El sueño de la razón produce monstruos.
Francisco Goya
(The sleep of reason produces monsters.)
A reasonable society. What decent person wouldn’t want that?
But if we really want such a thing, how would we even describe it?
And what role can each of us play?
Defining “Reasonable”
The word historically means more than merely being logical:
“Reason means different things. The distinction is disguised in English by using the same word for two very different phenomena.
First is what a calculating machine, otherwise known as a computer, can do. Linear procedures. [Logic and sequential thinking].
Second is what gives integration to our world. [Emotion, intuition, imagination]. It sees the big picture and sees that the details are inevitably subordinate to that bigger picture.
Reason is balancing rationality with intuition, emotion and imagination.
Iain McGilchrist, TMWT
McGilchrist, a psychiatrist and scholar of brain lateralization, shows how each half our brain specializes in distinct ways of analyzing, sensing, knowing, and understanding. To be “reasonable” means balancing across rationality, intuition, emotion, and imagination.
He argues we appear increasingly tilted toward narrow analytic thinking, and geared toward manipulation and control. We see this in the reduction of art, disregard for nature, and pressure for all resources to be optimized, quantified, and extracted.
While narrow logic has its place, its unchecked dominance leaves us unable to perceive context, value the implicit, and live with a fuller spectrum of human intelligence.
Defining “Society”
Society is the dynamic interplay of four interdependent layers:
- Individuals (perspectives, values, mental clarity)
- Culture (shared stories, norms, values)
- Systems (institutions: government, education, science, business)
- Technologies (tools and infrastructures)
These layers form constant feedback loops: Individuals shape culture, which shapes systems, which shape technology – which in turn reshapes individuals, and so on.
Example 1: Social Media
Social media platforms (technology) were engineered by companies (systems) to maximize engagement and profit (cultural values), which normalized distraction and misinformation (individuals). The dominos keep falling – individuals then vote, consume, and build – further influencing culture, systems, and technology – and reinforcing feedback loops.
In this example, distraction and misinformation are the main problems. We can’t blame technology alone – we must also examine business incentives, government regulations, cultural values. We must further ask whether individuals are equipped to understand and defend against this kind of manipulation.
Example 2: The Economy
Financial markets (systems) were designed by corporations and governments (systems) to maximize growth and shareholder return (cultural values), which normalized short-term thinking and wealth concentration (individuals).
In this example, inequality and unmet basic needs are the problems. We can’t blame capitalism alone – we must also examine lobbyists, cultural narratives that conflate wealth with virtue, and broken safety nets. We must further ask whether individuals are equipped to recognize how economic incentives shape their own beliefs and behaviors.
Social media and the economy are only two webs of complexity.
Let’s look at societal dysfunction more broadly.
Societal Dysfunction
Major problems include planetary constraints, climate, ecology, wealth inequality, disease, nuclear proliferation, tribalism, war, misinformation, crime…. and on and on.
Nobody can be an expert on all issues, however, without getting into the weeds, we can sort dysfunction into two general piles:
One pile is physical – problems that impact our material wellbeing. Think climate, energy, ecology, wealth, and so on. These problems are interdependent and exacerbate one another. In aggregate, they are called the polycrisis.
Another pile is psychological – problems that impact our ability to understand and make sense of the world. Think truth (aka epistemology), misinformation, tribalism, attention, and values. These are the problems behind all problems. In aggregate, they are called the metacrisis.
Both kinds of dysfunction touch all layers of society:
Why the “Metacrisis” Is Particularly Devastating
The metacrisis is the psychological fog that impacts our ability to reason.
We cannot make sense of things while distracted, hyper-exposed to falsehoods, baited into tribalism, and without shared values to cooperate on.
If the polycrisis is fire, the metacrisis is the hose and water needed to extinguish it.
Imagining a Reasonable Society
In the simplest possible terms, a reasonable society means a critical mass of individuals who balance across rationality, emotion, intuition, and imagination, who think holistically, and who resist the effects of the metacrisis.
If this is our target, our current circumstances feel very off track.
Anecdotally:
- Being “reasonable” – balanced across rationality, emotion, intuition, and imagination – is not a popularly understood or embodied value.
- Metacrisis dysfunction is largely hidden and hard to defend against.
- We tend to focus on surface symptoms in isolation. Fix the technology. Fix the systems. Fix the politicians. But often fail to see how all layers are highly interconnected and dependent upon each other.
Building a Strong Foundation
(Reasonable Individuals)
A critical mass of reasonable individuals is key.
We can endlessly talk about dysfunction and propose changes to systems and technology. And we must. But if a majority of folks aren’t also reasonable, those efforts will be stymied.
We can compare reason to good sleep.
Sleep alone won’t cure cancer, fix inequality, or stop wars. But sleep deprivation means all bets are off – our sensemaking is undermined and hamstrung without it.
Similarly, reason alone does not reform a corrupt institution or reverse climate change. But without it, we are carriers of the metacrisis – spreading tribalism, distraction, and poor reasoning into every system we touch. The absence of reason is catastrophic.
How do we know how “reasonable” we are?
This requires some inward looking.
Understanding who we are, including how reasonable we are, is a journey that takes curiosity and effort. This project, self-investigation.org, helps people undertake that.
While Self-Investigation does not magically make someone “reasonable”, it helps anyone see different dimensions of themselves so that they might be brought into balance. Further, Self-Investigation offers defense against the metacrisis, in that it shows how we can be distracted, manipulated, and biased by outside forces, so we can defend ourselves.
Being “reasonable” is something each of us needs to work on ourselves.
Summary
- Society is complex and operates on many layers: individual, culture, systems, and technology. We must consider them independently and together.
- Moving towards a “reasonable society” depends on a critical mass of individuals understanding themselves and developing a balanced worldview.
- Metacrisis dysfunction (truth, tribalism, distraction, values) is particularly problematic today and directly impacts our ability to reason.
A reasonable society is a long game. Reform across culture, systems, and technologies is needed — and none of it works without our capacity to reason.
Self-Investigation is a tool to cultivate reason.
Self-Investigation is not offered here as a complete solution. It is a response to one layer of the full society stack: our individual capacity for reason – clearer perception, better judgment, and less reactive participation.
More Reading: The Full Stack of Society
Beyond individual reason we must also keep the full stack of society in mind.
Below are 5 projects that explore each layer. Each emphasizes a different layer as a primary focus but also considers interconnections with other layers.
SI – (Self-Investigation.org)
https://self-investigation.org
Self-Investigation operates primarily at the individual level – helping people understand themselves as thoroughly and objectively as possible. This in-turn unlocks clearer understanding of culture, systems, and technologies. Clear-seeing and cooperation are a precondition of societal health. Self-Investigation enhances our focus on polycrisis by addressing the metacrisis: It maximally positions us as individuals and communities to see things objectively – to understand and cooperate – accounting for as much bias and distortion as possible.
TGS – The Great Simplification
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/
The Great Simplification operates primarily at the systems level — examining how energy, ecology, economics, and governance interact as interlocking physical and social systems. Led by Nate Hagens, it maps the biophysical constraints that no institutional arrangement can override. By understanding the hard limits of energy and resources, TGS positions societies to make more realistic decisions across all layers. The Great Simplification enhances focus on polycrisis by revealing its material foundations: It shows how our systems are built on assumptions of perpetual growth that physics and ecology cannot support — and that any durable response must reckon honestly with those constraints.
The New Enlightenment with Ashley
https://www.youtube.com/@thenewenlightenmentwithash8465
The New Enlightenment operates primarily at the systems level – examining how economics, governance, and knowledge systems are shaped by incentive structures that concentrate power and reward short-sighted behavior. Ashley Hodgson, an economics professor, draws a direct parallel to the original Enlightenment: just as the 1600s and 1700s required new systems to escape entrenched power structures, so too does the present moment. The New Enlightenment enhances focus on polycrisis by diagnosing the game-theoretic and institutional dynamics that make collective coordination so difficult: It asks how we redesign the systems governing economics, governance, and the determination of truth itself – so that they stop systematically rewarding destructive behavior.
Life Itself / Second Renaissance
https://lifeitself.org/second-renaissance
The Second Renaissance operates primarily at the culture-to-systems interface – mapping the broader ecosystem of individuals and organizations catalyzing a civilizational paradigm shift. Initiated by Life Itself (Rufus Pollock et al.), it frames our moment as analogous to the collapse and renewal of the medieval period: breakdown as a precondition for deep rebirth. The Second Renaissance enhances focus on polycrisis by treating it as a symptom of an exhausted cultural worldview (or paradigm): It works toward a new paradigm – one rooted in inner development, systemic awareness, and the integration of wisdom with action.
Other Projects / Thinkers
The list above is illustrative but not comprehensive. There are other key thinkers and projects around this space. Daniel Schmactenburger (Consilience Project), Jonathan Rowson (Perspectiva), Jim Rutt (Game B), Zak Stein, and others.