E Pluribus Unum

The presidential election has elicited powerful reactions from everyone I know. As with so many things in America these days, from wealth to Yelp reviews, there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground. People are either winning ugly or losing with grief, worry, and anger.

But before we join all the explaining and strategizing, it’s worth remembering that the political parties and their candidates are not actually the cause of anything. They are symptoms of underlying issues in our country. The people and events we can see are brought to our attention by deeper perceptions and emotions that drive behavior and decision-making we don’t see, at least not until the votes are counted. And clearly, many people had ideas and feelings that somehow made electing a misogynistic, racist, fascist, convicted con man seem like the thing to do.

I don’t believe in conspiracy theories on a mass scale. I don’t believe that any large group is that organized or capable of keeping a secret. Think about it: What’s more likely? That a secret cabal brainwashed the majority of American voters, or that each voter based their decisions on information that was incomplete and influenced by a variety of factors that are just as poorly understood as the information itself? How many people do you know who can accurately, credibly explain inflation or the historical challenges to diplomacy in Gaza or Ukraine?

Misguided thinking is the reason I started teaching and eventually developed Open-Source Learning. After 9/11, my clients and my graduate students at UCLA all privately confided that their schooling hadn’t prepared them for the world. Keeping in mind that these were some of the most successful people of their generation, I realized that we have to start earlier and do better.

I dedicated myself to helping people learn because it became clear to me back then that all the world’s problems were due to the way we seek out, process, and apply information. It’s even clearer to me now. And it’s an even bigger problem. So I am rededicating myself to the cause.

I want to live in a country that is pluralistic and inclusive. That may sound idealistic, but it’s actually selfish – I want to live in a safe country where my family and everyone else can get their needs met. If people are fed and clothed and housed, they’re not out there trying to take advantage of each other. They’re also not as stressed out and short-tempered. Peace and prosperity follow from kindness, empathy, and eliciting the best that every single person has to offer.

Diversity is more than a politically correct buzz word. It is the surest, most sustainable competitive advantage we have. E pluribus unum is the motto on the Great Seal of the United States of America: Out of many, one. It’s the inspiration for the title of my book Academy of One and it’s the governmental equivalent of John Stuart Mills’ utilitarianism: the good of the many over the good of the few. Abolition provides one powerful historic example of restoring humanity for the good of all, but today’s online culture and socioeconomic dynamics remind us that responding to racism wasn’t just a thing that happened once – it is an ongoing, unequivocal fight in which there is no neutral. There cannot be not good people on both sides of the issue, because one side of the issue is so hateful and wrong that no good people can ever go there. Fighting oppression requires more than “tolerance.” It’s never over.

E pluribus unum is naturally effective with no artificial additives. Usually, it’s considered a logical fallacy to base an argument on an appeal to nature, but I think we can learn a little from biomimicry on this one. In nature, diverse ecosystems function to the benefit of every organism. When people mess with that balance to maximize short term profit, especially when the subjects of their manipulation can’t speak up or fight back, we get unintended negative consequences. Depending on a single crop led directly to the Great Famine and Bananapocalypse. However, our agriculture industry is still apparently guided by different priorities. In 1905, commercial orchards in the U.S. grew about 14,000 varieties of apples. By the late 1990s, only eleven varieties accounted for 90% of grocery store sales. (Of course, this will only matter if we have clean air to breathe and water to drink, and someone takes carbon emissions seriously enough to prevent the weather from killing us all.)

E pluribus unum depends on human rights. More Latin: Res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for itself. Human. (check) Rights. (check) I want to live in a country where each individual is empowered to make decisions about their own body and their own health. I don’t want someone telling me I can’t eat peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches, and I definitely don’t want someone telling my daughter that she can’t seek medical help to safely terminate a pregnancy that may kill her if she takes it to term.

But maybe the most important thing to remember about E pluribus unum is that we get along best and we support each other most effectively when we are free – encouraged, even – to disagree. Groupthink (conformity for the sake of belonging) nearly killed us all, a few times, and it’s hard at work right now. But when intelligent, well-informed people challenge assumptions and introduce possibilities based on their unique perspectives and ways of thinking, good things happen. The Renaissance was the direct result of The Medici Effect: to this day, innovation is stimulated and accelerated by the intersections of diverse industries, cultures, disciplines, and people.

The United States of America couldn’t have existed in the first place without diverse perspectives and intense disagreements. Even though they may only know him from the musical, millions of Americans were briefly reminded that founders like Alexander Hamilton had strong views and made the country better by sharing them. We are at our best when we have the courage to surround ourselves with people who aren’t afraid to speak their minds and disagree with us. Abraham Lincoln’s ability to elicit the highest quality of diverse perspectives in his own cabinet inspired Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin to write Team of Rivals.

If nature, personal authority, and history aren’t enough, let’s think sports. Imagine this is the halftime locker room speech and we’ve been winning big. We’ve won most of our wars, we have a big military, big economy, and Taylor Swift. What could possibly go wrong? Ask the 1993 Houston Oilers. They gave up a 35-3 halftime lead in what is still either the greatest comeback or choke (depending on whether you live in Houston or Buffalo) in NFL playoff history because they changed the way they played. If we don’t remember what got our country this far, I fear we will suffer the same fate.

We’ve always had trouble with integrity in America, but for the most part we’ve at least talked a good game about democracy. But in the 1980s, we changed our strategy. Ronald Reagan, another media personality posing as a qualified leader, began to champion disruption, saying things like, “government is the problem,” and championing deregulation and tax cuts.

Popular culture was heading in the same direction. Remember Chiat/Day’s “1984” commercial for Apple?

And what about the Orwellian (“Politics and the English Language”) next level, in which we reduce complex abstractions and linguistic communication itself to bumper stickers and coffee mug tropes like “big government” or “fake news” that are as meaningful as “hangry”?

We are asleep at the wheel. Our belief in the way things were or ought to be blinds us to what’s happening right now, right in front of us. The rule of law? Dignity? Honor? Compassion? All left bleeding on the highway of history, run over by the swerving dump truck of cleverness and disruption.

Fans of professional wrestling know it’s fake and they don’t care. Once upon a time, wrestling promoters pitted the “good guy” wrestlers against the “bad guy” wrestlers — but eventually the conflict narratives plateaued. Interest and ticket sales stalled.

Then someone had the bright idea to make all the wrestlers villains. Ticket sales skyrocketed.

Today we live in a culture of ongoing disruption. Bullies are no longer ostracized or made to feel ashamed — instead, they find forums of support and encouragement on social media. Every school shooter has an account. Some con artists, racists, and rapists get their own political party.

This is about much more than party politics. It’s about how we think and live, and how our children and grandchildren will think and live.

So get out there. Fasten your chinstrap and hustle. Give as good as you get, and for Pete’s sake please remember that the game is bigger than the players. If you think I’m full of shit, tell me why and let us reason together. I promise I’ll do the same for you.

We need great ideas. The future is becoming more uncertain and complex by the minute. The traditional authority of institutions such as family, religion, and government has been usurped by the internet and pop culture. Each of us will have to learn our way through it – together. Let’s get started.

I’d like to know: How do you think we can help each other learn through the next four years and beyond? Drop me a line and tell me about it. I’m curious.

Curiosity is worth practicing. That’s how we get better at it. When it’s done particularly well, curiosity can be elevated to an art form. Curiosity makes life worth living. I am literally Curious AF. And now you can be too! Click HERE to unlock your free membership subscription.

Here is a taste of what I’m reading, watching, and thinking about.

What I’m Watching –

Growing up, I loved listening to some of my relatives speak Yiddish. The words were so expressive that they took on a life of their own that defied translation. Last week I learned a new Finnish word that Finns think of as their national character. Sisu means roughly, “Extraordinary determination in the face of extreme adversity, and courage that is presented typically in situations where success is unlikely.” If you like grindhouse movies where a lone underdog kills a bunch of raping, stealing Nazis, and where women get righteous revenge (and a tank), check out the movie of the same name. According to Rolling Stone, “The thing about the Nazis is: Fuck those guys.” Imagine Rambo as a gold prospector in 1944 Finland.

What I’m Trying To Understand –

Quantum mechanics will bend your brain. For example: Schrödinger's Cat is a famous thought experiment in physics relating to the concept of quantum superposition and the impact of observation on experimentation. The idea is simple: there's a cat inside of a sealed box, along with a flask of poison, and some sort of radioactive material which will cause the flask to shatter. But one cannot know for certain whether the cat has been killed—not unless one opens the box, acting upon the circumstances as an observer. Until that moment, however, we cannot know for certain whether the cat is dead or alive. In terms of quantum physics, this means that, for a brief time, the cat is simultaneously both dead and alive—until one of us opens the box and collapses both possibilities into a single reality.

This idea has been around for nearly a century now. Even in the best experiments, one can only create a sealed box containing two divergent realities for a very short period of time. After all, there are so many factors threatening to permeate that box and observe the singular reality within it; literally, any attempt to measure or track what's going on inside of the box would automatically count as an act of observance, thereby collapsing the potential realities.

But now, a group of researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China have used atoms trapped by light to sustain the quantum superposition of a hypothetical cat for a record-breaking twenty-three minutes.

What I’m Experimenting With –

As I’ve gotten older and participated in more endurance sports, I’ve learned more about nutrition and supplementation. Full disclosure: I used to groan at this stuff and the people who used it. The lack of regulation and the amount of health/bodybuilding garbage in the market was enough to put me off. But over time, I worked with enough doctors and coaches to separate the signals from the noise, starting with compensating for the fact that I don’t eat much meat anymore. Most recently, I did some research about NAD+ precursors Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) and Nicotinamide Riboside (NR). From the National Library of Medicine on PubMed: “NMN and NR demonstrated protect [sic] against diabetes, Alzheimer disease, endothelial dysfunction (coronary artery disease), and inflammation. They also reverse gut dysbiosis and promote beneficial effects at intestinal and extraintestinal levels.” I’m just getting started here, so if anyone has knowledge or experience please let me know.

Quotes I’m pondering —

I can't relate to lazy people. We don't speak the same language. I don't understand you. I don't want to understand you.
– Kobe Bryant

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