> *Emergency says: Act! > Crisis says: Transform! > Meta-crisis says: How?* > [Source](https://www.whatisemerging.com/opinions/how-to-think-about-the-meta-crisis-without-getting-too-excited) The Metacrisis refers to the root cause of the multitude of crises we are facing: climate change, ecological collapse, mental health, rise of authoritarianism. The Metacrisis is in essence a failure to create cultural and governance systems that adapt to [[Externalities]] and build social capital. When this occurs, the underlying logic of the system itself leads to negative effects as it becomes more successful, for example: - Capitalism: the problem of capital being *too* free, therefore becoming disconnected from the material world, and causing harms that cannot be *seen* by capitalist systems, such as pollution and climate change. - Liberalism: "through its emphasis on the protection of the individual by the state (mostly through human rights law) liberalism weakened the power of intermediate institutions and became simultaneously more individualist and statist; and by supporting the apparently free market, it has facilitated the coercive power of commerce in ways that make us less free." [Source](https://www.whatisemerging.com/opinions/how-to-think-about-the-meta-crisis-without-getting-too-excited) - Democracy: too much voting can weaken a democracy and decrease citizen agency, rather than increase it. [[Multipolar Traps & Zero-Sum Games]] are important factors in creating these negative spiral dynamics. We struggle to question or even see the underlying assumptions, or 'meta' logic of the system, for example, instead of asking, *how do we adapt our economy to make it more sustainable?*, we should be asking *what even is an economy? what do we mean by money?* ## Attractors If we fail in [0.0 Building an Ecological Civilization](https://diome.xyz/0+%F0%9F%8C%9E+About/0.0+Building+an+Ecological+Civilization), we will be left with: - Catastrophes: Both distributed & unintentional, for example, economies keep driving climate change; and intentional, for example, bad actors making bioweapons in their basement. - Dystopias: A government that can enforce global economic restrictions and prevent basement weapons needs huge amounts of power, which inevitably leads to abuses. These are known as the first and second attractors, or likely trajectories. We need to identify a third attractor, which solves for global scale coordination without resorting to mass centralized control.  ### Characteristics of the Third Attractor - **Decentralization with Coordination:** Unlike centralized systems, which are prone to abuses of power, the third attractor likely emphasizes decentralized decision-making processes. However, it also ensures that these decentralized systems are coordinated in a manner that allows for effective action on global issues, such as climate change and ecological preservation. - **Adaptation to Externalities:** A key failure of current systems is their inability to properly account for externalities like pollution and social inequality. The third attractor would integrate mechanisms to recognize, measure, and respond to such externalities, ensuring they are not merely overlooked or treated as afterthoughts. - **Reimagined Economic Systems:** Moving beyond the traditional capitalist model, which prioritizes profit often at the expense of environmental and social well-being, the third attractor would likely involve a reimagining of what an economy looks like. This could involve new forms of currency, value exchange, and resource allocation that prioritize sustainability, equity, and well-being. - **Empowered Communities:** Instead of the disempowerment that comes from overly individualistic or overly statist approaches, this attractor would likely focus on strengthening intermediate institutions and communities, enabling them to have more control over their futures and to contribute meaningfully to global governance. - **Innovative Governance:** The third attractor would necessitate innovative forms of governance that allow for both global and local concerns to be addressed effectively, without leading to the concentration of power in a way that could facilitate abuse. ## Dive Deeper ### Topic relates to: [[Ecocultures]] [[Metacrisis Series by GreenPill Podcast]] [[Externalities]] [[Multipolar Traps & Zero-Sum Games]] [[Metacrisis Attractors]] [[Climate Crisis]]