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.
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.
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.