Human governance in the current paradigm of culture is failing. Across the board. Cultural evolution compounds immensely over time. History shows this clearly. Human government evolves. Or should. Tribal Chieftains have become Kings, Kings have become Presidents and Prime ministers. We must now address the new paradigm of humanity’s socio-cultural disposition. Humanity is not the same as it used to be. But the systems and governments that rule them have failed to evolved at a rate commensurate with the evolution of society and culture. Humanity is now armed with many different tools that could and should influence governance. Social science, technology, the world wide web, and smart phones, are but a few of them. I am not talking about the tenants of constitutions, I am talking about the systems themselves. Other than the occasional tweet, these systems have not allowed the developments within the peoples and cultures that they attempt to govern to influence them.
Social Science, Socio-Cultural Modeling and Simulation within Quantum Computing are real things. Yes you cannot duplicate human thought with machines, but you cannot create and accurately tune models if they are not used against the problems of governance. Use of them would at least get us closer than the “shoot from the hip” method which now reigns supreme. Growing and widespread resentment of government systems across the globe is obvious. That is because it is obvious that they are failing. Not because of the elected officials per se, as much as because of the systems that the elected officials, in their ignorance, choose to keep in place. For instance, the great preponderance of elected officials in the United States government are lawyers. They have all been schooled in how to think the exact same way: with the linear and subjective method of reasoning taught to them in law school. Furthermore, not a single skill or attribute of character necessary to win a position as an elected official is useful to, or aligns with their duty as such, let alone their ignorance of the cultures and societies that they influence. I don’t know of a single Social Scientist in elected office. There is a dangerous propensity for group think in the government who holds responsibility over the world’s most influential nation, which, with no exception, holds heavy sway over every other nation on the planet.
Humanity is more connected now than it has ever been before and will continue along that path. The concept of representation and the tools by which people can be represented, or more importantly, represent themselves, have increased tremendously. The capacity to organize massive numbers of people with a common goal has become a reality that governance systems must acknowledge. The Canadian truckers banding together to influence governance in 2022 is a great example. Irish fishermen colluding to dissuade the Russian superpower’s Naval exercises in their fishing grounds in early 2022 is another. The Arab Spring occurred shortly after the introduction of smart phones to the world. This is happening. The power that can now be wielded by the congealing of human will across a disparate geographical landscape is astounding and has served to highlight the ineptitude of the current paradigm of government and overall human governance systems.
I am not advocating against the election of representatives. I am advocating for a change in how elected officials represent their constituents. Staffers and lobbyists hold predominant influence over decisions made in Washington DC because of their placement and access while those without it – the general populace – is tremendously marginalized. Is there not an option for inclusion of the populace into governance? Such an option would create a much more politically literate culture because the governed would have actual skin in the game. Why is there no rigor being put toward the evolution of government systems that aligns with the evolution of culture? The propensity is to adopt old and failed systems in hope that something different will happen. Again, I am not talking about the issues that elected officials squabble over. I'm talking about the system of governance itself. If the experiment of The United States government was so effective hundreds of years ago why cannot we recreate and continue to evolve systems that align more to the evolution of culture and are more informed by the tools we have available to represent the people of our nation? Governance in the United States and many other nations is failing. And it will take all of us down with it unless something changes.
Comments