Zoomed in all the way, we are in the midst of an economic crisis. But the financial turmoil is only a small part of a much bigger problem that has emerged on the large-scale. That problem is that the world we’ve created has grown complex and potent enough that we cannot properly comprehend it if we continue using small-world thinking to navigate our way. Talk of higher consciousnesses and meta-analyses is usually the esoteric coffee-table talk of intellectuals, but now more than ever, we need to reform our minds as a practical measure if we hope to make any of our stated goals come true.
Mind reform begins with simply recognizing the interconnections of the world, instead of imposing a reductionist map over reality. How can we allow multi-billion dollar gleaming cancer centers to be built by workers breathing noxious dust and lacking the education or resources to quit smoking? Why are people so smugly proud of themselves when they slip onto the T from the back door without paying, and then shouting in indignation when the fares climb yet again? How can environmental campaigns to save energy manically poster large sheets of pristine white paper to advertise energy-saving tips, and campaigns to save trees promote the use of electronics for all transactions? How can health centers, aghast at the obesity epidemic, especially among the less-well-to-do, then run their institutions by employing vast amounts of the lower-middle class to drive buses and sit at security desks all day?
We like to reduce our everyday tasks to two or three variables or considerations. That may have been fine our decisions before impacted at most two or three people or resources, but it can’t work now. Just like the banks and other large financial institutions, we have become invested in a tangle of thousands or millions of corporations and people, just from the things we buy, the way we move around, and the places we work. We are likewise responsible for taking into account the impact of what we do: responsibly doing research is not only about getting grants, budgeting the grants, and then publishing papers – it is about thinking of the people who have paid, through taxes and philanthropy and fundraising and organizing walks, for those grants; and it is about thinking of ways to make the research matter. Being conscious of the world means paying attention to those close to us and those far away from us, the people we work with and the people we work alongside and the people we don’t work with at all.
Like any shift of lifestyle, thinking bigger needs to be trained as a skill. As a first exercise, simply imagine the nearest elevator – what is it doing right now? People are going up and down. Where are they coming from? Where are they going? What are they holding? What are they thinking about? Who do they most want to see right now?
In an era when everyone is rushing to hyper-specialize and fields get sub-divided and sub-divided again, it’s easy to get swallowed in the minutiae of one’s particular field of work. But an architect can’t only think about the building structures and not the ones building it or the ones who will work with it or the ones who will see it from across the street. A grocer can’t only think about local sales but also the conditions of farms and factories of origins and the end-waste that populates the landfills. Leaving everything before and after you as a black box that will operate on its own is like being a pigeon, concerned only with where the next bread crumb will be. For humanity to keep up with the consequences of its institutions and technology, it needs to always maintain responsibility for and vigilance over the machines it sets into play.
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