The Middle Layer: Three Intermediate Causes of the Metacrisis
Here I want to talk more about the middle layer, and the three intermediate causes of the metacrisis: collective action problems, principal-agent problems and value misperception.
When you look closely, I would suggest that that all the problems at the “intermediate” layer of the metacrisis come down to three issues:
Collective action problems aka coordination problems, prisoner’s dilemma, multi-polar traps, Moloch, races to the bottom. These are situations where the optimal action is coordination but each individual actor has a rational incentives to “defect”. For example, in arms races. Here, each state may want to restrict some dangerous technology e.g. powerful AI or nuclear weapons (or at least would be willing if all others did). However, each individual state fears that others will continue to move ahead so they do so too (which is self-fulfilling regarding the initial fears of continued development).
Externalities & Principal agent problems aka perverse incentives, externalities etc. this is where the system (be that the market, democracy, the bureaucracy) mis-incentivizes for the result it wants leading to the over or under production of some important good. e.g. market capitalism rewards financial profit but fails to include externalized costs like pollution. Or you pay people capture rats or pollution and this leads some people to farm rats or create pollution so they can get paid for resolving it.
Mis-perception of value: we mis-perceive the value of things. We think a tree is more valuable dead than alive, that uploading our minds to machines is the way to go, that eating donuts is good for me etc. In this case the issue we “want the wrong things”
Regarding the metacrisis all three are relevant, as they are for social issues in general. However, collective action problems are generally by far the most significant, and hardest to address.
Rufus, since this seems to be the most recent post (from Sept last year) related to the topic of Collective Action, at least in what I’m seeing in these posts using the search bar, how has this discussion related to collective action developed since last September? As I mentioned to you after the conference last year, and recently during the course just completed, if there is not yet any tent for focusing in on this particular set of issues, I’d be happy to create one with you, since there is rich territory to explore here. I’ve begun exploring this most directly in relation to the IDGs, and the way the current structures of the UN nation-based framework for addressing global problems and meeting SDG targets are actually major part of the problem due to way the structures themselves make it near impossible to address collective action bottlenecks that need to be addressed in order to achieve anything like the SDGs, without even getting into whether the SDGs themselves, even in combo with the IDGs, are not themselves also part of the problem creating even deeper bottlenecks due to the inner/outer split manifested by the need for IDGs to address the problem with achieving the SDGs, etc., etc. In any case, would love to connect with you and others within Second Renaissance space interested in deep diving the way addressing your intermediate layer, with focus on collective action problems, is absolutely essential to operationalizing any ACTION to shift the paradigm for tackling “root layer” realities. Cheers,
A brief perusal of this forum will show that the members of this forum hold many different views, and are typically able to express disagreement in a constructive way. Why are you posting here if you feel if it’s such a waste of time?
I have been mulling with @JonahW doing a prototype course on collective action – what is it, what are the challenges, how we have addressed it and had breakthroughs in the past etc.
That would be amazing. If you want to boot a new thread on Collective Action Course i can post there.
Hi Rufus, I took your suggestion here and posted a new thread on collective action last week, where there was some initial discussion, but now that thread seems to have been deleted? In any case, I can no longer find it or the discussion, which I was hoping to follow up on this week. So a bit puzzled about what happened here. Can you assist?
Hello, sorry that was me, I hid the Oasis/Tent category as that is no longer active, without realising there was an active thread - I’ve now moved the thread into the research category, hopefully you can see it again now.
