Living Wisely/Improving our Social Operating Systems

The purpose of this research project is to develop innovative and effective social operating system solutions. Today’s best social operating systems consist of fledgling democracies, hyperactive capitalism, Facebook, Fox news, and theologies.

Instead of solving the grand challenges the world faces, people interacting within these operating systems have increased conflict, partisan politics, inequality, and divisiveness. Intellectual Honesty must become the norm for consequential communications. Protecting human rights must become the primary responsibility of all governments.

There must be better solutions that can unleash the wisdom of the people while avoiding the folly that is so salient today. If we could work together constructively, we could all flourish.

The brilliant minds assembled at Wikiversity can apply system thinking from a global perspective to help us all live together more wisely.

In general social operating systems are:

• Forums where agents share information, interact, and/or constrain behaviors.
  • Agents can be people, computers, robots or other actors.
• The rule of law (and other social constructs) constrains behaviors.

Desirable characteristics include:

• Seeking real good together.
• Collective wisdom is amplified and folly is attenuated.
• Good displaces bad.
• Systems are evolving, continuously improving

• Transparent, open, intellectually honest, and epistemically excellent
• Fair, consistent, coherent, objective
• Human rights are protected
  • Human needs are met
• Inclusive, collaborative, global scope

Dimensions include:

• Solving the basic problem of living: Advancing well-being, Seeking real good
• Solving the basic problem of government: Protecting human rights
• Solving the basic problem of economics: Allocating resources, Productivity
• Solving the basic problem of philosophy: Attaining consistency (Fairness)
• Solving the basic problem of ethics: What should I do? (Ought, what is good?)
• Solving the basic problem of physics (and all research): How does the world work? (What is)
• Solving the basic problem of epistemology: How do we know? (Seeking true beliefs)
• Solving the basic problem of ontology: What is there? (What is real?)

Good examples include:

• Wikimedia projects, especially Wikipedia
• Thinking Scientifically
• Emerging forms of democracy?

Alternative Formulations
Perhaps these alternative formulations of the question can lead to better insights.

• How can we create (allow to emerge, unleash) a metamodern society?
• What are the minimal constraints on human agency that will unleash human flourishing?

Next Steps:

• Continue to develop the concept and problem statement
• Research existing work in this area
• Benchmark good examples
• Share with organizations such as the Templeton institute
• Regarding "what ought to be" consider this proposal for An Encyclopedia of Ought and adapting it as a platform for answering "what ought to be".
• Study Ranked Voting and the work of the FairVote organization.