Why do we need better governance structures?
The great innovation enabled by the evolution of consciousness enables mankind to transfer behavioral or conceptual code and have it tested—all within the mind of the receiver—against imagined challenges and previously held ideas. Unlike a spider “learning” how to spin a web, this innovation means mediocre masons or architects do not need to die or fail to produce offspring in order for buildings to improve.
This system of code transference evolved within societies of hundreds of individuals featuring only verbal communication. It is not well adapted to handle memetic transfer in a society as populated and interconnected as our own. As such, human consciousness lacks a powerful “antivirus” to prevent memetic snippets of code that are cleverly shielded from exposure to competition and capable of expanding rapidly.
Due to the increasingly interconnected nature of our society, the world is becoming filled with simplistic ideological viruses that overwrite individuals’ consciousnesses like ophiocordyceps unilateralis, forcing them to spread virulent memetic code across mass communication channels. This disease blocks the core purpose of consciousness: To serve as an internal memetic evolution engine that enables ideas to compete within our minds and only permits the most optimal ideas to survive.
This plague drives the increasing tribalization of our society. We now stand at the precipice of an oceanic trench, staring into the quiet blackness. While we created the Pragmatist Foundation to fight against this threat, practically speaking we have few options available to us. As trivialization increases, democratic societies will increasingly ignore non-radicalized and less-privileged populations.
Realistically, the only solution is for new governance structures implanted throughout society to organically grow until they can contest the decaying institutions around them. When building an institution designed to replace nation states—an installation that you believe could serve as a bulwark against the end of humanity as we understand it—you must not skimp on mechanisms ensuring that the governing structure it uses is robust and will carry out your vision with fidelity well after its original founders and leaders are dead and gone.