then use that knowledge to engineer new institutions that do a better job of being powerful, stable, and protecting human values
Yeah, Asimov called that psychohistory :-) Marxists were doing precisely that: they thought they understood how and why the social order evolved and they used that knowledge to engineer new institutions. How did it work out?
However “engineering” is not enough. So you come up with new institutions—you still need power to implement them. How are you going to acquire this power?
But this is just me thinking out loud.
That’s a good thing. Discussion is good, punishing wrong-thinkers is bad.
Yeah, Asimov called that psychohistory :-) Marxists were doing precisely that: they thought they understood how and why the social order evolved and they used that knowledge to engineer new institutions. How did it work out?
However “engineering” is not enough. So you come up with new institutions—you still need power to implement them. How are you going to acquire this power?
That’s a good thing. Discussion is good, punishing wrong-thinkers is bad.