“If you want to outperform—if you want to do anything not usually done—then you’ll need to conceptually divide our civilization into areas of lower and greater competency. ”
The idea quoted above seems wrong in practice. You don’t need to conceptually divide our civilization into areas of comptency—you need to see what is actually being done in the area in which you want to outperform: in particular, (i) whether your proposed activity/solution has already been tried or assessed; and (ii) the degree to which existing evidence says it won’t or will work.
Also, if civilizational competence is intended to cover something beyond an efficient market, it would make sense to use a different example.
Are there specific cases you have in mind where you’d want to talk about civilizational competence, but the efficient market metaphor seems like a stretch?
“If you want to outperform—if you want to do anything not usually done—then you’ll need to conceptually divide our civilization into areas of lower and greater competency. ”
The idea quoted above seems wrong in practice. You don’t need to conceptually divide our civilization into areas of comptency—you need to see what is actually being done in the area in which you want to outperform: in particular, (i) whether your proposed activity/solution has already been tried or assessed; and (ii) the degree to which existing evidence says it won’t or will work.
Also, if civilizational competence is intended to cover something beyond an efficient market, it would make sense to use a different example.
Why do you say that? The efficient market seems like a helpful metaphor (for example, as used to describe the landscape of charity here: https://blog.givewell.org/2013/05/02/broad-market-efficiency/).
Are there specific cases you have in mind where you’d want to talk about civilizational competence, but the efficient market metaphor seems like a stretch?