JOHN WILCOX
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How do we make changemakers? Models of metachangemaking

7/20/2020

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The TL;DR key points

  • ​This post describes a research project about "models of metachangemaking"
  • A "model of metachangemaking" is a set of ideas about how to make changemakers
  • Such models are explicit or implicit in the work of organizations like the Weaving Lab, FUNDAEC, Effective Altruism, those who try to develop altruistic leaders and others
  • Such models vary along specific dimensions: how they motivate participants, for example
  • The project is comprised of three components:
             1. Building a database of different models
             2. Assembling an annotated bibliography about metachangemaking
             3. The development of models of metachangemaking
  • The project made seem daunting, but it shouldn't: small contributions help, many hands make light work, and some progress has already been made in this area

Models of metachangemaking

How do we make “changemakers”? Put differently, how do we empower people with the motivation and efficacy to make a positive impact, to contribute to the wellbeing of humanity?

I’ll assume you’re already interested in this question, perhaps for reasons which I discuss in this other post here. Kuhan Jeyapragasan and I were talking about this, and an idea came up in our discussions: we can explore this question by doing research into so-called “models of metachangemaking”.

What is a “model of metachangemaking”? Well, let’s back up and look at a few concepts here.

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A project for Stanford affiliates: Education and impact

7/14/2020

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The TL;DR key points

  • Presumably we'd all like to live lives that make a positive impact on the world 
  • Education is a uniquely powerful tool for making an impact: it can make changemakers
  • On some toy models, the impact of education drastically outperforms the impact of other approaches to making a positive impact
  • We do not know how realistic those models are, but it is worth exploring the potential of education
  • That is the purpose of this project, and everyone is welcome to participate how they see fit

​Making an impact: Why you should care about it

Imagine that you’re 80 years old, looking back on your life and all the things you have accomplished. What would you like to see? Perhaps you’d like to see that you had a happy life, a family and success in some line of work.

But I suspect you’d also like to see that you had made a positive impact in some way: that somehow others benefited from your existence. After all, when we step back to consider the question, what beauty is there in a life lived only in pursuit of one’s selfish ends? Presumably, then, this has implications for now: presumably we’d like to make a positive impact while we still can.


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    John Wilcox

    Interdisciplinary researcher
    @ Stanford University
    @ fp21

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  • Home
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    • Epistemology & Probability
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  • John's Blog