We see elections as the foundation of our democracy, but Aristotle thought they create an oligarchy. In ancient Athens, democracy worked by choosing leaders among ordinary citizens by lottery. How could we revive this idea to improve today’s democratic systems?
In this episode, we speak with Jeremy Lent, tech CEO turned author, about the idea behind his new book Ecocivilization: how we can redesign our economy, democracy and technology so everyone can thrive.
We cover:
- Why, despite the many problems of our civilization, saying it’s “malfunctioning” isn’t accurate
- Why typical metrics of progress like GDP don’t provide a full picture of how people are actually doing
- How we can design a better society for everyone taking inspiration from how ecosystems work
- Ideas to improve our democratic systems, with real world examples
- How we could distribute wealth more widely, from ownership of companies to the benefits of AI
Chapters:
0:00 Cold open
1:00 How an internet CEO became an ecocivilization author
4:14 Is our civilization broken?
6:38 Has global capitalism really made life better for everyone?
9:11 What is ecocivilization?
13:52 Doughnut economics and citizens’ assemblies: rethinking the economy and democracy
20:24 How can technology help democracy? The Taiwan example
22:24 Is green growth possible? Planetary boundaries and Jevons paradox
30:03 Why is it so hard to change civilization? Lock-in and backcasting
37:01 How can we escape the AI race and multipolar traps?
42:43 How AI can be used to build a better world
49:45 What can young people do to make a difference?
51:34 Book and organization recommendations
53:35 The best advice Jeremy has ever received
On the Existential Hope Podcast hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers from the Foresight Institute invite scientists, founders, and philosophers for in-depth conversations on positive, high-tech futures.
Full transcript, listed resources, and more: https://www.existentialhope.com/podcasts
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