For the Post-Individualist: Insights from History for Tomorrow
Thought this week
“What really matters are the countless small deeds of unknown people who lay the basis for the events of human history.”
How do you get inspiration from the past for the future of humanity? Not a small question but an answer made conceivable by social philosopher Roman Krznaric.
This Monday I attended his talk at the RSA, a masterful presentation of the ideas making his new book the thing you may want to get your hands on. History for Tomorrow unpacks the way history is rich in radical hope yet such an under used resource.
Image courtesy of Spur Magazine
For example, Japan’s Edo period was one of the world’s first large-scale examples of a low carbon, low waste circular economy society, even if it had other issues such as feudalism. In pre-colonial Hawaii, communities had the ‘ancestral circular economy’.
What does history teach us? What do we overlook?
Jimmy Carter turned 100 years young yesterday. Of all USA presidents, he has authored the most best-selling books than any other modern president — yet has had the fewest written about him.
As a president he was perceived as weak, a fairly soft-spoken man, in a society that confuses brashness with confidence. At a time of economic instability in the 70s, he was unpopular in America. Reagan swiftly came after him and the rest is history.
Carter was not perfect, but in some ways, he was a visionary.
“In 1978, Carter declared a national ‘Sun Day’ on the 3rd of May every year, committing to developing an aggressive policy to harness solar and renewable sources of energy.”
He outfitted the roof of the White House with solar panels. He commissioned work on overpopulation and climate change with the Club of Rome. And in 1979 he gave a visionary and cautionary speech called: “The Crisis of Confidence".
In his televised address, Carter identifies the killer disease of American society: Materialism.
He speaks of the ills of an over-consumeristic society, one we would see play out in the 21st century, in parallel with a loss of empathy, the pitfalls of social media performativity and trolling. Carter warns of the great dangers of a society where self-interest is king.
Make Empathy Great Again
After reading about Carter’s anniversary, I dug up ‘Narcissism: The New Normal?', a report I authored in March 2017 in which I profiled 'The Crisis of Confidence' as a powerful case study of how history warns us.
Back in 2017, I was investigating narcissism and empathy on a micro and macro scale. It was the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency and to understand our time, at the time, I did a deep dive into the psychology of narcissism and its opposite: empathy. As I re-read the report this week, much still felt very relevant today, not in a self-aggrandizing ‘I said so’ way, but more in a ‘not much has changed' baffling way.
Trump is running again. But on the bright side, talk about the We vs the Me, or Me is We (however you want to put it) is now mainstream and 'trending'. Protein is hosting a live event tomorrow ‘Are we entering a post-individualistic age?’. And Dazed’s Günseli Yalcinkaya reported this week on ‘The Demise of Cool’ in their newsletter. The ‘New Cool’ has a guideline list, and includes ‘Kindness and Self Awareness’. If the new cool is kindness, what was it before? I am not sure. But let's be happy that self-awareness is 'on-trend' and hopefully it stays this way.
Wrap-up and final factoids
With long-lasting choices to make, society continues to face a future pulled between Narcissism and Empathy. Let us be clear that empathy is the starting point of innovation, has and continues to revolutionise design.
Looping back to how this all started, there is a deep connection between empathy and Roman Krznaric’s work around sustainable leadership, democracy and innovation. It’s all connected. In ‘Narcissism: The New Normal?’ you’ll find a reference to his 2013 RSA animation titled "The Power of Outrospection" on how we can help drive social change by stepping outside ourselves. Since then, Krznaric has published the best-selling book The Good Ancestor in 2020 and founded the Empathy Museum.
As humans, creatives, futuring and curious minds who want to shape our collective futures, we have a duty to look at history, be empathic and humble.
And we DON’T have to constantly pump out new trends, new ‘dictates’ of cool.
“Let us not be trapped in the tyranny of the now.”
I leave you with a final factoid. Krznaric shared how virality dates back to the time of the 1st printing press when the world’s ‘first viral blog post’ by Martin Luther was ‘ trending 500 years ago ’ all over Europe within a few weeks of its original publication. Luther’s pamphlets, his talent for communication and harnessing new technology were early instances of ‘virality’ and are credited for starting the Reformation era.
Scanning History, Popular Culture, Futures thinking, Myths, Psychology and Philosophy
Narcissism Is the New Normal? decodes the polarities of Narcissism and Empathy we continue to see today.
Here are the key chapters, relevant if you're interested in the deeper and timeless dynamics of cultural theory, macro trends and social sciences:
NARCISSISM AT A MICRO LEVEL
THE TIPPING POINT
NARCISSISM AT A MACRO LEVEL
THE FIGHT FOR EMPATHY
EMPATHY AS A CORNERSTONE FOR DESIGN & INNOVATION
PS: If 'Narcissism: the New Normal?' is useful for your body of knowledge and work, this report will resonate too and is free to download: Hypercycle: navigating authenticity in a post trend world (first published in 2021 as an essay and pushed in-depth as a full report in collaboration with Gung Ho in 2024).
By Geraldine Wharry
