Idea machines
Metadata
Highlights
- An Idea Machine is a self-sustaining organism that contains all the parts needed to turn ideas into outcomes: * It starts with a distinct ideology, which becomes a memetic engine that drives the formation of a community * The community’s members start generating ideas amongst themselves * Eventually, they form an agenda, which articulates how the ideology will be brought into the world. (Communities need agendas to become idea machines; otherwise, they’re just a group of likeminded people, without a directed purpose.) * The agenda is capitalized by one or several major funders, whose presence ensures that the community’s ideas can move from theory to practice – both in terms of financing, as well as lending operational skills to the effort. (Without funding, an idea machine is just that: an inert system that needs fuel to turn the crank and get it moving.)
- Balaji Srinivasan’s theory of the network state is a philosophy with the beginnings of a community around it, which could become an idea machine if they develop an agenda and attract funding
- Despite the recent growth, there are still not nearly as many idea machines as there should be. If we see more idea machines appear over the next few years, it can be good for everyone – which is why we need more options besides just effective altruism. It certainly beats a world in which there are many good ideas, but no capital available to transform them into outcomes. As more machines emerge, I’m hopeful that every person with a good idea can find an idea machine that works for them.