We’re not making progress against our biggest problems because we have the wrong models of the societies…

We’re not making progress against our biggest problems because we have the wrong models of the societies we’re trying to change. (Beautiful network diagram of the whole Internet here, from: https://t.co/eyAcgxBXxy) /1 https://t.co/7etz8xC5Fl

This is how society looks. It’s networked. The model we use in our politics and advocacy usually isn’t this. It’s a fantasy construct of ‘the people’ being some amorphous mass. That we describe as more or less stupid, depending on how badly things are going. /2 https://t.co/CYzZOXMiLi

And we then target political leaders, as representatives of this apparently amorphous mass. That ‘the people’ is a fantasy. BUT it’s a real construct in one way. It’s the version of the population our *institutions* construct and regulate. /3

Only they have some purchase on the entire population, in that way. But even there, it’s not an amorphous mass. Like some crowd at a rock concert singing in unison. And even that crowd isn’t amorphous. /4

If we take Covid as one of our greatest problems, how does it look, mapped? John’s Hopkins continues to show us. Here it is. And what do you know - it’s the same networked structure. /5 https://t.co/zWTAxPLQgC https://t.co/Cg7nzcWTh7

And here’s the ‘a-ha’ key to unlocking things here. Because Covid is this structure *because* our societies are this structure. Humans spread viruses. How humans organise themselves is also how viruses will end up being organised. /6 https://t.co/z2FiJYcj6c

This is actually the best news. Because nobody was ever going to get anywhere, targeting an amorphous mass of people that isn’t even real. But you can change everything, and fast, if you target the networks. And those big dots, the hubs or nodes - target those. /7 https://t.co/enJWCQphvZ

Because those drive everything else. It’s what Barack Obama did with drones, and precision raids on Osama Bin Laden’s house. Unlike his predecessor who did the amorphous thing and invaded entire countries, and never made much of a dent on the terrorism problem. /8 https://t.co/QOZm1mKzSW

Or what’s recently been done to target Putin’s inner circle, shutting off their access to key financial hubs. Ask @EBHarrington how it’s done. /9

Our politicians know this, they spend most of their time cultivating networks of influence. They know where the hubs are. It’s why what seems great for the common good often isn’t top of their list of priorities. Because it isn’t amenable to their networks of influence. /10

We can think like them though. For example, with Covid, I Tweet a lot about how much of its spread emanates from schools. And if you understand schools, you know school principals are critical nodes in these networks. /11

Our best Covid advocacy groups should be engaging with school principals. About the simple things schools can do to slow infections. Remembering we only need to slow them, to smash Covid. Maths does the rest, and fast. /12 https://t.co/Aiov3F8USl https://t.co/AyBrOTqbcT

Appealing to politicians to do all of this has demonstrably failed. Because the networks that put them in power and keep them there aren’t interested in it. But you can create networks that are interested in it. And not just use them to ‘lobby’ politicians. /13

That’s the amorphous ‘the people’ idea again. Thinking politicians are an obligatory passage point to shaping that amorphous mass. They don’t do that. The mass doesn’t even exist. They work with networks. And so should we. Let’s engage school principals. /end