I am reading finance blogger
's book, Self-Reliance in the 21st Century, and his concept of self-reliance differs from Ralph Waldo Emerson's call to resist conformity. Smith advocates for reducing one's supply chain dependency while cultivating "trusted personal networks." This passage particularly struck me:"Humans are prone to recency bias: we believe that the recent past is a reliable guide to the future. The past 75 years of abundance, stability and reliable weather have lulled us into thinking that abundance, stability and good weather are permanent. We are learning these were all temporary."
Smith argues that the age of superabundance is not a birthright, yet those privileged enough to enjoy its advantages behave as it is. There is an alternative perspective: superabundance will be our birthright, and we must embrace the "techno-capital machine"1 to get us there. This premise is from
's “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” which presents the case that technological progress will lead to material abundance for all.2Concerning superabundance, Smith and Andreessen offer two competing futures:
The supply chains and the complex systems we depend on will continue to unravel, ending the age of superabundance.
A “eucatastrophe”3 will happen from technological innovation, leading to superabundance for all.
When faced with multiple contradicting futures, I look for any shared virtues needed for each. I see virtues as values that are always good. Wisdom is good because it makes the way toward the good clear. Courage is good because it allows one to move toward the good when fear is present. Temperance is good because it allows moderation in things that tempt us away from the good.
I have been focusing on these three cardinal virtues ever since becoming "wisdom pilled," and I have been focusing more on temperance as of late. The precarity of superabundance has something to do with this focus. Whether the era of superabundance is ending or just beginning, temperance remains essential in both futures.
In the former, those slavishly dependent on the system, both materially and psychologically, are in for a rude awakening when goods become increasingly less available. Temperance training can steel one against this lack. In the latter, an AI-stirred superabundance can provide an abundance of distractions4, creating greater traps to ensnare people's potentialities. Temperance training can steel one against this distractive onslaught.
For me, the less challenging temptations are the ones where it is wise to eliminate them entirely.5 The most vexing ones are those where it's not wise to remove them entirely but rather to find an optimal grip to handle them6. I have come to understand that temperance involves more than just saying no to things and entails developing a nuanced relationship with what entangles us.
I do not know what the future holds, but I choose to see this moment as fertile ground for cultivating virtue.
I’ll consider sharing a “living question” - a question one lives with without forcing an answer - at the end of my entries, inviting others to live with them as well. Here is one today: What is the less foolish way to engage in temperance training? Leave a comment if you have an answer.
In my philosophy practice, I stay with the living questions of others. To see if there are any openings for long-term inquiry partnerships, contact me at thestoa at protonmail dot com. You can read more about my practice here or here.
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“Combine technology and markets and you get what Nick Land has termed the techno-capital machine, the engine of perpetual material creation, growth, and abundance.” - Marc Andreessen, “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto”
“An existential eucatastrophe is an event which causes there to be much more expected value after the event than before.” - Owen Cotton-Barratt & Toby Ord, “Existential Risk and Existential Hope: Definitions”
A virtual reality more scintillating than reality being one of the distractions.
I cut out alcohol and gluten in October and have not engaged in either since, nor do I feel particularly tempted to. See the “Year of Temperance” entry.
“Screen time” is currently my biggest temperance challenge.
Identify the emotion driving the bad habit and find a more ‘virtuous’ or more ‘powerful’ emotion that drives ending or reversing the bad habit.
For example: desiring comfort drives drinking alcohol; desiring agency drives not drinking alcohol; the experience of agency is so much sweeter than comfort--or put another way--the sensation of refraining from temptation is so much sweeter than whatever the temptation is directing you towards.
Explore and familiarize yourself with the emotions surrounding agency and call them up when confronted with alcohol. Mmmmmm DAMN it feels good to be virtuous!
I am inspired by the concept of the "elimination diet." I embarked upon one of these with food several years ago, and it successfully helped diagnose my gut problems: what foods I am super sensitive to, what foods I can have occasionally in moderation, and what foods I can eat with impunity.
I have found something similar to be helpful in my relationship with other things beyond food. This winter I am going through a progressive de-loading of stimulants from my life (stimulants defined broadly), to let myself settle in a minimal homeostasis from which it will be more clear, as I experimentally bring things back, what things my life finds wholesome or not.
My biggest success to date with this method has been with alcohol. Several years ago, disgusted by my years-long problematic relationship with booze, I quit drinking entirely, with no set end point. It ended up lasting 9 months, at which point it felt appropriate to break my fast. Since then, I have not been a compulsive drinker; it is far easier to say 'No,' and to *feel* my no (I seem to be more sensitive now, so need less alcohol to feel satisfyingly buzzed) – I feel in effortless control.