Fractal Rubik’s Cubes and the Big Machine with Michael Garfield

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Michael Garfield is a futurist polymath who has worked everywhere from the KU Natural History Museum to the Sante Fe Institute to Mozilla to the Long Now. He’s currently with the AI Capabilities and Alignment Consensus Project. Oh, and he also has twenty years experience as an artist and musician. This conversation is a bit of a song exploder, looking into one of Michael’s songs (the Big Machine) through the kaleidoscope of many of his other more academic interests.

Lyrics below.

A deep, multifaceted conversation with Michael Garfield, known for his contributions to the Complexity podcast at the Santa Fe Institute, Future Fossils, and Humans on the Loop.

The discussion traverses various terrains including Michael’s journey from paleontology to music, his insights on complexity science, and the intriguing idea of the 'Fractal Rubik's Cube.'

Andrea & Michael delve into the themes behind Michael's song 'Big Machine,' tackling how love, mysticism, and science intersect in our complex world. Throughout, Michael shares his nuanced understanding of information, attention, and what it means to explore beyond traditional academic and scientific boundaries.

Complexity and SFI

Michael's Substack and Foraging Video

00:00 Introduction to Michael Garfield

01:37 Exploring Michael's Multifaceted Talents

02:48 Unpacking the Song 'Big Machine'

05:19 Michael's Journey and Inspirations

06:06 The Evolution of Michael's Musical Path

10:46 Complexity Science and Personal Growth

23:24 Challenges in Academia and Complexity

54:34 The Role of Psychedelics and Language

58:14 The Importance of Communication and Curation

01:00:18 The Evolution of Social Media and Podcasts

01:02:08 The Importance of Internal Culture in Organizations

01:05:59 Navigating Modern Uncertainty and Strategic Thinking

01:07:21 The Role of Games in Understanding Complexity

01:09:33 The Intersection of AI, Podcasting, and Education

01:10:24 The Concept of Future Fossils and Precognition

01:13:06 The Philosophy of Finite and Infinite Games

01:17:17 The Age of Entanglement and Emergent Engineering

01:24:55 The Practice of Noticing and Consciousness

01:41:39 Love, Synchronicity, and the Future of Work

And here is a short talk Michael gave this summer.

Menger Sponge but nowhere near a fractal

Lyrics to the Big Machine

🎙How long can you go without looking at your phone?

How long does it take before your concentration breaks?

How sure can you be that your mind is really free?

How much would you stake that your reality's not fake?

Where do your desires arise in fields of wireless privatized

and pirated attention? In enclosed incomprehension?

How much is your agency and how much is the will of other

entities entirely?

Or is that even how to see this sea?

Doom scrolling (Like subscribe)

You're trolling (Find your tribe)

Everybody wants to be seen

By the Big Machine

Fan polling (Leave reviews)

Rage swollen (Count your views)

Everyone's volition is squeezed

by the Big Machine

Everybody wants to be pleased

by the Big Machine

How much would you spend to stay in touch with your own friends?

How relieved are you the algorithm offers the convenience

Of staying in a bubble of your spoon-fed preferences?

How much of your self is really what your heart intends?

And where do you define the line you draw between your mind

and the global operations of unconscious just-in-time

Logistics markets states and great unfolding fated intertwined

Machinic processes; you're hospiced in a matrix planet wide

Doom scrolling (Like subscribe)

You're trolling (Find your tribe)

Everybody wants to be seen

by the Big Machine

Fan polling (Leave reviews)

Rage swollen (Count your views)

Everyone's volition is squeezed

by the Big Machine

Everybody wants to be pleased

by the Big Machine

Everybody's choices are screened

by the Big Machine

Ask yourself just who you are feeding

When you play to rhe Big Machine

Now if you aspire to be free

From the Big Machine

Just how long can you go without looking at your phone?🎙


In a week full of new paths, this project is taking another intriguing turn, looking at complexity through the lens of a song called The Big Machine by Michael Garfield.

Michael embodies the intersection of fine art, mysticism, and hard science. This conversation explores not only his unique insights into complex systems but also his journey through music, creativity, and the "Big Machine’ anthem. That song serves as a linchpin for Andrea and Michael’s exploration, unraveling themes of connection, complexity, and love.

The song and the conversation stretch across dimensions of self and society, pushing us to see beyond the visible, into the interwoven fabric of existence, which is a matter of our collective experience from different positions. All this, today, is enmeshed in planetary culture and what Michael (and others) discuss as surveillance capitalism which is a kind of Rubik’s cube to be solved in today’s digitizing world.

Through his journey, he has taught many to think beyond traditional academic boundaries. His discussion with Andrea wanders through the metaphoric landscapes of finite and infinite games, systems of organization, and how one can navigate the ever-changing tide of knowledge and technology.

Michael’s been trying to do that, and help others do it, and to communicate the complexity of it. His passion for complexity science stems from a deep-seated desire to understand the evolution of intelligence and consciousness…and dinosaurs.

Today, Michael’s medium is dialogue, though he is as surprised that his life has gone into that path as any other. When he was 21, he told his grandmother he’d either be a paleontolgist or a rockstar, but by the end of the conversation, both of those seem to be part of the same dynamic of love, one he has also lived out in ways with his longterm partner who recently became his wife.

For Michael, love is not just something we feel; it’s something we create together, that third entity theme comes up again, the sense-making that shapes and defines us, the dance of co-creation.

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Care is a form of knowledge Friday Diary from September 5th

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What is love? Friday Diary from August 29th