Cognitive Policy Works

A few months ago, I wrote an article calling for an end to the world’s debt — summarizing the history of debt from anthropological studies of early civilizations and economic activities in hunter-gatherer societies.  You can read it here. We are living through an unprecedented period of human history.  Our population has exploded.  We are [...]

This week the Supreme Court is considering a case about the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and legal protections granted to same-sex couples in states where gay marriage is now legally recognized.  This is a watershed moment in US cultural history and internet activists are doing their part to make a collective [...]

Many people reach out to me because they want to learn about the science of complexity.  They ask what it is, how it works, and — most importantly — how they can apply it to global challenges confronting humanity. In those conversations I share what I have learned as a complexity researcher who specializes in [...]

At the heart of the climate crisis is a profound clash of worldviews. People live in different ideological camps — beholden to their own beliefs, values, judgements, and ideas about the relationship between humans and the natural environment. The failure of climate activists to engage the broad public effectively is largely attributable to this great [...]

Ideas have been shaped by the same evolutionary forces throughout human history that produce the great diversity of life on Earth. The skill sets and fashion sensibilities of each culture arose in a particular geographic setting — attuned to local climates, landscapes, flora, and fauna. The cave dwellings of Paleolithic European people, for example, differ [...]

Just for fun, imagine if all debt were wiped away when the Mayan Calendar ends this Friday… How would the world be different?  What would become possible for you personally in your life?  How would nations and corporations invest our newfound wealth differently if we all started from a clean slate?  Problems like global warming [...]

This article was co-authored by Joe Brewer and Lazlo Karafiath Pick any of the great challenges confronting humanity today and ask yourself “Is the quality of public discourse good enough to address it?” You’ll find that for every single issue — be it global warming, resource depletion, chronic poverty, or what have you – the [...]

Have you ever noticed that some things in the world like to be disrupted? Rogue militant groups set out to garner counter-attacks that distract their opponents while draining their resources. Viruses encourage multi-cellular organisms to activate their immune systems in attempts to wipe them out. Teenagers seek the disdain – and occasional wrath – of [...]

This article is co-authored by Joe Brewer, Martin Kirk, and Adriana Valdez Young.  It was originally published on the Gates Foundation blog. It’s time we called out the great myth that mass poverty just is, as if it were a natural part of some universal moral order. Such thinking is profoundly untrue and disastrously misleading. [...]

If I had to pick a single word to describe the global economy today, it would be fragile.  Policy makers and business leaders have actively built a system that destroys the environment in order to produce profits in the short term — by distributing goods and services across a global supply chain that is designed [...]