Actually Solve The Problem

I need to understand the full chain of "why"s down to the root of a concept before I can meaningfully use it. Otherwise, it falls out of my head. This is consistently read as some combination of annoying, difficult, threatening, stupid, unfocused, indecisive, and arrogant by people who don't share this approach.

My experience of navigating society has been one of trying to find loopholes in rote-memorization for test-taking, hitting KPIs for career advancement, LARPing status symbols, and implementing patchwork solutions to problems with unseen or ignored negative externalities.

I want to actually solve the problem- harmonize the entire chain of interdependent systems.

"But that's impossible!" Sure, in the sense that perfection is unattainable and that all solutions require maintenance and that entropy eventually creeps in and breaks things down, but this is the fire that burns in my chest.

I think it burns in everyone's chest underneath the fear that if they abandon the status quo they'll lose their position in the hierarchy and fall to the lowest rung - (which is, of course, created by the act of maintaining the status quo).

And I get it! The status quo is currently the most successful set of systems that's been implemented and IS keeping all kinds of shit that none of us want to deal with at bay- but solving the problem and shifting the status quo are causally linked. You can't solve the problem without shifting the status quo.

Thus, build better alternatives and let the market decide. Adapt your approach to match the impedance, interface with the system, interlock with the gears of the machine.

Ah, but the market is captured by Goodhart and Moloch. Adapting your approach to what works in the market replicates the status quo by virtue of needing to interface with it.

"This approach is too different, too naive, that's not how the world works, people will never buy into this, this is how it's done, this is how we do it, we don't want to adapt to this, we built something that works and benefit from it, why would we risk that to let YOU poke at the gears and fuck with the process and generate negative externalities with your ego-driven desire to see the world YOU want to see instead of bowing to OUR Established Order"

Bro, have you SEEN the state of the Established Order of the Status Quo?

And still, I get it. Fair enough, dude. I'm not entitled to resources. I don't have any guarantees of success wrapped in emotion-stroking displays of confidence honed through fraternities and polished in MBA programs to be delivered to the board in the form they've been habituated to expect as Knowledgeable and Effective.

I know I can't predict the future. I know I'm going to introduce unforeseen negative externalities. I know that whatever approach I take needs to be adapted to the current state of affairs to have any chance of success. I know the odds of failure for business ventures. I know the odds of failure for social movements.

It's difficult to lie about it. I can see why the Established Order of the Status Quo exists. I can see why I'm a threat to it. I can see why people protect their position in the hierarchy, why violence is dispensed, why certain patterns of speech and body language and vibes are systematically excluded from the apparatus of power (largely unconsciously, with compassion for the banality of evil).

I know, because I have asked why again and again and again, that the kids I went to school with who did what they were told aren't really going to solve the problem. I know that the kind of behaviour necessary to move through the credentialing system is at odds with the kind of behaviour needed to actually solve problems at their roots in a way that completely eliminates symptoms.

And you, dear reader, are likely of a kind. You get it.

You're in on it.

I know that you aren't annoying, difficult, threatening, stupid, unfocused, indecisive, or arrogant.

I know that you're thoughtful, helpful, safe, intelligent, focused, decisive, and humble.

We've all been sharpening our models and skills. We're all spores that have grown clusters of mycelium around ourselves. Now we merge. We share resources. We fruit. We release more spores.

From the rotting carcass of the Status Quo, we extract nutrients. We purify the waste. We actually solve the problem, at its roots.