Post-Rationalism
We stopped last week with Venkatesh Rao and his blog "Ribbonfarm" and how he reconstructed history from the perspective of a post-rationalist.
People like him are like mentors-at-distance. You feel like you know them, how they think, and weirdly you get the feeling that they actually "get" you.
Short breakout:
This mentor-at-distance concept reminds me of French philosopher René Girard's book “Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World”. I stumbled on it when I listened to Tim Ferriss' podcast with billionaire investor Peter Thiel, in which Peter explains Girard's tremendous impact on his life.
Basically, Girard's main concept is "mimetic theory", which states that most human behavior is based upon imitation. Therefore, imitation is inescapable. As a rule, we do what we do just because other people are doing it, too.
To be honest, I think that you cannot deny the truth in this theory. I find truth in it by observing myself and the development I went through. Almost all changes about myself I tried to push through, are coming from idols who inspired me. To name a few:
- My "quo Vadis" thinking comes from my professor Ingo Pies at university, who is a follower of the Austrian School of Economics (von Mises, von Hayek), and who thinks incentives are the solution for steering societal change (very very concise. You can find his content here: Link)
- My obsession with my body composition comes from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who despite his crazy work ethic knows that the gym will teach him humility.
- My gestures and facial expressions are partially inherited but also inspired by my father.
- The insight that I am hyper-sensitive and actually appreciate the time by myself is inspired by my mother.
Back to the main topic:
As you can see, online communities are driving a lot of inspiration and therefore behavioral change in people. Without the consumption of online content, I would neither be where I am today nor would I be the person I am today.
Hence, I believe that this is the case for many people. Furthermore, I believe that by the catalyzation effect of Covid-19: Virtual geography has become at least as influential as real geography in our society. Venkatesh sent out an email some months ago via his paid newsletter, Breaking Smart, that explains what’s going on. I’ll summarize some of the main points below, with my own interpretation.
The First Schism
The First Schism in modern history was The Industrial Revolution.
The "new" way of working at that time split off community life from the work-life. Before, work was part of community life, meaning that you carried out work where you lived or at least nearby, always together with the same people.
Industrialization created places that were just designed to conduct concrete (repetitive) action without the social implications work had until this point. It created the opportunity for "consumption" as more products were produced than before due to specialization driven by demand. Basically, the capitalist economy was born.
Nowadays, we are in the Second Schism driven by Web 2.0 which gives humans the possibility of being part of multiple communities at the same time while still being specialized in work. Hence, the concept of community is again being rethought. This time it is the "necessary" and "optional" parts of the community that are splitting apart.
To quote: "The energy and time we once spent in “optional” community interaction – chatting with neighbors, attending church services, joining local clubs, going to the movies, volunteering – has forked off and largely gone virtual.". It has become a global network of endless "scenes" in which people gather to talk, play, create, collaborate, and especially share their experiences. Examples are:
- Movie lovers talking on a podcast
- Fortnite players talking on Discord
- Salespeople streaming on Twitch
Meanwhile, the “necessary” parts of the community that were left behind by this Second Schism now exist only as a severely reduced, basic life support system. like a brief "thank you" to your package delivery driver; the "hey" when meeting your neighbors, or the smile to your gym receptionist while checking in digitally.
Sceneification
Online scenes now attract most of our attention and energy. Be it for the consumption of content or the creation. The crazy thing is that even if we meet people in person, our conversations are mostly touching these scenes, like the latest show on Netflix, a political controversy, or sharing memes/videos with each other.
It’s tempting to cast judgment on this situation. It feels sad and perhaps wrong when compared to an idealized vision of how communities looked in previous eras. Especially, if you are an "imposter rationalist" like myself.
Still, you need to tolerate how culture is changing and try to mitigate judgments as it is not necessarily good or bad. It just is what it is. We are all citizens of the internet.
Renaissance or conformism
As a consequence, we all have freedom and duties because freedom and rights never come without duties.
The question is: What are we gonna do with it? What are you gonna do with it?
1. Criticizing the "numb hedonist" mindset:
- Don't consume what grabs your intention, but choose what you really like.
- Don't consume all the time but also create something out of it.
- Don't get blinded by superficial stuff, but choose to go deep.
- Take decisions consciously. Always. Because life is a string of moment-based decisions which take you in a new/different direction.
- Focus on conversations and reflect on them in silence afterward.
- Be interested in people, ask questions, and listen.
- Purchase less stuff.
- Lead, be proactive and not passive, giving up control.
2. Criticizing the "imposter rationalist" mindset:
- Life happens in the moment. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Only now.
- Get yourself a cheesy, consumption-based preference.
- Mediaite. Feel yourself, your body, don't think.
- Don't overestimate your influence on your success and don't underestimate the influence of chance when you fail.
- Fight against the urge to control and let go.
- Be emotional. Talk about stuff that worries you and open up.
If we go down the first way, we will land in an indifferent society which always takes the way of the lowest effort. We will be numb, unhealthy, distracted, living in the virtual world more than in the real one. We will neglect our dearest, and at the end of our lives, we will realize that our lives have been wasted. Depressions and burnouts will increase disproportionally.
If we go down the second way, we will land in an overprotective, serious society which makes lives way harder than they need to be. We will be anxious about everything, thinking about consequences without taking the first step while always judging others who dare to step out of our "framework". We will still neglect our dearest, and at the end of our lives, we will realize that our lives have been wasted. Depressions and burnouts will increase disproportionally.
Personally, I think 70% of people are going down the first path while 20% are going down the second. The other 10% take the best of both worlds and build up a new, cultural renaissance.
In the 15th century, during the first renaissance, only a small number of a small portion of society was able to become an artist or musician because they had rich families as patrons in order to open doors. Nowadays, anyone can fire up a website, newsletter (like this one), podcast, or video channel and get crowdfunded if they want to make a living from their universe-gifted talent.
The basic survival kit
You need to know how to deal with new information. Understand what to consume, how to process it, consolidate it, and reuse it by synthesizing it.
You need to be productive during the hours of "work". It means, getting sh*t done, building up your reputation, self-esteem, and getting a surplus of time needed to explore what to contribute to (real or virtual) society.
Express your thoughts. In-person, digitally, in formats, without formats, authentic, with a good intention.
Find people who are curious, creative, have open hearts and who do interesting sh*t which inspires you.
Create a thinking and a feeling mind. Try to explore both of them in daily situations. After some time you will switch automatically between both of them depending on what is needed.