Volatility, Anxiety, and Dogmatism

As the world becomes more interconnected it also becomes a more complicated system. An increase in population adds to this complexity as it creates more points of information and randomness. On top of this, as David Deutsch points out, the generation of new knowledge only extends our lack of knowledge despite us knowing more, because new knowledge will infinitely create the potential for more new knowledge.

The chasm of what we don't know will always outpace what we do, which adds to the complexity of life.

A concern, then, is that, as an increase in complexity happens, volatility does too, and anxiety along with it. And people, instead of embracing the intrinsic uncertainty in life, will cling even more to their familiar heuristical frameworks to mitigate the uneasiness.

These frameworks are most often found in the form of narratives. This is due to the fact that narratives compress information, even to the point of eliminating certain bits. But if knowledge is moving forward (especially in an exponential way), the narratives we use to mitigate anxiety constantly run the risk of being outdated; and the process of updating our narratives often contradicts the reason we have them in the first place. This is especially the case when we believe a narrative is true, which confronts us with a schism. Do we modify our knowledge with potentially transformative information (which only creates a greater sense of instability) or do we cling to outmoded, but comforting, beliefs?

The abandonment of the mutable for the sake of something static is what sets the stage for dogmatism. It's also when people start to appeal to authoritarianism. This is easily seen through history in both secular and nonsecular religions ranging from Christianity and Islam to Capitalism and Marxism.

At the heart of fervent adherence to ideological thinking is the inability to accept the undulating randomness of life. As time marches convulsively on, we will only experience more and greater randomness due to the generation of new knowledge. And since the chasm of the unknown will only expand, we will see an increase in ideologues that are trying to find ways to exterminate their anxiety. Most often this is done by creating stability through adherence in a similar way that fiat currencies work, which is— as long as enough people believe it to be valuable, it will be.

While history unfolds, brittle belief systems will shatter, but they will also more likely be propped up through the desperation of large groups looking to ease their pain. Accepting that life is intrinsically volatile and random is necessity if one is to build a system of thought that is hardy enough to endure life though. This acceptance isn't where a system should end, but it's delusional to think that one can have a belief without seeing this as profoundly omnipresent. Something that ties into the notion of Salvation.

To wrap this point up I will stick my neck out a little to make a kind of prediction/prophesy: dogmatism and authoritarianism will increase even more among the entire spectrum of the population (from the right to the left), because of our inability to integrate life’s volatility into our expectations. Instead, we will opt to make our psychological homes in dangerously fragile systems that should only, at most, serve to be a respite.