Designerless
Understanding societal dynamics is hard in the way natural selection is hard
Mark Changizi
5 March 2021
5 March 2021
The genius of natural selection is that there is (1) design (2) yet no designer. That's not an easy thing to swallow. And don't pretend it is. Many of us have been steeped with evolution and it's second nature now, but it's not something we're naturally adept at. It violates our normal way of thinking, which is to presume a designer behind any piece of design. That is, after all, a pretty handy rule in nearly every situation in normal life. But not for understanding the complexity and diversity of life on Earth, where it's design-without-a-designer all the way down.
In our attempt at FreeX to grasp how free expression undergirds freedom, and more generally understand the emergent societal-level forces, there are "mental hurdles" just like those for understanding natural selection. Many who see mass delusions -- like the one we're in the midst of -- see all these signs of design (e.g., coordinated messaging across platforms and nations, time-locked initiation of intervention policies, censorship from many sources always in the same direction), and conclude there must be a designer (like Bill Gates, the WHO, big pharma, the forces of the Great Reset, Communists, China, etc.). In this realm, however, that's not usually the case. Usually much or all of the forces needed to explain the societal-level phenomenon isn't via some individual or group, but instead forces that emerge at the societal level. You get all that design (or signs of a conspiracy), without the fun of having a conspiracy at all. (It doesn't mean the seeming conspirators aren't trying to game things, and it doesn't mean they're not culpable for their attempts and any small portion of success. And it also doesn't mean there aren't loads of actors exploiting and leveraging the situation, but that's after-the-fact -- a consequence, not a cause.)
As it turns out, there are two kinds of folks that can fail to appreciate these design-without-a-designer forces. To truly understand these sorts of things, you have to accept both (1) and (2). So, if you reject either one, you won't appreciate the true explanation.
For natural selection,
Interestingly, we have analogous cases for understanding the Covid mass hysteria.
The general point here is simply this: Just because it seems like there are forces out of our control reshaping society doesn't mean there's a shady group doing it. It's much MUCH more likely to be bottom-up network effects, which are infinitely much more complex, "smarter", and more dangerous than any Bond villain. (I also talk about these in this Science Moment video.)
You want to understand how free expression undergirds freedom more generally? Then you'll need to get used to understanding emergent phenomena, and get confortable with there not necessarily being a designer at all. And, as we'll talk about later, taking this to heart helps one have greater tolerance for others -- the opposition isn't an evil human at all. Hate the game, not the player.
PREVIOUS: The Task
NEXT: Rivers of Blood
In our attempt at FreeX to grasp how free expression undergirds freedom, and more generally understand the emergent societal-level forces, there are "mental hurdles" just like those for understanding natural selection. Many who see mass delusions -- like the one we're in the midst of -- see all these signs of design (e.g., coordinated messaging across platforms and nations, time-locked initiation of intervention policies, censorship from many sources always in the same direction), and conclude there must be a designer (like Bill Gates, the WHO, big pharma, the forces of the Great Reset, Communists, China, etc.). In this realm, however, that's not usually the case. Usually much or all of the forces needed to explain the societal-level phenomenon isn't via some individual or group, but instead forces that emerge at the societal level. You get all that design (or signs of a conspiracy), without the fun of having a conspiracy at all. (It doesn't mean the seeming conspirators aren't trying to game things, and it doesn't mean they're not culpable for their attempts and any small portion of success. And it also doesn't mean there aren't loads of actors exploiting and leveraging the situation, but that's after-the-fact -- a consequence, not a cause.)
As it turns out, there are two kinds of folks that can fail to appreciate these design-without-a-designer forces. To truly understand these sorts of things, you have to accept both (1) and (2). So, if you reject either one, you won't appreciate the true explanation.
For natural selection,
- Reject (1): There are folks who reject design altogether. "Nope. I see no design at all. It's all just side effects of low-level mechanisms." To them, any supposed design at all is a "just so story." ...which is a ridiculous viewpoint (see also this Moment video).
- Reject (2): And then there are folks who are fine with the design. "Sure, there's design all over the place." And that's certainly right! But they attribute it to some sort of designer (God, etc.).
Interestingly, we have analogous cases for understanding the Covid mass hysteria.
- Reject (1): There are folks who reject design altogether. They don't see any hysteria. At all. In their case, it's because they're in the hysteria!
- Reject (2): And then there are folks who are nominally on our side, fighting the irrationality induced by the hysteria. They see all the signs of design, but they're not positioned to appreciate that there are perfectly simple (but counter-intuitive) explanations that appeal to no designer at all. They say there must be someone who did this. On purpose. They've been planning it for decades!
The general point here is simply this: Just because it seems like there are forces out of our control reshaping society doesn't mean there's a shady group doing it. It's much MUCH more likely to be bottom-up network effects, which are infinitely much more complex, "smarter", and more dangerous than any Bond villain. (I also talk about these in this Science Moment video.)
You want to understand how free expression undergirds freedom more generally? Then you'll need to get used to understanding emergent phenomena, and get confortable with there not necessarily being a designer at all. And, as we'll talk about later, taking this to heart helps one have greater tolerance for others -- the opposition isn't an evil human at all. Hate the game, not the player.
PREVIOUS: The Task
NEXT: Rivers of Blood