Thread by @voellmy42

1/ @kofinas was on the @BanklessHQ podcast w/ @RyanSAdams & @TrustlessState to discuss how the world is changing, how instability can lead to global escalation, and what role tech dependency has

I hope you enjoy this podcast summary 🧵
Image @midjourney: "wind of change"

2/ @kofinas grew up in the 90s when the 🌍 had settled w/ unity in a #unipolar moment. In 2016 w/ Trump's election, the tenor and the US-China relationship changed. A #bipolar order is usually more stable but we are not there & uncertainty will be part of it before we reach it

3/ In "The Changing World Order" from @RayDalio lists different historical systems & how they peak and decline. He also says that the US is declining & there is a conflict of visions (democracy vs. totalitarian) bc/ of that. @RyanSAdams is wondering if this could lead to #WW3

4/ @kofinas says there are 2 options in play:

1. The west folds bc/ the "corporate power" wants to preserve #stability & drive those policies forward
2. Election of populist forces who lead the west into a destructive #war

We need to decide which hill we are willing to die on

5/ #Taiwan is a good case of this dilemma: The west has to decide if we draw a line to defend democracy or hand it over to #China to avoid escalation.

The main question is who we are and what we stand for as a western society. Are we actually the good guys or the main threat?

6/ The problem is that since #COVID there is a fundamental distrust in institutions, resulting in a loss of unity & people start to believe "whatever they want". They need to put cynicism aside & start building instead of burning down in a world where the stakes are that high.

7/ @kofinas argues that we are in a world where we depend on interconnected machines/algos which can be exploited & that is a new vector of attack in possible war times.

We can't just turn those machines off. Our society can't live without them anymore, we are passed this point

8/ Letting machines take small decisions (i.e choosing songs on @Spotify or a route w/ @Google) does increase dependency over time. It could happen that we will need to solve complex questions that are simply beyond our human capabilities and can lead to even more dependency

9/ We need to rethink our relationship w/ tech bc/ even though someone programmed the algorithms that support us, they start to program us → Anger on Social Media triggers engagement & this is rewarded by algorithms bc/ of the corporate ad incentives

10/ Going back to the beginning of this 🧵, China has a "solution" to the machine dependency problem (gov regulations of tech) but it seems that the West is continuing to lose more control over it and continue the #Moloch way. So what is our solution here?

11/ We need to get back to a state of common identity & unity that we can rally behind (not dividing into opposites!). @kofinas also argues that a clearer sense of individual identity is needed. You can observe those explorations already (i.e. Gender norms, Transhumanism, etc.)

12/ We need a better framework to think about who we are, what we want, what our common ground is, and where we draw the line when it comes to defending our values and identity. Only once those questions are answered, we can start solving global problems. So we better hurry up!

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