Destroy This Argument

A sweeping claim about what's upstream of every crisis we're facing

Reader! I bring you a challenge.

I’m going to make a claim. I need your help turning this seed of a thesis into something broader, more coherent, and more alive by stress-testing it with your critique.

The claim:

There is no challenge that we are facing as a species right now — climate change, AI safety/governance, institutional decay, the prevalence of sociopathy in positions of power, political polarization, war — that would not be substantially positively impacted if we set out on accomplishing this thing I’m about to tell you. It seems extraordinarily high-leverage but scarcely spoken of.

That thing is this: making freely available, to all who desire it, support in regulating their nervous system, developing secure attachment, integrating their shadows, navigating difficult emotions, resolving insecurities, resolving conflicts generatively, becoming physically fit, discovering the now firmly scientifically validated deep peace and vitality of the “jhanas,” … and the many other trainings that help people become more psychologically resilient, cognitively flexible, relationally capable, and genuinely fulfilled.

All of this. Available to everyone. As fast as possible (meaning: a few generations).

That’s the thesis. Here’s a taste of what I mean.

Climate change

Holding long time horizons and responding to abstract threats is a luxury of a regulated nervous system. Chronic sympathetic activation prevents people from addressing threats until they become immediate, which, in the case of climate change, is too late. Compulsive consumption — a key driver of our carbon-based economy — is fueled by a lack of internal security and fulfillment.

Sociopathy in positions of power

There are fewer predators when parents meet the emotional needs of their children well enough that manipulation doesn’t become the child’s best survival strategy. There are fewer prey when people can trust their own perception even when a confident authority contradicts it. And there are fewer thrones for sociopaths to claim when a populace stops confusing displays of domination for strength.

Political polarization

Partisan certainty relieves the anxiety of a complex situation by supplying certainty about “who the bad guys are.” Much political vitriol is simply unmetabolized fear looking for a target.

This is but a sliver of what could be argued, and I could go on. I intend to. Each of the challenges listed above, and others, will get their own treatment in future posts, along with the questions that are probably already forming in your mind, like:

• This is a massive and seemingly impossible undertaking given our current societal reality — how do you propose we even begin?

• Who implements this? Who governs it? Who gets to define what human development is?

• How do we prevent this from becoming yet another utopian project that justifies coercion and gulags — or a mandatory governmental program that people find chafing, like the ill-fated rollout of DEI into American society?

• This would take a long time, haven’t the headlines shown you it’s too late?

• What about people who need food and shelter first?

All valid.

For now, I’ll just ask you to sit with the thought experiment: if each of those concerns were adequately resolved, and in another generation or two the majority of society had received this kind of support — would this not have a tremendous positive impact in nearly every domain of life, making it all the more likely we come to the end of this century not only intact, but thriving? Can you name a single societal ill that wouldn’t be significantly remedied?

This is the seed. Help me grow it or burn it down. Either way, I’ll be back tomorrow.

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This post was written at Inkhaven, a residency where I am required to write and publish a blog post every day for 30 days, or pack my bags. Learn more here.