Methodology

I am on the pursuit of building a methodology. A methodology as I know it right now is essentially philosophy combined with a method. A philosophy is a way of thinking and seeing the world. A method is a series of steps to think through a problem and create a solution. The methodology should be versatile for many types of people and challenges. Anyone should be able to plug-and-play. It should be universal.

Methodologies seem to be a structured way of spreading a thought process and since it is structured it can be monetized. The challenge with a methodology is getting reliable results.

Like, the scientific method is a great methodology that leads how all science is performed.

Design Your Life is a methodology taught at two-hundred plus universities that combines design thinking with life planning.

We need a new methodology for using technology is a way that is productive instead of harmful.

Misaligned AI is a threat to humanity as a whole.

40% of human awakened hours spent on a screen is a threat to human consciousness and freedom.

Social media is a threat to human mental health and the freedom of humanity if it is designed to be addictive and if the content delivered is designed to steer belief systems.

Other than nuclear warfare, inflation and climate change, AI and social media feel like the two areas of human made technology that are having the most impact for the average American on a daily basis. And AI and social media actually do have an impact on foreign affairs, inflation, and climate change since AI uses so much energy and social media is used as a weapon to shift public opinion, value systems and trust.

But these same tools can be used to create new products, share ideas and stories that connect people, to generate wealth, to express ourselves creatively, to have access to information and processes that were once gate kept.

The gap between harmful and creative is mindfulness.

Purpose and value are relative metrics.

AI and social media themselves, as objective non-conscious things, don’t care what they are used for. Cups don’t care what you drink from them, poison or potion, they're just cups. We add the meaning and purpose of them through our act of using them. Table doesn’t care what you set on it. It can be a place to eat of course. Or the table is a ramp for a remote control car, a canvas for oil painting, a stage for karaoke night, or a murder weapon. The purpose of the table instantly reflects its usage which is determined by our actions. And the value of the table is not constant either. Its value constantly rises and falls based on how well it actually holds up to each of the use cases.

This is also a great note for marketers who are trying to position their products in a more valuable light. You’re not just selling the product itself, you’re selling the purpose and value of it. Like a commercial for a table being used as a space for communion and family reconnection is better than positioning it as really good wood. Anyway…

Since the value and purpose of these tools are void until we use them, then our mindfulness of how and why we are using these objective tools (AI and social media), will determine their value and purpose.

So we need a methodology for how to mindfully use AI and social media for their highest purpose, aligned with our highest human values.

Therefor, our next questions may be…

What are our highest human values?

What is our highest purpose?

Off the top I’d say that poverty and illness are the top real physical problems of human suffering on Earth today so we definitely need to solve those. And since they are the worst problems they are also the best opportunity for progress and innovation. Helping those who are LOWEST is a HIGH purpose.

Some believers of Longterminism might find that helping future humanity is a higher purpose than helping the lowest of todays population because the growth of human population will compound to be trillions of humans worth helping in the future vs the couple billion suffering today. But I would argue that helping the billions today would then result in the innovation and solutions that will help those of tomorrow and those who are helped today will have the health and intelligence that can then contribute to the trillions of people tomorrow. Same with Earth. We can create technology that is in harmony with nature because we are nature, inseperatable from our Earthly environment. Anywhere else we go we’ll have to recreate our Earthly environment there, evolve ourselves rapidly to withstand their environment or be constantly concealed within a suit or station that matches the gravity, pressure, and atmosphere of Earth. So focusing on solving the Earthy problems of today seem to be of very high purpose. While ignoring the suffering of today seems to be of low human value.

These human values that I value are freedom, creativity, wisdom, empathy, connectedness, community, love, curiosity, innovation, challenge, fun, play, beauty, perspective, imagination, wealth, sharing, compassion. There are many more but these first come to mind.

Alright. How may we create a methodology then that uses AI and social media to solve poverty and illness while nurturing the values of freedom, creativity, innovation, love, community, etc…