When considering the Future of Life and Existential Risks, who speaks for those that cannot speak for themselves?
Where Future of Life programs have intents and therefore a virtual life, who/what will speak for those programs as individuals come and go?
The individual contributors/employees, persons outside the organization, non-human mammals, insects, bacteria … evolving life we have not yet detected, integrated systems of intent, who/what speaks for all of them? Massively integrated, but in ways humans are functionally incapable of measuring and correlating. The easy answer is “We do the best we can.” While the more useful answer is a question, “How do we evolve the systems that make it possible to measure and correlate all life intents, related resources, and “broadly sustain the evolving of growth”?
A quantum entangled technological singularity would be one such future possibility; the result of perhaps one thousand years or more of technological development. Carpet Corporations in the Middle East have survived for much more than 1,000 years. Group structures can survive beyond the lives of the individuals, if the structure is self-mending and growth oriented. Future of Life programs could be given lives of intent of their own to grow. Each program a non-profit tied to Future of Life Certification regulation that promotes “sustained evolving of growth” through Memorandum of Understanding regulation. Ensuring board members do not engage in corruption and related stagnation.
The Earth is small, and human decisions are Xeno-centric; by nature, self-centered. This is true of corporations as well. Non-profits typically are not interested in mutual support of growth. There is no incentive for individuals to take on evolving growth; humans want to work less and get paid more. Only the structure promotes growth. People come and go.
In my experience, and ponderings, all humans are innately self-centered. “Every” thought is initiated in self-service. Only when working with others does benefiting others arise, based still in self service. Where true altruism originates as a result of group interactions; “organization structure”. Non-profits, clubs, and political organizations almost without exception become lead by administrative mafias. One charismatic board member corruptly appoints persons they can micromanage to positions of influence; ballot boxes are stuffed with undeserved votes. Group Think. Diversity to fill gaps in understanding broader issues, is filled with incompetent narrow minded thinking and the organization growth stagnates. Corruption is promoted, with no efforts to continuously evolve methods to keep corruption out of the organization emerges. Corrupt leadership entrenching themselves; the organization original purposes dwindle.
A related resource: https://guidepost.us
One method to cull the stagnant and non-productive is to create external certification or performance monitoring agencies. Future of Life could be such an agency.
Honeywell, Defense & Space Electronic Systems (National Defense corporation) has an external division that evaluates all personnel without personnel ever meeting one another. Metrics development and automated monitoring. The lowest performing 1/3 of all engineers are laid-off (fired) every three years; no exceptions. One-third of the workforce is filled with a diversity of new talent. New ideas, new technologies, new teachings from colleges, and fresh agendas to grow. These fired engineers are NOT bad engineers, they just did not contribute to organization growth in the form of taking on technology training AND implementation, or creating more effective processes…
For those that stay, they are under pressure to broadly contribute, and are provided a diversity of ways to support generating accomplishments. Never knowing where they stand in relation to others. No opportunity to relax and be less productive. No opportunity to be recognized and to stagnate by repeating the same old activities. Personnel are evaluated on contributing to “Growth”. The organization diversely grows, limited by the entire system of resources, and the regulated focus of parent corporation agendas.
ALL personnel have three independent administrative structures where all must sign off on each individuals payment (via computer statistical correlations). Day to day administration of core expectations unrelated to program of work activities (company policies), Performance Monitoring certification (contributions to company growth), and Administration of Task Management (accomplishments related to project management). Three independent systems that are not allowed to interact with each other, except through structured channels. Process Monitoring and Improvement done by random teams in Six Sigma Green Belt Projects; this gets rid of waste resulting from “It’s always been done that way.” Honeywell sheds millions of dollars of accruing waste each year from process improvements.
Existential Risks are present in every organization. Whether globally as planet Earth, or a smaller consideration like “Future of Life”. To be able to interact with an Existential Risk, first the intellect to conceptualize the risk is needed, to be able to have a margin of time to take action. Second is the need to set up a social structure to effect “useful sustained evolving of growth” for original intents, and seeding return on investment from growth of new but separate intents. To grow the tree of Altruism from individual roots.
Altruism does not exist in any individual, Altruism originates and is sustained in organization structure. When the structure supporting altruism is corrupted, the intent dies.
I hope for you a diversity of gap filling member support.