Values 2021+
“It described a view of the world in which society is essentially a gigantic information processor, moving ideas, concepts, and opinions from person to person, like neurons in the brain or nodes in a neural network, firing synapses at each node in the form of decisions and behaviors — what products to buy, who to vote for, or who to date — billions of times per minute, every day. In this analogy, we are the nodes, and the architecture of the information-processing machine we collectively inhabit is the social network.” — Sinan Aral, The Hype Machine
I enjoy thinking about the future. This type of analysis has traditionally involved the consideration of economic, technological and cultural factors. In the last ten years it has become increasingly important to specifically consider respectively the economics of platform business models, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and the power and versatility of self-organizing networks. All three of these factors have come together, for example, in the ever popular social media. If we look at Facebook, we see a two-sided platform that serves both advertisers and consumers interested in information about their friends. Facebook serves up advertising to the consumer that is chosen by the most sophisticated AI algorithms; the technology of Facebook makes it easy to organize a network or action group on any theme or topic.
Ironically, few people understand the concepts of platforms, artificial intelligence and self-organizing networks. We have all been reduced to just users. I think that if we look back in history we will see that the users understood little of electricity, computing or Google search. The difference in the newest technologies — platform business models, artificial intelligence and self-organizing networks — is their ability to influence the entire social, cultural and political process … or any process for that matter. The GameStop (GME) short squeeze took on Wall Street, the Russians probably organized the Capital riots on Parler and we might even point to the skillful use of Twitter to influence the election of both President Obama and Trump as an earlier example. In short, we are constantly being manipulated by this combination of technology, what some call the Singularity. The challenge is how do we respond as humans.
We have grown relaxed and selfish in the last sixty years as the abundance of increasing economic prosperity has made us want for little. Along with this selfishness has come an intellectual complacency. Gone are the public intellectuals, the respect for thought leadership at universities, the easy agreement around who are our leaders. Oprah Winfrey is an intelligent, thoughtful, very successful woman. I would welcome for Oprah to run for President, but she has more influence and effect in her current role. That is our modern world, where the most talented people do not serve in public institutions. The intellectual complacency and absence of good leaders places a much higher responsibility on each individual. Yet the technology and social media make it increasingly difficult to sort out the truth and avoid manipulation. What is a citizen to do? I think the answer is a return to traditional values and first principles to guide individual decision making.
When I look to understand values, I tend to look to the East and the teachings of thinkers such as Confucius, Lao Tzu and Buddha. This time Confucius was particularly insightful. Confucius believed that there was a natural link between personal and political morality and that social justice is grounded in the individual’s beliefs and behavior. Essentially government in a democracy is a reflection of the personal morality of the citizens and, not vice versa, the government dictating behavior. At the foundation of personal morality for Confucius was the concept of compassion. Compassion for Confucius requires an individual to act to benefit the other person who is in physical or emotional distress. Recognizing the distress — sympathy — or putting one in the other person’s shoes — empathy — was not sufficient. Confucius required a tangible manifestation. I find it interesting that today empathy is such a popular term, but the higher standard of compassion is not popularized. Suffice it to say, if we want to ground our behavior in values we might start with compassion.
If we look to other values a modern citizen might need, I look to the principles of the U.S. Founding Fathers. Central to their thinking was the fundamentals of freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the individual’s right to pursue happiness. Frequently today a discussion of these issues is confused by the issue of violence. If I use freedom of speech that incites violence or freedom of religion that incites persecution of non-believers, then today we default to rolling back freedom of speech or freedom of religion. Recent censorship on social media is an example of this confusion. Confucius said that we should be compassionate, including in our exercise of freedoms such as speech. However, the perpetrators of the violence and not the speakers should be held to account.
The question one might ask is why recently have we seen the new administration in Washington in cooperation with the large social media companies roll back freedom of speech (censoring Trump), shut down platforms with conflicting opinions (Parler) and target leading entrepreneurs (Elon Musk) who are in the opposition. I do not know the answer to the question, but fortunately two of the smartest people I know both have the same answer. What is interesting is that one is to the far left and the other to the far right on the political spectrum. The answer is that the new administration with cooperation from the large social media companies is trying to consolidate their power in a one political party oligarchy.
This oligarchy is exerting its power blatantly, maybe for the first time. They have chosen a time when humanity and the world need to urgently address the most pressing social and environmental problems perhaps in history. Instead, we are all focused on Washington nonsense and ignoring the current and impending black swan events that are increasingly common. To combat the oligarchy and Washington, we must return to Confucius’ teachings, remember that our personal values should shape the politics and that compassion is the fundamental principle of human behavior. This advice looks naïve to even me the writer, but we should remember that this country has a long history based in the naïve concepts of values, democracy and equality. We first need to remember from where we came!
The views expressed herein are my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of any organization with whom I am affiliated or employed.
