metacrisis

the metacrisis is a lens for analyzing/understanding the human predicament and the complexity of our current moment in the history of civilizations.

definition i use: the metacrisis is the set of interconnected, interdependent crises of our time, that seem to be leading us towards any or a mixture of these: a) impending systemic collapse as we approach planetary boundaries, b) authoritarian modes of damage control or c) transition into more regenerative, mature, antifragile civilizations and lifestyles.

main references

i strongly recommend checking out this playlist that i curated (30h of content).

https://www.sloww.co/meta-crisis-101/ - the deepest / most multi-perspectival introduction to it, though quite dense, especially for first timers. i recommend checking out some of daniel schmachtenberger's videos on the playlist above before, as a more palatable introduction.

https://metacrisis.org/ - a meta-resource - links to lots of other great content and resources.

https://wiki.metacrisis.xyz/ - a great and extensive index of perspectives for diagnosis, response patterns and projects addressing multiple parts of it.

https://metacrisis.xyz/ - a few particularly influential folks trying to curate, articulate and coordinate around the metacrisis.

https://www.gameb.wiki/ - a wiki with not a lot, but very relevant content, great for rabbit hole investigations/deep dives.

an incomplete yet useful way to break down the metacrisis

i found it useful to highlight 5 "core", interdependent crises underpinning the metacrisis:

the spiritual/psychological, ecological, political, economic and educational crises.

which can then be broken down into several other crisis and dynamics:

-> spiritual/psychological -> mental health, meaning, existential, intimacy crisis, etc...
-> ecological -> health, climate, energy crisis, etc...
-> political -> legitimacy crisis, coordination failure, geopolitical risks, etc...
-> economic -> financial crisis, technological risk, capability crisis, perverse incentives, etc...
-> educational -> sensemaking, wisdom crisis, trust crisis, etc...

they loosely map into the four quadrants/5 elements framework, which helps to navigate/coordinate around it. they are crises of different inter-relating dimensions (inner, outer, individual, collective).

other great perspectives on the metacrisis

zak stein - education is the metacrisis - manifesto for the Transformative Education Alliance - one of the best breakdowns of the metacrisis + very powerful, clear, inspiring writing

jonathan rowson - tasting the pickle: ten flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilisation - perspectiva

josh field - flow crisis - a few less-known but very interesting/valuable perspectives on it

john vervaeke - meaning crisis - lots of good content from around it, more useful for understanding/navigating the (inner) psychological crises of our time

life itself ecosystem map - a pretty good map of the organizations/communities in the space