of new meta-lifeforms: economic entities that absorb human capital and create other forms of capital, usually in the form of material goods and technological advances. These technological advances allow capitalism to perfect the entities it creates.

    As an evolutionary driver, capitalism is pretty damn good. The problem is that this early 21st century capitalism is obsessed with numbers in fake currencies. The fact is that capital takes many other forms: brain capital, ideological capital, ideation capital and even emotional capital.

    There aren’t many corporations that invest in philosophy or the arts. Sure, if the investment can serve towards some economic purpose (for example a PR stunt), then perhaps a company may invest in some artistic or charitable event. The problem with this approach is a short-sightedness regarding what is profitable and what is not. Actually, philosophy and art are extremely profitable because society (which is where the workforce is coming from) is built on ideas and inspiration, not on material goods.

    Unfortunately, for the time being, our companies are locked within the context of a money-centric stock market. This makes sure that the corporation is a master of financial efficiency. That’s all fine up to a certain point. When things go awry is when our companies fail in their social responsibility and ethical code. In the rabid chase for profits, this has started to happen increasingly often.

    Corporations crush each other without almost any regard for the people involved in the conflict. It’s pretty much like war, except people don’t get killed, they get laid-off. True, that’s a great improvement from our times as barbarians (which haven’t yet passed, just watch the news).

    But society is starting to catch on. The people are starting to rebel against corporate irresponsibility. In the near future, expect alternative stock markets to appear. Markets that value a company’s long-term sustainability (ethics, social & environmental responsibility, impetus on R&D). As I will show, such developments are not only necessary, but almost unavoidable.

    As technology advances, money will begin to lose relevance (basic income^ will happen sooner or later). Therefore, the corporations that invent new weapons to compete with are those that will survive the next evolutionary leap. Technology will also become too powerful to handle by such crude mechanisms such as the stock market. After all, the stock market is already falling prey to the technology of its own inhabitants^.

    The unstoppable march of progress

    Every major civilization had at least one mammoth, culture-defining project. For example, the Romans are known for their works of infrastructure and Egyptians are often associated with the monolithic remnants of their pharaohs: pyramids and other massive structures into which their empire has poured enormous amounts of resources (rushing its own demise).

    Currently, the most coveted technology seems to be artificial “intelligence”. I used quotes because A“I”, as is currently developed, is not really intelligent^. Humans fear true AI because they believe a sentient “computer” might endanger our species. But we’re very far from creating a sentient being; this is a feat that will require more than just quantum computing. Instead, wherever we read “AI” what they really mean is human-developed algorithms that have certain learning aptitudes (which is why a more correct term is ML – Machine Learning).

    But our greatest fear shouldn’t be true AI (sentient AI) but rather this ongoing development of human-defined ML. This is because rather than it being sentient, it is a slave to sentient humans. And because most humans are still very selfish beings^, putting advanced ML systems in the wrong hands might seriously jeopardize society^ (rogue killer drones and automated armies, automatic hackers, stock market viruses, large-scale social engineering).

    Corporations are already becoming increasingly complex and will be at least partially ruled by artificial intelligence algorithms (it’s already happening^). The corporation of the future is a master of synergy between humans, computer algorithms and other assets. This sort of company will have a human/machine leadership where machines can work with nanosecond decisions and humans can assist with high-level strategic thinking and ideation.

    All of a sudden, we’re heading towards a future that will see thousands of different economic lifeforms, communicating with each other, engaged in perpetual ideation and competition on many more fronts than just money. Could it be that the next stage of life on this planet are corporations? And then, what happens to us?

    Ethical capitalism

    Just like the cells in our own bodies thrive if we’re healthy, so will we if this higher form of life we find ourselves building is well-behaved^. Quite simply, our future depends on how comfortable and sustainable our corporations will be. And that is why ethics and empathy are important^.

    Regardless if corporations will ever be classifiable as life (after all, they eat each other and can spawn all sorts of weird babies), what is certain is that the business sector is far nimbler than government. It is therefore not surprising that governments around the world are becoming the puppets of business interests. Of course, one can argue that it was always so. Perhaps, but now-a-days, the possibilities of buying politicians have increased, because the wealth amassed by various corporations has also increased.

    Government has lost its way^ for a good reason: society’s way of ruling itself is not only inefficient and archaic, but it also has very little defense for corruption and other chronic illnesses. A broken democracy^ is like a sick organism: it’s very easy to conquer by infection and disease. As I pointed out in the past, I believe that the only hope for government is a serious make-over, alongside the lines of a Government 2.0^, which is in fact inspired from the way of doing things in the private sector.

    Judging by the political circus we’ve all witnessed in the past few years (even decades, centuries), I’m not betting on government ever recovering from this downward spiral. Ironically, this social activist is beginning to think that an evolution of the private sector to higher ethical standards is perhaps the best chance for peace and prosperity.

    This evolutionary leap is not only possible, but outright necessary, as many companies have started to discover that an increasingly higher percentage of employees lack motivation. Because the percentage of creative jobs on the market is rising (and will continue to rise) and because lack of motivation kills creativity, the only option for the company of the future is to change in such a way that its constituents are happy and feel a connection with the entity they’re part of.

    After all, what’s not to love about a meritocracy based on economic performance and everything this means (intellectual progress of all kinds with happiness as a chief motivator). Combining the efficiency of capitalism with a code of conduct based on empathy may yield a species of corporation that many of us may actually feel happy to be a part of.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/03759-CorporationAsLifeform-Share.png’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/03759-CorporationAsLifeform-Thumb.jpg fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’The Corporation As A Lifeform’ desc=’Zoom out. Individual humans, can be seen as cells, and corporations as multicellular organisms. The current market ecosystem is a place where companies undergo natural selection in an ever-quickening race for survival.’]

  • How to Destroy Democracy – A Practical Guide

    How to Destroy Democracy – A Practical Guide

    Disclaimer: 1. I love (true) democracy, 2. Even with its flaws, I do think that the current system is WAY better than absolutism, 3. I wrote this article in a period of my life where I was quite upset with the socio-geo-political situation in the world. Even so, I’m no revolutionary. I’m an evolutionary :). That being said…

    How to destroy democracy in 7 simple steps

    1. Employ representative democracy^. “Nearly all modern Western-style democracies are types of representative democracies”. This removes democracy from the people and hands it to far-from-reach representatives (politicians). These can be bought, manipulated and when they become useless or exposed, can be thrown away. The masses can be angry at a face, but the machinery controlling that face remains hidden.
    2. Own the democratic menu. Fewer parties at the election mean less options for the voter. The ideal situation is, of course, having just two parties. This creates the illusion of choice while, in fact, the menu has been completely sterilized. Imagine going to a restaurant and being able to choose between just two dishes. And they both contain ingredients you can’t tolerate.
    3. Control education. Stuff kids’ minds with facts and figures, invest as much time as possible in developing memory and practical skills. This creates good workers. Reduce time invested in developing emotional intelligence, empathy, self-worth and respect. This ensures that there’s enough people with psychological problems later on, enough that end up being criminals and even more that are easy to control. Focus on creating consumers of cheap entertainment and useless products; people who invest most of their time staring at screens, thus increasing the time that they can be programmed through media. Which brings us to…
    4. Control the media. Newspapers, radio & TV stations, internet publications should be bundled into large conglomerates owned by media moguls who can easily censor any attempt at exposing the decay of democracy. Downplay the advantages of other systems of government. Demonize the other, whatever the other may be. Create enemies out of thin air, distribute fear, desensitize to violence^.
    5. Suppress dialogue. First, isolate people in online bubbles. Then, gather bubbles in neat little herds that can be targeted with just the right kind of information to gently steer their opinion. Under no circumstances should opinions flow freely from one herd to another: this might lead to civilized dialogue which, every democracy destroyer knows, is the number one enemy of ignorance and manipulation.
    6. By controlling education & the media, representative democracy should be presented just as “democracy”: this is the real democracy, there is no other. The population must be educated to be proud to live in such a system and under no circumstances should direct democracy^ or any other systems be mentioned in a positive way.
    7. Continuously spray each crop of politicians and research new spraying methods and compounds. By this, of course, I mean indoctrination. Keep the indoctrination program in good shape. Grow politicians that are easy to corrupt. Well-sprayed politicians are cheap to own and can do miracles for the banks and corporations controlling them.
    Spray Your Crops
    Spray Your Crops

    Democracy in 2019

    Oh, democracy, how proud some countries are to have you. But oh, democracy, are you really there? The vast majority of “democratic” countries in the world employ a twisted version of the original concept called “representative democracy^”. That is to say, instead of direct democracy^ – where all citizens can directly express their opinion about each and every single thing happening in their society) – the country is run by a select group of “experts” (politicians) who are supposedly more qualified to decide regarding what’s best for their constituents.

    Now-a-days, few people seem to realize that specialized ministries (education, agriculture, development) are in fact drowned by graduates of political schools and other bureaucrats that have almost no clue about the ministry they’re supposed to lead. These people are quickly transformed into puppets of corporations that gladly offer their “advice” regarding how things should be run.

    Indeed, since time immemorial, our democratic representatives, like all selfish humans^, have their own interests. In 2019 it’s hard to find politicians who are not in somebody’s pocket. That is not to say that some of those pockets (lobbyists) aren’t well-intended and actually wish to help our civilization overcome this dark age of violence and mistrust. Unfortunately, the same rules apply to everybody: representative democracy opens the door not only to the “good guys” but also to greedy, power-hungry sociopaths.

    Even worse is the fact that the glorified democratic pride-fest called “the elections” is, in the vast majority of cases, a battle between a small number of parties which results in very few options for the voter. The democratic menu is controlled by the establishment. It is censored and carefully orchestrated by the mainstream media which is, in turn, owned by people with business interests. These individuals support those parties whose measures would favor their bottom line – and guess who ends up working more and getting fewer benefits.

    The main problem with parties is that they force a country to be run by rigid dogmas that conform to the party’s creed. It’s not all that different from other outdated political practices such as running a country according to the views of a monarch or bishop.

    Most people like and dislike a number of proposals from almost every party they can vote for. Almost every party has proposals their own voters dislike. Similarly, a party has proposals that voters of other parties do like, but they won’t vote for that party because there are not enough policies they like, or because there’s one single policy they strongly disagree with. So, for that single “flaw” a party has, all its other valuable proposals are lost.

    To make matters even worse, parties often organize into coalitions, making it easy to break election promises because “hey, the other members of the coalition didn’t agree to what we originally promised.” Representative democracy has become a way to muddle the democratic landscape in order to escape accountability. Mainstream media gives us televised debates between party leaders, a sort of boxing match made to distract and hide the dirty party machinery.

    Compare this to direct democracy^ where not only parties but also citizens can put proposals forward and subject them to a vote. This form of government is used in some cantons in Switzerland and other isolated social pockets around the world. See the linked Wikipedia entry for more details.

    This isn’t democracy. This is a theater play where most of the population is hypnotized and made to believe that they have a choice. The only real choice is what sort of country to be a slave in: authoritarian or “democratic”.

    Blowing up

    Back in 2015 I wrote that “social unrest^ around the world is rising to dangerous heights^, creeping its way from one country to the next^. Civilization is literally boiling: pockets of revolt show up and then miserably subdue – as a result of careful manipulation, merciless intervention or lack of immediate success.”

    Now, four years later, things have gotten much, much worse, with the volcanic rise to power of far-right candidates and authoritarian leaders across the world. I consider that the success of the far-right is, really, the success of the machinery controlling our fake democracy. The apparatus has succeeded in creating a political current that absorbs frustration and hatred and promises various kinds of radical changes for enough desperate people to believe in. Instead of fixing our civilization, we risk sinking into a dark, dark age.

    The far-right isn’t even the problem. In a legitimate democracy, they have their place and right to be there. They even bring some valid points, such as a strong cultural immune response against the destruction of local cultures. But it’s all wrapped in hate, and as the saying goes, you reap what you sow.

    Protests are bound to become more explosive. First reason: political polarization. The success of the far-right will amplify the revolt of those who fought for decades to build a better world. Second reason: the Internet. The free flow of information is now augmented by various technologies that can connect people even when extreme censorship is applied.

    Several governments have abused their powers in various ways while trying to compromise or squarely shut down our means of unhindered communication. Countries such as China^, Iran^, Turkey^, Egypt^, Syria^ and Russia^ but also such bastions of “democracy” like the United Kingdom^ or United States^ have all prepared censorship mechanisms. I expect that list to grow exponentially in the coming years as more and more governments and their power-hungry manipulators become aware of the explosive power that the Internet can give to any enlightening political movement.

    Frankly, the Internet has seen much better times. There is a noticeable decay in the free flow of information even when compared to last year. People have been caught in the net of giant corporations that specialize in isolating them in neat little bubbles from where they can’t discuss with people of other ideologies.

    Dialogue, civilized and uncivilized is essential for democracy. Dialogue is suppressed by first removing the need for people to communicate face-to-face (thanks to the oh-so-convenient device screen). Then comes the decisive blow of keeping voters in nice little flocks that are easy to control. Tell each flock what they want to hear. Some flocks may not be within reach, and some may be too smart to control. But remember, it’s enough to control the majority.

    Money

    Unfortunately, in the age of corporationism, politicians and business interests go hand in hand. It’s almost impossible for a politician to succeed without the financial clout of some lobbyist (the best example of this “pact with the devil” can be seen at work in the United States’ PAC system^). But really, almost all democracies are infested with various strains of the lobbying virus.

    Most people are either unaware or they don’t dare to think that this broken system can be repaired. Even so, most voters have begun to associate wealth and excess with the ruling class (an association that is often encouraged by reported facts – for example how could one of Ukraine’s former presidents afford this?^).

    Despite massive advances in technology, a family can hardly afford to own a house in a situation where a single adult is working, as was the case not long ago. Two adults working full time can barely pay off a mortgage in 30 years. This forces families to commit their children at an early age to the industrialized education system where they can be indoctrinated at a stage where their minds lack vital intellectual and cultural defenses.

    But all is not lost. We are going through a period when we, “the represented”, are reminded of the power we inherently wield. Our leaders would not be in their seats without somebody to represent. And while in decades past we have often ignored their abuse of power, even when we saw it happening right under our noses, now, disturbing statistics^ about income inequality spread like wildfire and bury themselves deep within the collective subconscious. The result is not pleasant and it’s probably going to get worse^ before it gets better.

    Even in the most liberal countries, there are very few ways through which we can vent the frustration on our leaders. Most people with a bit of political acumen have by now understood that the voting process has become almost completely irrelevant: in most countries (yes, even in the holier-than-thou Western democracies) political parties are nothing more than pawns in the hands of business interests. The democratic exercise has become a mockery of its base principles; therefore, the voting booth is no longer a valuable tool. Whatever independent media still exists (not much), has little power.

    We’re left with the third option: going out in the streets where, lately, more often than not, the protest becomes destructive. Considering all this, it’s not surprising that the younger generations have lost interest in the current organization of society.

    It is also the reason why extremist parties gain in polls. It’s not because they’re any good, it’s because they specialize in selling escape, and many are just desperate enough to buy it.

    Great efforts will be needed to restore democracy and our faith in it. Most probably, what we need is, simply put, in software terms: Government 2.0, a topic I wrote about recently^. Indeed, we now have the technology to make direct democracy a viable system of government.

    This piece was originally titled “Democracy Dies in Darkness” and it’s inspired by the Washington Post’s tagline, which caused quite a stir^ when it was adopted back in 2017.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/03439-HowToDestroyDemocracy-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/03439-HowToDestroyDemocracy-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’How to Destroy Democracy – A Practical Guide’ desc=’Oh, democracy, how proud some countries are to have you. But oh, democracy, are you really there?’]

  • Thank You, Capitalism. It Could Be Worse…

    Thank You, Capitalism. It Could Be Worse…

    My readers know all too well that I’m no fan of capitalism. Throughout the past years I’ve attacked^ several attributes of this economic system (consumerism^, the stock market^, income inequality^). This year, I’m about to step it up a notch, going into how capitalism has facilitated the slow and insidious rotting of most democratic countries. I intend to write about how a broken economic system can drag down education and create immeasurable suffering on a planetary scale, most of which is hidden from sight by the mainstream media so that the machine can keep marching.

    But this doesn’t mean that I lack appreciation towards the enormous benefits that have burst from the minds of countless entrepreneurs who, thanks to a free market, succeeded in advancing our culture and civilization. After all, I write these words using capitalist products!

    Evolution

    Capitalism is just another system that evolved from others before it. Perhaps it’s not the fairest, but it’s definitely more efficient than some that existed before. The gradual development of economic systems that has given birth to capitalism also implies that capitalism will not be the last economic system. And that’s precisely why I’m writing about its flaws. It’s not because I hate it, it’s because there are things that I believe can be improved.

    Capitalism will eventually give way to another, better economic system. It’s inevitable. The question, however, is if that system will be better for humans and our ecosystem. It is entirely possible that capitalism will evolve into a system that is even more efficient at squeezing the life out of this planet and transforming it into objects, technological advances (for its own sake) and gargantuan projects.

    I believe one such gargantuan project is the development of artificial “intelligence”, in quotes because it’s not really intelligent^. It lacks and will continue to lack sentience, which I consider a prime ingredient of intelligence, for at least until such a time when we have achieved major advances in quantum computing. I went through some of the dangers posed by this sort of artificial non-intelligence in the linked article, or here^, on the more concrete topic of stock markets.

    Better life through technology

    One of the main long-term goals of capitalistic entities is to discover tools and technologies that allow them to produce more. These discoveries eventually trickle down through all social layers and can improve quality of life. It doesn’t always happen so, but it’s not usually a problem with capitalism per-se, but with the human element (corruption, greed^).

    Capitalism has brought a number of major advances in all sorts of fields: manufacturing, delivery, recycling, retail & customer experience, product diversity, the list can go on and on. I honestly believe we’d be far less advanced without the explosion of knowledge that resulted from setting human intellectual capital free to associate in whatever form.

    Less is more

    Because our civilization is still at a stage where the survival instinct is dominating^ our choices and policies, we can’t expect any economic system to reach a sort of moral high-ground. Communism used to look good on paper. History tells a different story about its implementation. It’s a case of “change yourself before you change others”.

    In other words: we have to fix our way of thinking and how we go about daily life before we can even expect a highly efficient and in the same time ethical economic system to emerge. Capitalism is, simply put, the best that some societies are capable of. They wouldn’t tolerate it otherwise.

    Capitalism embodies our instinctual thirst^ for more. The problem is that “more”, in this case, is usually not something that contributes to human happiness, but rather provides tangible results (objects, technologies). Even though life in most (truly) capitalistic countries has improved from a material standpoint, psychological health has declined. People feel disconnected and disengaged. A culture of extreme individualism is being promoted, probably because it produces better consumers.

    Would less production and less consumption be anti-capitalistic? Perhaps from a purely financial standpoint. But a situation where capitalism “eases down” might actually be the smartest investment ever made: an investment in nurturing human capital. Healthier, happier humans can not only produce more, but will also invent more.

    Diversity is beautiful

    One of the things I’m most thankful about with capitalism is the fascinating product diversity it led to. But too much of a good thing is not a good thing at all anymore. And while I appreciate the diversity, I also recognize that in the past decades it has started to resemble the behavior of cancer. Too much diversity is a tumor that feeds on our ecosystem, running amok with almost no planetary governmental oversight. Even so, I do believe that with capitalism we’re closer to the ideal product diversity state than with, say, communism.

    Economy influences our society and, not only by extent, our way of government. Politics, economy and culture are all intertwined with other pillars of human development to form what we call civilization. As a prime ingredient of civilization, economy shapes not only how we trade, but our attitudes as well.

    For example, in capitalism, it’s not profitable to reject minorities of any kind (sexual, racial, religious). This, slowly but surely, trickles into society. True capitalistic societies are more tolerant towards minorities, partly as a consequence of this being the most profitable behavior.

    My first 7 years of life happened before the fall of communist Romania, during one of its worst periods (which was still way better than places in less developed parts of the world). I then witnessed the gradual implementation of capitalism, during a slow, painful process during which a number of sly Romanians became rich overnight through various forms of abuse. 20 years later I moved to Sweden, a country renowned for its socialism, but which has become increasingly capitalistic during the turn of the millennium and even more so under my very eyes in the past decade. All these varied economic landscapes have shaped me in all sorts of ways.

    I am thankful to the diversity that capitalism has exposed me to. I’m thankful for its contribution to the civilization that I enjoy being a part of. I couldn’t imagine myself happy in a system that would restrict my freedom of speech (even though censorship is definitely on the rise everywhere in the world, including the proud Western democratic block).

    I’m even thankful for capitalism’s flaws, for without flaws, there is nothing to improve. I’m one of those humans with a pull towards perpetual improvement. My work on this website is not only about improving the society I belong to, but also about improving myself. Throughout this process, it is vital for me to emphasize that despite my criticism, I am not blind to the luxury I am granted simply by having a roof over my head and warm, clean water at the tap. Oh, and fancy gizmos to play with.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/03451-ThankYouCapitalismItCouldBeWorse-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/03451-ThankYouCapitalismItCouldBeWorse-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Thank You, Capitalism. It Could Be Worse…’ desc=’The gradual development of economic systems that has given birth to capitalism also implies that capitalism will not be the last economic system.’]

  • Ethical Economy

    Ethical Economy

    If one would be to chronicle the history of illegal or unfair use of economic practices, one would probably need to fill ten tomes of at least a thousand pages each. From rich to poor, almost everybody has, at least once, suffered due to our misshapen financial system.

    There are many reasons for this, such as perfectly healthy and natural human greed^. The problem is that greed and other evolutionary adaptations have been allowed to spiral out of control by a broken educational system^. Insufficient education allows profit-seeking entities to exploit evolutionary weaknesses. They profit by making individuals invest into items and activities of no real value (no increase in happiness and no profit for the individuals or their families).

    This social weakness has brought with it the perpetuation and success of a class of dangerous individuals^. People of otherwise great potential, but who are successful because of a dangerous disconnection from the society they should (as skilled individuals and leaders) be taking care of. These people only behave this way because it’s possible. They can (still) get away with it.

    Fake money

    At the very core of economic unfairness lies the manufacture of money out of thin air. Or, more precisely out of paper and ink. Actually, in the Information Age^, money is made out of electricity (lots of it^). Cryptocurrencies, for all their rebellious hopefulness, epitomize the ridiculous of the times we live in: billions are created based on something as fickle as public opinion, unsubstantiated ideas and charismatic individuals (Musk, anyone?^).

    The fact that money is fake has never been more evident than it is today. We’ve also never had more debt than today. Most money in the world is, actually, debt. It is an instrument of distraction that has been used masterfully for thousands (yes, thousands) of years. But that’s history and we shouldn’t let ourselves condemned by it. Let history be history and look towards the future. Besides, back when money was invented, we didn’t have the technology we have today.

    Ethical everything

    We are fortunate to have evolved to a state of awareness that allows us to make some significant leaps forward when it comes to knowing right from wrong^. Economic structures that were inconceivable decades ago are now gaining traction. We have concepts such as ethical consumerism^ and ethical banking^.

    Technology today, in fact, allows us to very accurately measure each individual’s contribution to society. And ethics today allow us to discern meaningful contributions from wasteful or even toxic contributions.

    What I advocate is ethical everything. The implementation of such a system concerns the fusion between an ever-evolving ethical framework and a super-fragmented decentralized financial system. Let’s see what these terms mean.

    The ever-evolving ethical framework

    Society usually adapts to new ethical principles on a generational level. But ethics can change from one minute to the next. One of the catalysts of prosperity is a society’s ability to quickly adapt to changes in the way humans relate with each other. A social life with reduced friction ensures that individuals can channel more energy into constructive ventures.

    The implementation of ethics into law is sometimes very sluggish. The economic system of the future, however, has to be able to adapt, sometimes in a matter of hours, to people who might exploit it. Think about how an antivirus company works. Once the company is aware of a dangerous application, they release a software update that allows their product to protect users from that application. The same can be done with all sorts of harmful social behaviors.

    It is therefore imperative for our future financial institutions to continuously adapt and climb to a high moral ground. Having “Financial institutions” and “moral high ground” in the same sentence is almost laughable in this day and age; but things will change. The alternative is to continue living in a state of perpetual financial seizure where an ever-increasing number of people suffer during economic downturns.

    The super-fragmented decentralized financial system

    Through the use of cryptocurrencies, we can create a highly adaptable financial system. This would consist of a world-wide currency that would then split itself into regional (state-level) denominations, then city-state level denominations and then further down to villages, families and even per-individual currencies. The purpose of this fragmentation would be to drill down to where actual value is created: the individual.

    All currencies would feed back into the planetary currency, a sum yielding the total value generated by the entire species. How such a hierarchical cryptocurrency system could be implemented is homework for those that are experts in this field.

    Econoethics

    The fusion of economy and ethics can be called econoethics. This could be achieved, for example, through the implementation of an ethical layer within the global cryptocurrency we discussed earlier. Such a construction can bring the concept of dollar voting^ into the foreground of our economic lives.

    This ethical cryptocurrency would be both hierarchical, fragmented and subject to localized ethics transformations. This means that for a social structure located in a certain area, the currency’s development will be influenced (transformed) by the ethical principles valid in that area. Indeed, ethics should be culture and region-specific.

    What this means, in practice, is that a manufacturer that produces a good that is considered undesired in a certain society will not make that much profit off of it. Or, citizens that have an important contribution to their surrounding society will enjoy better pay. In a society governed by different laws, roles might reverse.

    Implementing such systems is not easy and would require a lot of testing and brainstorming. But make no mistake, this is already doable with today’s (primitive) technology. All that is required is some good will and the courage to experiment.

    I have faith in the thousands of engineers, thinkers and tinkerers around the globe to come up with the foundations for a new financial framework; one that will give us a more transparent, cleaner and healthier economic development during the following centuries.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/03167-EthicalEconomy-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/03167-EthicalEconomy-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Ethical Economy’ desc=’The fusion between an ever-evolving ethical framework and a super-fragmented decentralized financial system.’]

  • Prison 2.0

    Prison 2.0

    As our civilization develops, so do our social structures and institutions. There’s daily news about all sorts of innovative ways technology is used to improve everything about our society ranging from transportation and agriculture to healthcare and education. But… what about prisons?

    Oh, there’s news about prisons too: riots, overcrowding and dismal results when it comes to actually convincing criminals that it’s better to respect the rules of society. So, when do those that have the most need of a guiding light get to see some improvement in how we help them rebuild their lives?

    Prisons have evolved, as illustrated by countries such as Norway^. For the most part, however, detention institutions are still stuck in what will be looked at by the historians of the future as one of the longest-lasting vestiges of an unenlightened past. In a century or two, we will look at the prisons of today just like we now look at torture chambers.

    Varying degrees of crime, varying degrees of success

    Prisons can and have saved people. Violent criminals should be temporarily removed from society. But in this day and age, we’re smart enough to make the difference between a thief, a mass murderer, a person that was in the wrong state of mind at the wrong time and a corporate scumbag^ in need for some education in empathy. Yet, they all end up in pretty much the same system, being dealt the same treatment. It’s exactly like prescribing varying quantities of the same old aspirin to all patients, regardless if they’re suffering of cancer, flu, hernia or depression.

    Some time ago, torture was widely accepted while the capital punishment wasn’t even remotely considered ethically wrong. Today, many countries on Earth have abolished^ the death penalty. In some time still, depriving anybody but the most violent criminals of their freedom will be considered nothing short of barbaric. Neither humans nor animals belong in cages^.

    Most people that go to prison end up costing the society even more, as recidivism^ rates are absurdly high. Imprisonment isn’t working the way it’s supposed to if the result is that a person is, in reality, permanently stigmatized and traumatized in such a way that they can rarely rejoin society.

    Punishments such as solitary confinement are inhumane. The behavioral corrections they instill in an individual are rarely a sign of true improvement. More often than not, these changes in the prisoner are just a form of training that will disappear soon after the individual realizes the threat of punishment is gone: humans are harder to train than other creatures.

    A major prison reform is long overdue

    Norway is definitely onto something when it comes to “open” prisons. Wouldn’t it be more useful for society if those that committed a crime can actually continue or start contributing to society? This doesn’t have to bear the stench of forced labor and oppressive regimes on it. Imagine a city where those that broke the law can live freely while guided and assisted by both professionals and volunteers from the outside, including their own families.

    And besides, in the surveillance age^, who needs walls and bars? Sure, certain very dangerous individuals or the criminally insane might need to be committed to a special institution where they can be cared for by psychologists while they play violent video games^.

    Speaking of surveillance, were you aware of China’s Social Credit System^? It sets a dangerous precedent. It shows what a police state can do once it gets its paws on sufficiently advanced technology. However, what if the same technology can be used to give individuals a fair chance at rehabilitation?

    Imprisoned while free, free while imprisoned

    Consider that a large portion of today’s prisoners have not directly hurt another human being. They are not rapists, nor murderers. They are thieves, petty criminals, misguided (hate) ideologists or simply people that ended up in the wrong entourage (due to social segregation^) only to eventually get caught up in a cascade of unfortunate consequences.

    What if instead of depriving these people of their potential, we would allow them freedom of movement and action, but under a regime of tight surveillance? Let’s not forget that the surveillance methods of today are extremely capable and efficient. What China is getting ready to apply to most of its citizens^ (read: the workers, the powerless) has been available in many other democratic countries as well, albeit with the notable difference that there’s a slightly tighter regulatory framework. In democratic countries they usually require a warrant to put somebody under surveillance.

    But, taking a page from China’s book, wrongdoers that have not directly hurt another human being can be sentenced to surveillance for a number of months or even years. Their actions will be tracked and evaluated by automated algorithms, subject to verification by human supervisors. In other words, a human-computer parole officer that, at the end of the sentence, can observe and guarantee that the former criminal is no longer a criminal, but a person that has a positive contribution to society, a job and perhaps even a healthy social life.

    A new life?

    It would be naïve to assume that all criminals would take advantage of the opportunity to start a new life. But it’s logical to assume that recidivism would decrease, as people wouldn’t be forced to live in a confined space alongside gangs that preach the worst of criminal practices.

    Convicts that end up committing further crimes could still remain free, although confined to ever-tighter areas, eventually having to live and work in the afore-mentioned prison cities.

    Regardless of the specific way prison reform is implemented, it is not only necessary, but the humane thing to do. We invest a lot of energy in fighting for the ethical treatment of animals, for the environment, even for favorite sports teams, brands or politicians. But how about investing some energy in fellow human beings that have slipped between the cracks of our society?

    Isn’t forgiveness a virtue preached by most cultures? How can we truly say we wish to make the world a better place if we throw people away from sight, lock them up, failing to realize that perhaps it is our own society’s fault^ that they ended up behaving in a violent way?

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/03100-Prison20-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/03100-Prison20-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Prison 2.0′ desc=’When do those that have the most need of a guiding light get to see some improvement in how we help them rebuild their lives?’]

  • Education in the New Machine Age

    Education in the New Machine Age

    Nobody can deny that we’ve entered a new era of technological progress. The so-called Digital Revolution^ is but the latest in a series of intellectual milestones that started with the Industrial Revolution^. However, there’s something special about this era: exponential development. Our technology advances faster than ever before.

    It’s not only board game players that lose to software algorithms^. It’s all of us^. It’s not that we’re stupid; far from that. After all, we created the software that is right now outperforming us in an ever-increasing number of areas, eliminating jobs across all industries.

    But the human brain is perfectly capable of adapting to the intellectual explosion going on. The problem is that our social structures aren’t. And there’s a very simple reason behind that…

    Education

    Our children are our future. Cliché? That which is a fact of nature cannot be cliché. But there is still a long way to go until we can claim that we truly have integrated this knowledge. Yes, we all know that our children will write history. Despite this, when the educational system is examined thoroughly, it’s obvious that most governments and societies on Earth see education as just a way to teach children to behave (i.e. program them to respect rules^).

    As this article^ points out, “education’s goal seems to have devolved into facilitating the creation of a homogenized population, which has impacted everything from the job market to mental health.” Children are being taught the dos and don’ts, some skills so they can contribute to society, and then served some special sauce consisting of various forms of indoctrination (be it religious, nationalistic, materialistic – anything that can impair their decisional capabilities and make them easier to control).

    That strategy worked for a while, but its days are numbered. We live in an age when vulnerable people can be manipulated by foreign agents instantly, through the Internet. We need look no further than the Russian interference in the 2016 USA elections^.

    This is an age when almost everything can be (or will be) automated, an age when the push of a button can bring down entire nations^. We need empathic, creative, open-minded people that can keep up with the rampant technological development; not only to harness it, but also to defend us from those that would misuse it.

    We can’t afford to have madmen in control of nuclear buttons. We can’t afford to have megalomaniacal CEOs in control of software that can easily cripple our economic ecosystem^. What we need is a generation of brave explorers that think beyond borders, race and culture^.

    It’s only a matter of time until certain societies on Earth realize this. It is those societies that will prevail in the current phase of evolutionary competition on this planet. Those that manage to educate their population to take full advantage of the technology at their disposal will give rise to the next superpowers.

    Agile Education

    We have entered what one visionary calls the New Machine Age^. I highly recommend watching the 12 minutes video I just linked, or perhaps this article^. There, Erik Brynjolfsson explains how even though software can outperform humans, the winning combination is when both software and humans work together. In his words, the key is to “race with the machines”.

    The current educational system has advanced a lot in the past centuries, no doubt about it. Every decade or so, it takes one small step forward. But now that our technology leaps ahead year after year, it’s time to unshackle our children’s minds. So, how do we do that?

    The educational platform of the future can no longer be tied to update cycles longer than a month. Even in developed countries, the slightest of changes to what students are taught still take around a year until trickling down to educational institutions. That, simply will not cut it in the coming decades.

    In the software industry, there’s something called agile software development^. In a nutshell, it’s a method for building a product through an iterative approach. The methodology facilitates product development through quick cycles of experiment, fail, learn, implement, improve. When executed correctly, this ensures that the product is kept up to date from both a market requirements perspective and also from a technology perspective.

    In contrast with that, we have our current educational system, which is, at best, sluggish to adapt to market demands while in the same time woefully behind when it comes to what’s technologically possible. This isn’t surprising from a system that is, for the most part, stuck with a conveyor belt mentality.

    It’s true that in the past 150 years education became available to many more^ social categories. Unfortunately, the way the expansion was implemented has more than one resemblance with a 1900s factory – one of the reasons is probably because it is around that period when governments realized they’d better educate their population so that their nations can be more productive.

    There are, however, some countries that are slowly but surely dismantling the industrial education model; for example, Finland^. Such countries have understood that the educational platform has to be updated to meet the challenges of the Digital Age.

    Goodbye Industrialized Education

    The classroom of tomorrow isn’t comprised of a bunch of students studying the same material, being subjected to the same exam questions and then benchmarked in futile, wasteful contests. The classroom of tomorrow is a team of cross-disciplinary minds that solves challenges; each bringing their own skills, but relying on tutoring and technology to gather and integrate exactly the required knowledge to reach a certain goal.

    The teacher of tomorrow isn’t a slave to a platform, blindly reciting from The Book and then throwing countless hours out the window rating duplicated work. The teacher of tomorrow is a capable leader that knows what challenges to throw at a team in order to stimulate intellectual growth and skill development based on real life needs. And just to be clear, art is a real world need too.

    It’s interesting to note that both kindergartens and universities have educational models that are reasonably open and challenging. But everything in between has, in most countries, been reduced to a steady and boring destruction of potential^. Children wait too long until they can be part of a team addressing real-world problems.

    Throughout the past century wiser people have thought about changing the educational system, with varying degrees of success. There is an education philosophy called constructivism^. There were attempts to integrate technology into the classroom. Some attempts failed short because of lack of funding (it’s expensive to train teachers, and even more expensive to train leader-teachers).

    Other attempts failed due to gross miscalculations. Remember the $100 laptop^ that was supposed to unleash children’s minds? Unfortunately, throwing technology around without a systemic paradigm shift does little else than to disrespect the environment and cause cultural pollution.

    But most of all, the timing just wasn’t right. And that’s about to change.

    The age of educational enlightenment is about to dawn, of that, I am convinced. It is an evolutionary need that will burst into existence with unstoppable force. The first societies that manage to bring their educational systems up to speed will reap unimaginable rewards.

    Empathy and tomorrow’s criminals

    From education, straight to crime. How’s that for a detour? I’ve written at length about the dangers posed^ by the irresponsible use of technology^. One problem that arises when training high-performing teams is that those same teams might one day turn into the villains terrorizing society. Fortunately, there’s a human ability that, if properly cultivated, can greatly reduce the risk of us being hurt by destructive tendencies.

    I’ve also written at length about empathy^. I believe that the only mandatory subject in the schools of tomorrow should be empathy. We simply cannot build a free high-tech society without empathy. Sure, perhaps a police state solution such as the one China envisions might work for a while. But punishing the inherent mischievousness that comes in the same package with human curiosity will always end up stifling innovative capability.

    This is evolution’s catch 22: the smarter you get, the greater the responsibility becomes. And there’s no way to hide from that responsibility either. If you tie yourself up to a tree just to make sure you won’t drown, that will also mean you won’t be escaping any hungry tigers that might be lurking in the jungle.

    Here’s to the next generation of teachers, students and problem solvers. May you prevail through the most glorious of challenges. May you prove that it wasn’t all in vain.

    [ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/03067-EducationNewMachineAge-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/03067-EducationNewMachineAge-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Education in the New Machine Age’ desc=’Nobody can deny that we’ve entered a new era of technological progress. It’s not only board game players that lose to software algorithms. It’s all of us.’]