Our exploration of global chaos and the forces and source of change has been with the intent to learn not just what is driving change but to anticipate and mitigate the risk. It is apparent that society is failing. Chaos on a global scale is the result, and while it may take time and the price paid may be enormous, there is hope - people and society usually adapt. The two articles below extend the discussion: First, Klaas Rodenburg explores innovation itself as both the source and the solution for resolving chaos. The second, Jeff Uhlich discusses features of the "attention economy" and the shocking amount of time people now spend on virtual platforms. Finally, as a contribution to Fact or Fiction? above, Charlie Meredith makes the case posed by Donald Trump for Canada to consider Embracing Statehood. - Editor The Engine of Progress: How Human Innovation Shapes Our World
Innovation is a uniquely human trait. Unlike every other species on this planet, through culture, humans are no longer bound by the Darwinian model of random mutations. Recombining existing ideas into elemental inventions such as tools, weapons, warm clothing and simple watercraft has allowed humans to overrun every corner of the planet. The ability to create novel solutions to existential problems has allowed humans to evolve significantly quicker than random mutations alone.
The dawn of civilization. The story of human success is one of constant innovation in response to changing needs and environments. Starting with the hand axe more than three million years ago and passing that knowledge on through the ages has led to us to today’s digital age where artificial intelligence continues to evolve our creativity ever faster. It is impossible to explain why innovation happens, let alone predict when and where it will happen. We do know that innovation happens when people with ideas collide through serendipitous encounters where opportunities and preparation meet. DaVinci’s success as a renaissance man was due to the many city states that existed within Italy at the time. This diversity and competition of cultures combined with an active trade amongst cities resulted in an exchange of wealth and ideas leading to a spike in innovation and rapid progress. - Continued HERE Woe Betide the Attention Economy
The Town Square of yesteryear was the bustling heart of the community, where folks gathered for market days, public announcements, and festivals. The Towne Crier was the source of ‘news’. I think of the Old Town Square in Prague as an iconic example from my visit there in 2012. There’s an elaborate mechanical clock, a church, and amazing food and drink stalls. There was a hum of shared experience - you could walk through the Old Town Square. Today, the image that comes to my mind is that of Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. I experienced this busiest crosswalk in the World firsthand in 2014. Every day, more than 2 million people make their way through this intersection: twenty-five hundred people each time the light changes. It’s a sea of humanity and the surrounding buildings are adorned with giant ad-filled LCD screens. It's a chaotic mess of bright lights and competing sales pitches. Every inch of space is plastered with ads, one more desperate than the last to grab a sliver of your attention. The air crackles with urgency and everyone is rushing. There’s no sense of community here, just people racing to get somewhere while being bombarded with stimuli.
This shift from a shared space to a battleground for attention mirrors what’s happening in our digital lives. It's the essence of what experts call the "attention economy" – a system where our focus is treated as a commodity, mined and monetized by platforms vying for every second of our time. Last week, California KEI Network member Charlie Meridith shared a snapshot of the time spent on various platforms around the world in every minute of every day. It is shocking.
Sensationalism, clickbait, and outright misinformation flourish in this environment, making it harder to discern fact from fiction. And when we are overwhelmed with stimuli it becomes harder and harder to know which source can be trusted. The Attention Economy, built on this flawed foundation, poses a real danger. And it's not just about annoying ads or addictive apps. This is a systemic shift in how we value information, engage with each other, and understand the world. A society that does not have a shared sense of what is true cannot resolve through Governance mechanisms, existential issues like the ones Peter McKinnon raised in his description of ‘polycrises’. - Continued below
This Attention Economy Incentive System is Making Us Scatterbrained. A core principle of economics – and of life, really – is that incentives drive outcomes. If you want to understand why something happens, as Charlie Munger famously said, "show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome". The Attention Economy’s incentives are clear: grab eyeballs, keep them glued, and profit from the data exhaust. It's a system where corporations make money from our engagement, individuals build careers on likes and shares, and institutions are judged by their viral reach. Platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube aren't just competing with each other; they're competing with the entirety of human experience for a slice of our limited attention. And to win, they've become masters of manipulation, using algorithms and persuasive design techniques to keep us hooked. Dangerous to Democracy. The weaponization of the Attention Economy also represents a threat to democratic society. Social media platforms have been transformed into tools of manipulation and social discord. Sadly, this weaponization exploits social media's fundamental strength - its ability to foster trust and informal connection - through three mechanisms: targeted exploitation of human vulnerabilities, algorithmic amplification of disinformation, and computational propaganda. Social media platforms collect vast troves of personal data which enable malicious actors to craft precisely targeted campaigns. Meanwhile, platform algorithms accelerate the spread of misleading content by prioritizing virality over veracity. Most concerning is the rise of computational propaganda, where coordinated networks of bots and fake accounts systematically manipulate public opinion at speed and scale, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish authentic discourse from orchestrated manipulation. “The American public should know that content that they read online, especially on social media, could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States….In short, foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand and using Americans to do it.” - Office of the Director of National Intelligence Russia, China, and Iran are the biggest culprits in weaponizing social media. TikTok is seen by many as an arm of the CCP and research has confirmed its tendency to suppress or amplify certain content. Twenty-five to 60% of Twitter/X accounts may be ‘bots’ and upwards of 30% of general internet traffic is classified as ‘bots’ involved in malicious activity. Bot ‘armies’ can contribute significantly to content creation and engagement metrics. Our attention is being manipulated by foreign and not just commercial actors. We're Drowning in Information, But Hungry for Meaning. The irony is that the Attention Economy arose from a positive development: the transition from information scarcity to abundance. The internet democratized knowledge, giving us access to information our ancestors could not conceive of. But just as a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, a flood of content can leave us feeling hungry for meaning. We’re drowning in entertainment yet starved for genuine connection. We scroll endlessly, clicking on headlines that promise to reveal, explain, or enrage, but we often come away feeling emptier than before. [Sidenote: this is why smaller professional networks like KEI are important – points of connection, discourse, and community for like-minded individuals]. Young men seem particularly susceptible to this darker side of the Attention Economy. Algorithmic content promotion often amplifies extreme versions of masculine identity. This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as the "manosphere", preys on young men's insecurities, exploiting anxieties about economic uncertainty, changing social and sexual dynamics, and the decline of traditional male social spaces. Algorithms can detect and amplify these insecurities, progressively exposing young men to increasingly extreme content that reinforces feelings of alienation and grievance. This can lead to a distorted worldview where simple solutions are offered for complex problems, and where outrage and resentment become the dominant modes of engagement. This algorithmic radicalization, combined with the pressures of identity formation and the commodification of masculinity, creates fertile ground for manipulation and exploitation, leaving young men vulnerable to a range of harmful ideologies and predatory business practices. Some have recently expressed that Trump’s election victory stemmed from his connection to the ‘manosphere’. Fifty-six percent of men under 30 supported Trump (an increase of 16% since 2020) and this block voted in higher numbers than usual. His billionaire status, his regular attendance at MMA events, his embrace of crypto, and his hyper-masculine response to an assassination attempt positioned him as an aspirational choice for many young men. A Generation Wired for Distraction. The cognitive implications of the attention economy are worrisome for younger generations generally, not just young men. These are generations who have grown up immersed in the digital landscape. What we know is that the constant bombardment of stimuli, the dopamine-driven reward systems, and the sheer volume of information available online are contributing to a generation wired for distraction, struggling with information overload, and grappling with the anxieties of a world where self-worth is increasingly measured in likes and shares. The increase in self-harm and eating disorders among young women is seen as strongly correlated with the rise of social media. Attention spans are shrinking, making it harder for young people to focus on complex tasks or engage in deep, meaningful learning. There’s also been an increase in anxiety and addictive behaviors. The abundance of information, while empowering, can also lead to cognitive overload, hindering critical thinking and the ability to discern fact from fiction. As filter bubbles and echo chambers proliferate, driven by algorithms designed to maximize engagement, young find themselves increasingly isolated, eroding their capacity for empathy and nuanced understanding. Consider the impact of the Attention Economy in light of this rather concerning chart from Our World in Data:
You read that right - ‘Nearly half of teens globally lack reading comprehension skills.’ Could this be a consequence of the shift to the passive consumption of visual information and the rise of platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat, and the like? The consequences are all around us. • Our attention spans are shrinking, making it harder to focus on complex tasks or engage in thoughtful debate. The economic and political implications are just as troubling. • The attention economy favors a few dominant platforms, creating winner-takes-all dynamics that concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a select few. Can We Reclaim Our Focus Before It's Too Late? The good news is that awareness is growing. Experts are sounding the alarm, documentaries like "The Social Dilemma", “Like”, and “Social Studies” are sparking conversations, and there's a burgeoning movement advocating for a more conscious and intentional Attention Economy. And while this presents significant challenges, there are positive signs emerging from the very technology that is amplifying the crisis. A new wave of new AI-powered tools is poised to empower individuals in their quest for truth, potentially tipping the scales back in favor of accuracy and reliable information. Systemic Solutions. But the "Incentive Infrastructure" principle reminds us that solving this problem requires more than just calling out individual bad actors and advocating for more accurate and truthful sources. We need systemic solutions that address the underlying incentives driving the attention arms race. This means:
We need to get to a world where the digital Town Square is again a place for connection, collaboration, and the pursuit of truth, not just a cacophony of competing interests vying for our scattered minds. - Jeff Uhlich uhlich@gmail.com Thank you Don Eastcott. The KEI Network's conrributors are hitting on some important points but misses the mark on a critical reality about Russia today. It's position is far more fragile than many perceive. Its reliance on illicit activities—prostitution, stolen cars, scams, forgeries, and counterfeiting—reveals an economy wobbling under pressure. Putin’s requests for financial assistance signal desperation. Cut off the black market lifeline, and the collapse would be swift. Geopolitics, as always, is an intricate web. The West holds significant leverage, but its strategy often appears hampered by fragmented thinking. Russia, Iran, North Korea, China—they're all interconnected through backdoors to Europe, Africa, and South America. The UN? A global disaster. This isn't just a matter of economics; it's a matter of survival. Thank you Randal Adcock. Are "governments" today suffering from the same anxiety as individuals, retreating from the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of their environments. Globalization proposed too many changes and loss of local control and autonomy. Instinctively, humans prefer subsidiarity as a measure of control. Subsidiarity is the universal principle that decisions and actions should be handled at the most local level capable of addressing them effectively, with higher levels of authority providing support only when necessary. This becomes a pronounced preference under stress. The human brain was designed by nature for simpler times and fewer moving parts. When sufficiently stressed, people narrow their defined identities, considering that we preserve our essence and sacrifice our peripheral traits that make us different. In other words, we selectively reduce empathy along with affinity and identity. If we can't save everything we are, then we preserve our essential identity. We bond with people who resemble ourselves. Again, under stress, this identity may be rather superficial and spurious. In happier times we are more tolerant of diversity, embracing it to complement ourselves. We are more exploratory and take risks to find progress. We can move forward (approach) in confidence, backward (avoidance) in fear, or side to side, testing or compromising. Due to growing civil complexity fear is dominating. I wonder if a lot of the aggression we see is actual born of fear and defensive posturing. |
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