Walden Two

[jacob]

I recently came across this book written by B. F. Skinner (yes, that Skinner!) about a process-designed community based on behavioral psychology. This stands in contrast to developmental approaches like postmodernism and post-postmodernism that rely on increasing internal depth.

In short, the idea which seems widely applied by social media companies to increase profits rather than "utopia" is to create customs, habits, and environments that are compatible with innate human biases such as to steer these in the direction of "happiness".

Much of the book is a Socratic dialectic on the value of free will. E.g. does free will still exist if one is unaware how one's behavior is influenced externally, that is, manipulated? E.g. if 401k plans are presented as opt-out rather than opt-in knowing that this increases sign-ups and retirement savings, is that evil?

Walden Two certainly isn't emergent but it is an ecology.

[bostonimproper]

I mean, clearly free will is higher leverage if you have power to “change the rules of the game.” Otherwise, you’re pretty limited to the paradigms enabled by your society (or forcibly opting out of you wanted and we’re able).

Not really sure how this is different than any other utilitarian framework of governance.

[Western Red Cedar]

Much of the book is a Socratic dialectic on the value of free will. E.g. does free will still exist if one is unaware how one's behavior is influenced externally, that is, manipulated? E.g. if 401k plans are presented as opt-out rather than opt-in knowing that this increases sign-ups and retirement savings, is that evil?

The field of behavioral economics has run with this idea over the last couple decades. I see it as a great opportunity to address some of the ecological challenges and crises we are facing.

In terms of public policy, It seems like it is often designed without considering our limitations as rational actors. We can make slight adjustments to public policy or public financing decisions with significant beneficial impacts for society as a whole. When designed appropriately, they still allow for autonomous decision-making, as in the case of the IRA opt-out example.

We are shockingly unaware, at least in much of the developing world, to the extent which our environment affects our behavior. We are often naïve to the extent to which we are in control.

[guitarplayer]

Yes @WRC I think a scholar named Thaler (and he’s got a coauthor whose name I don’t remember) writes about it and about to what extent applying the ‘nudge’ policies implies paternalism and hence stacked against liberal egalitarianism. That being said, the UK gov has a whole unit called the Nudge Unit.

When I was doing PolSci degree I befriended a Law student and we discussed these themes over lunch sometimes. I e legistation being generally designed for the rational man while people tend to be predictably irrational.

Walden Two is a good read, I remember some bits and pieces which I will omit here not to spoil it for those who’d like to read it. Speaking of books drawing on psychological theories, there was also one based on the idea of the Jungian shadow, if only I remembered the title.