The Prophets of Decentralization

The Blue Church is competing with the internet: emerging cohorts with fresh takes on reality. These memetic tribes circle around points of interest and up-regulate ideas to a massive viewership.

Broadcast media doesn’t discuss its own demise. Looking through the Overton window, we see only local tragedy, global catastrophe, and Trump’s last covfefe. The Media’s biggest fear is slowly being realized. They’re being crowded out and ignored.

Ignored and replaced by an alliance of scapegoated intellectuals and alt media hosts. Coined the Intellectual Dark Web by Eric Weinstein, a mathematician and economist, and one of my favorite thinkers of the group.

The goal of the IDW is to hold positions outside the scope of mainstream media. It’s a winning strategy: the tighter the mainstream narrative, the more legitimate the alternatives become.

The New Media Landscape

Three key hosts of this revolution are Joe Rogan, Dave Rubin, and David Fuller. Rogan’s become a titan of the media industry, with a viewership competing with conglomerates like Fox, CNN, and NBC.

Though not as popular, Rubin is a rising star, landing interviews with high profile figures across the political spectrum. Fuller, the most intellectually compelling of the three, is a former BBC Channel 4 journalist turned Youtuber. He’s been making documentaries and interviewing some of the most interesting thinkers of the modern age: evolutionary philosopher Daniel Schmachtenberger, tech entrepreneur Jordan Hall, evolutionary biologist Brett Weinstein, superstar psychologist Jordan Peterson, and the oh-so-integral Ken Wilber. Together they shape the future of western thought.

The Rocky Road to Game B

Beneath the marketing of “the world’s knowledge in our pockets”, a dark reality exists. We’re addicted to social media: a narcissistic dystopia with hacked attention, surveillance capitalism, and other forms of late-stage decadence. The dream of the internet age has become a torment of digital friendship and simulated insight.

This atomization has profound consequences for us all. We’re environmentally sensitive animals who only beat Dunbar’s number through shared narratives. With civilization 1.0 on the wane, we lack a clear vision for what Game B looks like at scale, and we have no clue how to get there from here.

Small-scale re-tribalization will eventually be possible — even necessary — thanks to a combination of AI, quantum computers, indoor agriculture, solar, nuclear, 3D printing, and robotics. With the tech in place we’ll start tinkering with new forms of social organization and keep scaling what works best. A vision of a holistic, locally grown future is taking shape in futurist circles.

The impact of this technology is decades away. Transition will come with great upheaval as old systems heave and gasp their final breaths.

The Meaning Crisis

Humans are master adapters with a deep, abiding nature. We have a need for shared culture, community, and love. When these needs aren’t met, we’re susceptible to consumerism, nihilism, and whatever else offers to fill the void.

Narrative collapse inspires us to make spiritual quests. We seek depth, an inward journey to glimpse what lies within. Some look to psychedelics to shine a light on their alchemical darkness.

Egos at 40,000 feet

It’s a strange world beyond the outer rim — Egos die, and gurus offer enlightenment for a cost. High priests play rotten tricks while swimming down psychedelic streams. On journeys to the underworld, they reach a terminal apprehension. The “self” doesn’t exist.

Caitlin Johnstone aptly states, “You chased a white rabbit down twisting funhouse mirror rabbit holes, finally discover the secret chamber of your tormentor, spin his desk chair around to face you, and find not the rabbit, nor the devil, nor even yourself, but an empty chair.”

False prophets make gods of themselves. Egos at 40,000ft, hijacking every lost soul in their path. Adding mysticism to manipulation is a time-honored trick.

From Burning Man to State Department, narrative warfare claims souls of every stripe.

The Paradox of our Times

Decentralization exiles the soul and opens the mind.

The Yin-Yang of mind-hacked drones and freed exiles will continue as long as people trust a sensemaking machine that prefers addiction over clarity.

So what’s to be done about these trends? How to we exit the market of foolish nihilism? How can we glean insight while avoiding static noise? As far as I can tell, the best defense against foolishness is a strong body, a clear mind, meaningful work, and great relationships. Travel and read widely. The vast majority of what we read should be retrospectively useful 10, 20, or 30 years later. If not, it’s probably a waste of time.

Take regular breaks from the attention economy, or better yet, abandon it altogether. Unless you’re a day trader, you don’t need daily news. You’ll bb left alone to hasten your exit from the work-for-money-for-freedom cycle and focus on something interesting.

Nothing new-aged here. Practice old fashioned sensemaking in good faith with smart people you can trust. Keep abreast of new opportunities to increase your freedom and sovereignty. These are the foundation blocks we’ll scale up to charter these choppy seas.

We’re all tasked with constructing our own canoes first. In time, larger vessels will be built.

Until next time, Happy Sailing