life unplugged

‘There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.’

Victor Hugo

One of the reasons I started to write a blog under the title Life Unplugged is that in my view the human race is headed in the wrong direction. And if my conversations with people – friends, acquaintances, fellow travelers and total strangers – are even remotely representative, my concern is shared by a sizable percentage of the global population.

In my opening salvo, called life unplugged… unplugged, I said that I believe there is a broad shared consciousness that we are living in a world that is out of tune with itself and that the ascendant forces of human nature are sending us further into disharmony.

The thing that worries me above all else is that the Western model of ‘self interest’ is entering uncharted waters. The model already felt well and truly saturated, but the era of preying populists and unchecked technology titans is breaking previous ceilings of self-interest and will have increasingly serious and damaging impacts on social fabrics.

These pied pipers have led us, the general population, unwittingly into a world of increasing mind-contortion and vulnerability. The social consequences of isolation, division and disenfranchisement are becoming chronic and entrenched. Economic inequalities continue to rise. In short the entire machinery that makes countries function and prosper is failing real people and is in need of major overhaul.

There has long been a toxic system of political influence and control associated with established money, power, commercial interests and personal connections. This system sets decision-making agendas at the highest level and distorts outcomes in favour of vested personal and corporate interests. It exists along a wide continuum of transparency: from open and flagrant to a murky underworld.

At the murky end are the purported ‘swamp’ and ‘deep state’ that Trump talks of in his home country. And as the November 2024 election outcome shows, Trump’s images have resonated in the US, with voters turning against the ‘political establishment’. We have been seeing similar instances of voter rejection around the world for some years now; indeed the governments of some bastions of modern democracy have lately become worryingly unable to hold together, let alone function, two notable examples being France and Germany.

Labels such as ‘safe pair of hands’, ‘mainstream’ or ‘dependable’ are now associated with weakness, inaction, and failure to resolve long-standing problems. Voters are instead gravitating towards strong, maverick leaders like Trump, who portray themselves as outside the system and credible agents of change. If Trump’s cabinet picks are a sign of things to come elsewhere, political experience is now also optional.

I am also a disaffected voter whose instinct is to vote against the status quo, and for systemic change. However my agenda for change is coming from a very different angle. I have no idea how the newly elected change-governments will fair in executing on the people’s wishes, but I do foresee a whole bunch of trouble ahead resulting from ‘ego-led’ government. Because ‘ego-led’ is synonymous with acting in self-interest.

My prediction is that the new swathe of populist right wing governments will undermine ethical standards and further increase divisiveness in a range of shapes and forms, pushing us further away from social harmony and economic equilibrium. At the same time we (the people) will lose some important democratic freedoms – voices of dissent and difference will be systematically suppressed. All of this will surely lead to a rejection by the populace, but we cannot wait around to see how it all plays out.

In life unplugged… unplugged, I said that we cannot just wait around and hope that things will self-correct. Ultimately it is incumbent upon us to do something about this out-of-tune world of ours.

And one way in which my agenda for change meets that battlecry is through focusing on culture.

Culture is essentially the way we live and interact with each other. It is transparent through our social norms and customs and the boundaries within which we live our lives. I have become increasingly convinced that we need to re-examine our culture with the aim of building a more socially cohesive world.

Make no mistake: this is a long term play. The equation is complex and challenging to resolve. Culture changes very slowly and my goal is ambitious. No one person can effect the kind of change I’m advocating. It requires a movement.

The culture I’m referring to is called Socially Intelligent Culture.

More later.