Governance Bombs
At the beginning of this book, we briefly mentioned the idea of a “governance bomb.” Now we get to dig deeper. A governance bomb could be used to prevent society from derailing—though one could just as equally derail entire civilizations.
Governance systems can be used to slightly or dramatically alter the behavior of those within them. For example, governing systems can alter behavior in a way that strengthens the organization. A governance bomb is a governance system designed (or evolved) to robustly expand under the nose of an existing governance system, ultimately becoming powerful enough to supplant, modify, or fortify the reigning system.
The classic example of a governance bomb is a religion (or as they are often called in their first half century of existence, a cult). Historically, there have been numerous instances of religions growing within existing governance structures until they are able to either control or replace their host states. That said, religion-based governance systems are both slower and more ideologically rigid than a governance bomb optimized to fix societies’ current problems would be. A defining feature of religious governance bombs is their ideological backbone, which ensures their fidelity of information transfer, but hinders their potential utility.
Multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes present examples of faster-growing governance bombs, however their ability to endure over time and self perpetuate is limited as many ultimately harm and degrade their most loyal adherents (driving them to burn their personal networks, compromise their personal finances, etc.). An effective governance bomb enriches and empowers the majority of its stakeholders, rather than impoverishing and isolating them.
As we have mentioned before, a cultural supervirus[[32]](#_ftn32) masquerading as parts of the social justice movement functions like a unique form of spontaneously evolved governance bomb that spreads like a transmissible cancer within other governance structures (similar to CTVT, a transmissible cancer in canines). Once a governing unit is infected, a “diversity department” (or similar organizational unit) is formed or overtaken, which, like a cancerous tumor drawing blood vessels to grow around it, siphons resources from the infected organization—not to serve the organization’s mission statement or even aid social justice, but rather to ideologically convert as many stakeholders as possible.
Note: Not all organizations promoting diversity training work this way. Social justice itself is not bad; it just happens to be the perfect cover for a self-replicating memetic package only concerned with growth, as it’s hard to question someone demanding attention and resources in the name (if not the spirit) of such a worthy and unimpeachable cause.
Once a critical mass of infected stakeholders migrates to a new organization, a new tumor forms and repeats the process. In the later stages of an infection, an organization can become so riddled with tumors (departments, projects, and rules designed only to grow and spread—using “social justice” as its cover mission) that the glassy eyed and wheezing husk of the host organization becomes completely ineffective and draws its last breath. Then, like an ant overtaken by Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (the fungus which zombifies ants), the corpse of the organization splits open, releasing its spores into the ecosystem to look for new hosts.
Given that “education” is the primary means of this cancerous governance bomb’s transmission, it differentially targets educational institutions like high schools and colleges. This has detrimental effects on society, which relies on these institutions for education and credentialing, and once they become unduly focused on spreading a specific memetic package, they cease to serve their core purpose.
Because this model of governance bomb lacks a central controlling unit, it may fissile out through a purity spiral. Essentially, because status is gained within the movement by showing more extreme, less compromising adherence, it can reach a point at which it begins to look patently comical to the unconverted. While in groups with a central structure, purity spirals can be moderated before they get out of control, there are few mechanisms for stopping them in such a decentralized movement. Should a movement like this control power in a society, it will either fizzle out because people stop wanting to join it or become fascist and too dangerous to not join (as it will regularly “test” people by having them publicly conform to obviously illogical stances and “purge” those who do not).
A rapidly-scaling, successful company might present a good example of a governance bomb with a centralized control mechanism, but while such organizations can sustainably grow over generations while enriching most of their stakeholders, they are terrible at maintaining an ideological and moral core (almost the exact opposite problem seen in religious governance bombs). An organization cannot address society’s ills if it lacks a strong ideological and moral backbone—and yet for-profit businesses lack them as they are fundamentally optimized to generate profit and this optimization over time shaves off the aspects of the operation that neither optimize profit nor act as self-perpetuating cancers.
As we age, our capacity to engage with new ideas and develop novel philosophies wanes. Only dangerous, self-perpetuating platitudes, utopian fantasies of a better near future, and get-rich quick schemes appear to capture the attention of adult humans at scale. Some might think this shortcoming could be overcome by dividing the governance system into a secret sect of individuals who know the “true mission” and a larger sect dedicated to harvesting money or mindscape from the larger populace, but even such a bifurcated system designed to keep people on mission will eventually see its wealth-harvesting branch break away from its ethical core, seeing it as a superfluous drain on resources (as can be seen with companies that have tried to stay ethical over long periods of time).
How, then, can one create a robust governance bomb that protects humankind’s ability to innovate and adapt? One potential approach would be to build a governance bomb out of a family office that is transparent about its intentions and focused on slow growth. This governance bomb would attract and retain individuals already ideologically aligned with the organization’s goals while facilitating the education and empowerment of their kids—and others—in a way that makes it feasible for stakeholders participating in the organization to comfortably have and raise large families.