How might we reverse the global rise of neo-terrorism, autocracies, and far-right authoritarianism enabled by immoral corporations to solve our interconnected webs of self-inflicted wicked problems?
How might we cultivate the ethics of equanimity, egalitarianism and equity governance to redress the political incompetencies of our military, climate, health, agriculture and education policies?
Orientation to equity musing
Take the time for slow reading, thinking, and metacognition about how we can understand the ethical implications of complex questions to address our interconnected webs of self-inflicted wicked problems in the 21st century.
How might we pose complex questions to evoke our imagination and co-creativities to liberate ourselves from the constraints of our mindsets by addressing a broad array of our wicked problems?
Wicked problems are complex because they have no simple, single, final solution, with no right-wrong answers.
How might we:
Move beyond our superficial ADD marketing-obsessed world of short-term opportunisms, reductionism, high emotional reactivity, dysfunctional polarizations, toxic divisiveness, and emotional regressions to self-righteous fundamentalism?
Cultivate equity governance to launch Equity Moonshot: co-design and build an equitable, regenerative, and sustainable future?
Embark on lifelong intergenerational learning journeys of cultural humility, civil discourse, and generative dialogues on how to solve our wicked problems?
How might we diagnose what’s wrong?
Wicked problems arise from our personal and systemic abuses of power. Our litany of wicked problems includes BIPID (Biases, Isms, Prejudices, Inequities, Discriminations), human rights violations, political corruption, rigged elections, dark money, propaganda machines, neo-terrorism, chronic traumatic media stress disorder, emotional regression to self-righteous fundamentalism, subjugation of sovereignty, and increased vulnerabilities to mindset indoctrinations, tropes, and cult trances.
At a personal level, power abuses arise from our inability to self-regulate our emotions. This dysregulation arises from the internal battle of our brains: the ethical failures of our neocortex to guide the negative impulses of our limbic-amygdala brain and curtail the destructive forces of our reptilian brain.
Emotions without ethical discernment and meta-cognition drive our cults of mass psychoses.
At systemic levels, neo-terrorism has unleashed a propaganda war of words, with sociopathic disregard for the integrity of transparent accountability and truth-seeking.
Far-right minorities tyrannize and rule the middle majority with neo-terrorism. The tail wags the dog.
Neo-terrorism cascades distrust, paranoia, civil strife, disinformation pandemics, divisive toxicities, and dysfunctional polarizations and triangulations. This political environment enables the authoritarianism rise of tyranny, autocracy, plutocracy, and kleptocracy to concentrate power in their favor. This obnoxious brew of power abuse creates never-ending downward spirals into the immoral vortex. This vortex sets into motion endless inflictions of traumas, terrorism, wars, and revenge war crimes.
Neo-terrorist cult leaders deliberatively evoke hosts of negative feelings (fear, hate, rage, paranoia, and disgust). They emotionally manipulate people to induce cult trances of blind unconditional loyalty, such as believing in the BIG LIE.
Strongmen abuse their charismatic hubris to induce and exploit chaos. They position themselves as heroic saviors. They offer voters simple solutions and a false sense of security when faced with the vulnerable uncertainties of wicked problems. Voters crave confident reassuring politicians who have simple answers.
Reductionistic solutions are futile in solving our wicked problems.
The current Israel-Humas and Russian-Ukraine wars are different manifestations of extreme neo-terrorism. The political, theocratic, and religious rise of authoritarianism and racial supremacy is escalating neoterrorism across deteriorating democracies and rising autocracies. These monumental challenges call for addressing these complex questions.
How might we enable our political systems to:
Develop leadership and educational systems based on lifelong intergenerational learning to redress our personal and systemic abuses of power?
Redress neo-terrorism and solve our wicked problems?
Move beyond reductionist-linear thinking to contextual-complexity thinking to cultivate equity governance?
How might we deconstruct the fundamentalist perils of libertarianism?
Absolute libertarian beliefs in irresponsible “free” speech enable political fundamentalism that disables any fidelity to truth-seeking (such as the fairness doctrine) and any transparent accountability to care for the health and well-being of the people and the planet.
Libertarianism celebrates the absolute power of self-centered individualism without regard for cultural, societal, and planetary consequences. This lack of transparent accountability creates playgrounds that attract pathological megalomaniacs, malignant narcissists, sociopaths, and authoritarian autocratics, especially in the centers of power, namely politics and corporations. This asocial leadership cesspool knows no shame.
There are no consequences for unethical deviants who amplify their immoral “free” speech, such as hate speech, blatant lies, and defamation, on media platforms. We need consequences for immoral behaviors that violate ethical norms. We do not tolerate immoral learning environments that are toxic to our children’s education and development. And yet, we remove the ethical bar for adults: a paradise for anti-social leadership personality disorder.
How might we ethically use AI to:
Automatically assess for online misinformation and disinformation with instant verifications and transparent accountability to truth-seeking by providing evidence and citations that assess for biases?
Hold irresponsible free speech accountable to consequences and disable the algorithmic escalation of hate speech, blatant lies, and defamation?
How might we use equity governance as an antidote to power abuse?
Equity governance is about collaborating to co-create fair rules, fair plays, fair games, fair opportunities, and fair rewards on a healthy planet, for the benefit of all.
How might we zoom out to the Rhodium rule of equity governance to open, inspire, and align our mindsets to serve the greatest good for all?
Be fair and kind to all people, the planet, the environment, nature, biodiversity, animals, the soil, and plants.
How might we implement the Rhodium rule to enable the flourishing of the Equity Moonshot metaphor?
Equity Moonshot is a humanitarian-technological metaphor. It goes beyond the limits of combative war, competitive sport, and biomimicry metaphors (such as mycelia) to redress unfairness and promote fairness.
The purpose of this metaphor is to co-create synergies between the upsides of humanity and technology in ways that shine light on the blind spots of our self-centered egos, cast our smallest shadow, and illuminate our dark sides.
How might we write inspirational poetry to launch Equity Moonshot?
The ethics of equanimity, egalitarianism and equity governance
Cultivate equity governance
Enhance institutional integrity
Prevent, redress power abuses
Minimize political corruption
Build stewardship networks
With equity leaders, mentors, muses
Lead with a constellation of virtues
With equanimity
Amplify empowerment networks
Co-elevate egalitarianism
Redress sociopathy, self-deception
Counteract authoritarianism
Seek truth, transparent accountability
With nurturing altruism
Deconstruct cultural hubris
Without the burdens of narcissism
Cultivate cultural humility,
Emancipate sovereign free-thinkers,
Ameliorate cult hegemonies
Break followership trances, mass psychoses
Open, inspire, and align our mindsets to do good
With generative-strategic dialogues, civil discourses
De-escalate dysfunctional polarizations, toxic divisiveness
End futile debates, zero-sum games
Accelerate long-term social entrepreneurialism
Rise up with conscious capitalism
Tear down the walls of unbridled neoliberalism
Eliminate extractive exploitations
Regenerate and sustain
With a seven-generation perspective
Decelerate short-term opportunism
Without destruction to ecosystems, Mother Earth
Embrace inclusion, diversity, tolerance, equity, compassion
With authentic communitarianism, equality
Less biases, isms, prejudices, inequities, discriminations
Without sycophantic favoritism, inside-outside dynamics
Ascend virtuous upward spirals
Graced with humbleness, service, duty, generosity, basic income
Abandon the elitist-fame-status-celebrity-wealth bandwagons
Reverse amoral-immoral vicious cycles of injustices
Set up guides on the stage
Put sages on the side
Learn anew with open-mindedness
Without saviors mansplaining, womenspousing
Co-cast collaborative co-creative processes
Within beloved community learning
Cultivate collaborative communities, our humanity
Downplay competitive broadcasting content
Engage with andragogy
More dynamic participatory learning
Diminish didactic pedagogy
Less passive spectator learning
Ensure safety, caring, trust
With moral voices, Greek choruses, ethical affirmations
Deafen abusive speech, mob rule, defamation
Reduce risks, threats, insecurities
Open minds, inquiry, curiosity
With transcendence, mutual reciprocities, collaboration
Liberate closed-minds of self-righteous fundamentalism
Less ego, possessiveness, competitiveness
Talk less, learn more
Listen deeply to inside, and out
To what’s below the surface
Let virtuous emergence arise
Take time for slow thinking, deliberation
With more self-regulation, emotional responsiveness,
Delay fast-thinking reflexes
Stop the triggers of emotional reactivity
Assure self-care, resilience, vitality
Prevent traumas, psychological wounds
Alleviate, heal suffering
With less burn-out, stress, strain
Enable transformational learning
Muse, inspire, celebrate the joy of service
Decode transactional, evangelizing marketing,
With indoctrinations deprogrammed
Inspire transformational movements
We can use the poem (above) to engage in generative dialogues about how to address the implications of Equity Moonshot metaphor.
How might we, as equity leaders, mentors, muses, and learning designers, build empowerment networks (virtually and in-person) to:
Create exponential opportunities to accelerate learning about how to solve our wicked problems?
Energize synergies between our virtues and digital moral enablements (AI, collaborative learning platforms) to cultivate equity governance?
Catalyze seismic shifts to transform our mindsets and our systems needed to launch Equity Moonshot?
How might we liberate our creative abundance of untapped sovereignties to:
Enhance our capabilities and capacities to co-create lifelong intergenerational learning journeys to build Equity Moonshot story movements? (Such as the ones described above)
Do good for the commons, humanity, the common good, the health and well-being of life, and the health of the planet?
Consider writing a poem and sharing your stories related to the Equity Moonshot metaphor.