We are a social species, yet attempts to codify social behavior leads to bad politics (progressivism and traditionalism)
We are a high-coordination species, yet attempts to systematize coordination leads to bad economics (collectivism, localism, and now naive blockchainism)
Conversation
How do you get societies that resist pwnage by codified modes of being social?
How do you get collectives that resist pwnage by systematized modes of collective action?
How do you do so without denying both aspects and defaulting to living within the limits of individualism?
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Every time you attempt to build an institution or organization these are always the central questions. There are no eternal and universal answers. Only particular configurations that work for a specific group for a specific period of time, under certain environmental conditions.
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“What is THIS environment like, and how do we enable good social dynamics and collective action here and now for THIS group” is a more interesting and well-posed question than looking for universal and timeless principles. There is no perfect society or mode of collective action.
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Are you familiar with liberatingstructures.com ?
Seems to take a purely functional approach to finding good social dynamics
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Huh, no... interesting. I’ve been conversing on something like that myself. Let the medium be the message, and derive org structure from tool stack structure rather than ideals/mission.
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Do you have thoughts about the ultimate source of (a) our appetite for codification, and (b) the "true" need for it?
I am tempted to invoke the law of requisite variety vis-a-vis (1) system scale and heterogeneity, and (2) effector resolution (e.g. limitations of language)…
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Properly mobilizing social or economic action seems less to do with the facilitating structure or principle and more to do with getting stakeholders to align and agree on a clear picture of the desired outcome.
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The level of granularity matters. There is a shared space — a “Goldilocks zone” — where behavioural norms and systems can be codified. Beyond that it doesn’t make sense. Trying to command and control emergence is futile. Here’s my whiteboard:
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