Musings Report 2018-47 11-24-18 My Five Books
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For those who are new to the Musings reports: they are basically a glimpse into my notebook, the unfiltered swamp where I organize future themes, sort through the dozens of stories and links submitted by readers, refine my own research and start connecting dots which appear later in the blog or in my books. As always, I hope the Musings spark new appraisals and insights. Thank you for supporting the site and for inviting me into your circle of correspondents.
Welcome to November's MUS (Margins of the Unfiltered Swamp)
The last Musings of the month is a free-form exploration of the reaches of the fecund swamp that is the source of the blog, Musings and my books.
My Five Books
I'm going to ask your indulgence this week for a quick look at how I plan what books I will write next.
Two basic ideas drive my topic selection:
1. What Big Problem am I excited to work through via writing a book about it?
2. What Big Topics are still largely unaddressed?
The process of working out solutions starts with really understanding the problem. This is the weakness in many policy-related books: the problem is only understood in such a way that the status quo can always solve it with modest policy tweaks.
The next step is to think up solutions that address the core structural problems. For example, in my book on higher education, The Nearly Free University, I proposed the basic solution to over-priced, ineffective college diplomas would be to accredit the student, not the institution. This would strip away the power of accreditation from the cartel and properly align the incentives with actual learning and education: whatever helped the student learn enough to pass the accreditation testing would be valuable. Whatever didn't help the student acquire real knowledge would have little premium.
When I finished my book A Radically Beneficial World, which outlined a self-funding, largely automated socio-economic system that was independent of global corporations and central governments (the CLIME system), I realized the book could not possibly cover all the essential topics.
So I started planning three additional books to explain why the CLIME system is a practical, integrated solution and not just another pie-in-the-sky utopia. I started with a book that explored the essential role work plays in human life, and how it is an unequaled source of purpose and identity--a source that can't be replaced with consumerism or enforced idleness (Universal Basic Income).
That book was Money and Work Unchained, which also delved into the peculiar nature of "money" (currency) and how a form of money that was issued in payment for labor (a labor-backed cryptocurrency) solved the problems inherent to fiat currencies issued by central banks, whose currency only flows to the very top of the wealth-power pyramid.
The book I just released, Pathfinding Our Destiny, explores how the structure of systems dooms them to failure, regardless of whatever attempts at reform are made.
These books explain why the CLIME system is an integrated solution to the interwoven problems of work, money, and centralized systems which are designed to fail when change picks up speed and momentum, i.e. becomes non-linear rather than gradual.
Changing leaders and policies won't stop the failure of systems whose top-heavy structure--centralized hierarchies-- confuse force with power and power with adaptability.
The irony is the only way these systems can adapt is if they dissolve themselves into structures that distribute power and capital very broadly--exactly what the CLIME system would do as a result of its structure.
My next book will explore how computer technology--broadly speaking, AI--could serve as a real solution (via CLIME) rather than becoming just another profit-maximizing tool of Facebook et al.
The last book in the five-book series will flesh out the sociological structures of the CLIME system, and how the system unifies all members even as it encourages productive competition between groups.
Unlike the current economic system, the CLIME system doesn't generate winners and losers. Everyone wins by becoming a member of a CLIME group, as the productivity gains spread throughout the system. And since work and wages are guaranteed, there is no poverty as a result of a scarcity of paid work or currency.
My goal is to speak to slightly different audiences who have slightly different approaches and interests, but all the books will lead to a deeper understanding of the failings of the current system and why the CLIME system is a sustainable, practical alternative that won't destroy the planet in a mad scramble for "growth" or churn out a handful of big winners and a vast array of losers like the current arrangement.
These five books as a series will explain CLIME in enough detail to (hopefully) persuade people that it's worth pursuing in the real world.
From Left Field
The Ecological Crisis is a Political Crisis -- Societies as Decision-Making Systems...
I’ve Interviewed 300 High Achievers About Their Morning Routines. Here’s What I’ve Learned.
Paul Krugman Reviews ‘The Rise and Fall of American Growth’ by Robert J. Gordon
How ZTE helps Venezuela create China-style social control -- no money to feed its people but plenty of money for more repression....
A $100 Billion Train: The Future of California or a Boondoggle? -- they're joking, right? Of course it's a boondoggle....
Book review of Vaclav Smil’s “Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects”
The plastic backlash: what's behind our sudden rage – and will it make a difference?
Is Safetyism Destroying a Generation?
Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex?
Divided We Stand-- In a recent book, The New Localism, center-left urbanists Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak exalt such local policy innovation specifically as a counterweight to the populism that now dominates national politics across the Americas and Europe.
Mercator Misconceptions: Clever Map Shows the True Size of Countries--Greenland is actually kinda smallish...
Why 536 AD was the worst year to be alive -- hard to pick the worst, depends on where one was located...
"Little things console us because little things afflict us." Blaise Pascal
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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