Guardians of the Future

A new leadership school for digital life

Oct 13, 2022

"My job on earth is to help reveal what's going on — for people who are amusing themselves to death and don't want to know." This is Mark Stahlman, channeling Neil Postman, a media theorist and McLuhan protégé. What's going on refers to the subconscious impact of technology on our inner lives. The amusement is the unwillingness to understand an epic transition of our making.

Stahlman is the President of The Center for the Study of Digital Life (CSDL). The Center was founded in 2015 to investigate human challenges and opportunities under digital conditions. Comprising a collection of computer scientists, philosophers, intelligence agents, and media theorists, the Center has as good a handle as anyone on crises we navigate living in a digital world.

For the past three years, I've spent many hours with Mark decoding messages from the Center—often over beers and brats (he's a Wisconsin man). It's not light stuff. We talk about people morphing into information processors (an impossible competition with machines). The jarring transition from a TV paradigm to a digital one (a world based on fantasy to one run by perfect memory). The end of globalism (East, West, and Digital ideologies are permanently at odds).

We also talk about this being a highly unusual time in history (we now co-exist and compete with robots). He believes we've entered a new 600-year cycle (ending industrial-framed life started by the printing press). The lessons typically end in the same place. The need to rediscover what it means to be human (care for the soul).

Despite technological developments over the past thirty years, digital existence is still a developing reality. Trillions of dollars in capital continue to build the "next generation" Internet. The environment in construction will create unfathomable change through high-speed networks, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and virtual world-building. The stuff of life will all be rewired and reordered—politics, economics, spirituality, and relationships.

We must steel ourselves psychologically to deal with it. As lives become digitally—and profoundly augmented—by intelligent networks, Stahlman says we need to take an understanding of digital terrain seriously or face terrible consequences (God help us). He believes this is less about technical expansion and more about exploring philosophical frontiers. He asks us to consider today's 'spiritual' crises (perpetual conflict/anxiety crises/rising suicide rates).

They all reflect a sensibility disorder.

The subconscious "ground" through which we understand the world is out of whack. I'm reminded of a prediction from political consultant Joshua Cooper Ramo who said that cancer was the predominant ailment of the 20th century. Madness would replace cancer in the 21st century. We will be overrun by 'spiritual disease.'

Look at where we are now. A recent Fortune/Harris poll found three in five (60%) college students reported being diagnosed with a mental health condition by a professional. The most common afflictions were anxiety and depression. The framing of the results had an alarming subtext; the pollsters said this was significantly higher than the general population, where only 48% say they've been diagnosed with a mental health condition. So depending on the demo, two-thirds or half the population is mentally unstable.

Like other McLuhan scholars, Stahlman believes the root cause is technology. McLuhan thought of technologies “as extensions of man.” These tools extend our capabilities and functionalities. But we extend our capacity at our own risk; the altar of technology we worship has unintended human effects. Stahlman and colleagues plan to launch a new university concept in early 2023. Called ‘Trivium U,’ he plans to bring to light unanticipated consequences and how to overcome them.

But do we need a new university? Why do we need a new way of thinking? Why do we need to take responsibility for what lies ahead?

These are questions of urgent consequence — and action. We live in a world that lacks coherence. We’re overrun by “information warfare” we can’t see. We know that robots will replace many jobs — as the military and corporations spend billions on automation. Too many are trapped in an emotional maelstrom, spiraling downwards.

In our conversations, Stahlman repeatedly says this is what it should feel like to live through a fundamental paradigm shift. Old rules we still use don’t apply anymore. The effects are profound, as our behaviors and attitudes are shaped in ways we don’t understand. He says reclaiming our humanity requires thinking about “digital” differently.

Triv U will offer a course of study that draws on our past to inform our future. Starting this Sunday, Stahlman will preview the curriculum in partnership with 52 Living Ideas. It’s a community of learners engaged in joint exploration of the world, ourselves, and ideas curated by Shrikant Rangnekar.

The schedule and links are embedded below. Attending is free.

Stahlman will be joined by Fred Beuttler, Dean of Triv U. Fred was Associate Dean of Liberal Arts at the University of Chicago Graham School, where he still teaches. They will have other CSDL Fellows join, including Douglas Rushkoff, Aaron Lewis, John Alton, Brian Kemple, and others (their backgrounds can be found here).

I recommend you check it out and come prepared with an open mind. Time spent with Mark and his colleagues has fundamentally changed and expanded my perspective.

For a taste, listen to comments that reflect how Mark thinks about the challenge ahead (no Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore).

It’s a grand challenge, no doubt.

Given the importance of the topic, please share this post with others you think might be interested in checking the sessions out.