TeachingManual

Note: while this wiki was down, I started piling the relevant materials at [WWW] http://thpromo.pbwiki.com/. Please go there if you are interested in how to explain/teach the future to people.

I finished transferring the information from this page to that site. Do check thpromo out, it already has some interestin ideas on spreading the ideas.

Many people want to explain future to people. We know that if we want to promote our ideas/visions of the future, we need to prepare the message correctly. Optimize it for transfer to someone.

A way to optimize these ideas should be covered in a separate document available to all future-minded folks (including transhumanists). We are calling it TeachingManual.

Unsorted Ideas

Being called "World's Most Dangerous Idea" means something. It's definitely important, It's got potential.

We should interest the person in learning and communicating to others ideas about the future. We should show that the future is important and interesting (illustrate with a personal story of someone living through the whole 20th century - how much change - our time is even more exciting).

A can build a sequence of ides/theses/statements, e.g. future is important -> media is not telling the whole story (the truth) -> scientific progress defines the future -> radical new inventions are being made now and are expected in the coming decades -> we should expect radical change -> tell what changes exactly.

The value of transhumanist future ideas for the host: it's exclusive knowledge that only few people possess today. By sharing this knowledge with others (spreading the virus) he can demonstrate his priveleged status, his coolness and smartness.

We should get success stories from people, who explained the future to others. How was it done, what methods were used, how was the message crafted, what was the situation, how did the conversation go, what were the problems? We should pose this question to others on related mailing lists as well as ask (interview) people (prominent future thinkers/advocates, incl. many transhumanists) personally.

Approaching people

We can describe typical scenarios (at work, in the family, among friends, etc.) for spreading the ideas. What are the standard approaches. How to approach different kinds of people (different age, character, job, level of erudition).

It is important to respect the ShockLevels -- don't tell a person more than they can handle; give something to chew on.

A pamphlet

We should define the requirements for a pamphlet (leaflet) outlining some of the ideas. There should be a number of them, targeted at different groups of people and optimized for different environments. After we define the requirements, we should reedit existing materials, fit it into the correct formar and copyedit it for maximum effectiveness.

We should test the methods and have feedback mechanisms for changing them. We should solicit feedback from our colleagues about their needs for spreading the ideas effectively.

We need to define groups (hives in Seth's terminology) of people interested and receptive to our ideas.

Connections

The TeachingManual is related to teaching future in schools, to technology foresight and propagation of results in the media, to media problems in covering the future.

See (to be copied here) also [WWW] Predicting mid-range global future by DanilaMedvedev (for example, the Dissemination of visions and Attitude to future slides) and [WWW] Transhumanism 2.0 by Natasha Vita-More from TransVision2005.

What has already been written about advocacy, future advocacy, spreading ideas, etc.? Something useful can be found in documents generally about persuading people and communicating. Particularly interesting should be to search for "memetic engineering" for requirements for the meme.

Unleashing the Ideavirus

"[WWW] Unleashing the Ideavirus" is a book, which is

I think that we should use some ideas from it for our TeachingManual.

Interestingly, Max More has a [WWW] review of it.

Think about idea hosts

Chris Meyer, co-author of Blur, had this to say: "=The one thing that distinguishes effective sneezing campaigns from ineffective ones is RESPECT for the time, attention, and reputation of the next guy to catch the virus.="

We can work effectively

"While It May Appear Accidental, It's Possible To Dramatically Increase The Chances Your Ideavirus Will Catch On And Spread."

Continuous Process is the key

"It's foolish to expect that one exposure to your message will instantly convert someone from stranger to raving ideavirus-spreading fan. So plan on a process. Plan on a method that takes people from where they are to where you want them to go."

Message must be attractive

"And while you're at it, work on the product. Because a catchier, more compelling, more viral product makes your job 100 times easier."

Evaluate & Refine

Q: Have we built in multiple feedback loops so we can alter the virus as it moves and grows?

Optimising the site

For most ideas, the web can be a powerful tool to help with this. What might a website for sneezers look like? The first touch, the first impression and first visit, must go beautifully. It's got to be fast. It should contain exactly what you've tested and discovered that most effectively captures the attention of the first time-visitor. You're in control in this moment, and you can make it work or not.

The site should also be filled with tools that make it really easy for a visitor to become a sneezer. Get out of the way. Give the sneezer something to share. Do like Tom Peters (at www.tompeters.com) and include all jour Powerpoint slides. Don't require registration or permission at this stage. Let them in, sell them on the idea, then give them the (free) tools to share.

After a person is interested enough to visit our site, we should:

  1. Get permission to follow up: make it easy for them to learn about why they should embrace this idea over time.

  2. Make as many supporting manifestos available as possible, in whatever forms necessary, to turn visitors from skeptics into converts. This can include media articles, even criticisms and commonly made objections.

  3. Make it easy for visitors to spread the ideavirus by providing a multitude of tell-a-friend tools, as well as overt rewards for becoming a sneezer.

Make spreading easy

"Once I want to tell someone about your idea, how do I do it? If it's got a dumb, hard-to-say name, or an embarrassing implication, I'll probably pass." What about the T-word? Can any other words be used during the introduction?

"Ideally, you'll figure out not only what a sneezer should say to someone when they talk about your idea, you'll also make it easy and automatic for them to do so."

When is it appropriate for a person to bring up the future/transhumanism? E.g. can it be done during small talk about personal hobbies/passions?

Transhumanism has a particularly interesting quality - the term is still unknown to most people, but the parts of the word have many familiar connotations. This can be a good opportunity to start the conversation, e.g. "What are you interested in?" "Transhumanism." "What's that?" -> the person essentially is inviting a story (a virus) and the original host can present the story as he wants. Even if there is no question originally, one can "provoke" it by asking "Do you know what that is?".

"When a sneezer is ready to spread your ideavirus, what should he say? It sounds like a simple, almost silly question, but it goes to the core of how smooth you can make your virus. If you give sneezers easy-to-follow, effective instructions, they're likely to follow them, because, after all, their goal is to spread the virus."

"... giving loyal (followers) a... catchphrase... create(d)... a powerful shorthand for referencing (transhumanist ideas)".

Concentrate & Focus

"Choose your market by identifying a hive that has a problem and the right concentration of sneezers, the right amplified networking, the right high velocity of communication and, most of all, an appropriate vacuum. Success will come to marketers who attack small but intimate hives."

"The mistake that's so easy to make is to get greedy as you choose your hive, to say, "this product is for everyone" or "anyone can benefit from this idea." Well, there are seven billion people on the planet, so it's unlikely your comment is correct; even if it is, there's little chance that a virus would spread across a hive that big. Far better to pick smaller hives and conquer them a few at a time."

Packaging

But just as it's difficult to sell someone on your ideavirus with just an image, it's also nearly impossible to suck them further in if the image is offputting, inconsistent or boring. Boring is probably the worst offense. Whether your product is a book, a trading card, a car or even the tag on a bag of tea, boring is the obvious, but wrong, solution.

You've worked very hard on the stuff "inside." You've refined, tested, edited and slaved to make sure that the idea is powerful indeed. And then it comes time to make the package—the cover. The prevailing wisdom is to create a cover that's attractive but not offensive. Something that will attract attention from everyone and offend no one.

This is nonsense, of course. It can't possibly attract everyone and offend no one. The very best cover images are like a cold glass of water thrown in your face. They break one or more rules of graphic design or industry rules of thumb. They play off existing images but change them in a vital and important way. They're loud. They attract the eye, but they also hold it. *And most of all, they intrigue us enough that we need to understand what's inside: we set ourselves up to be exposed to the virus.*

Example of a effective flash presentation (even if you disagree with the content): [WWW] http://jerrypatterson.mstsite.com/movie/index.html - many clever little communication tricks woven into this. This manner of presentation should be used by us when appropriate. Flash clips are relatively cheap and easy to make, can be easily e-mailed around, are self-containing and can communicate the message very strongly. Example of a transhumanist presentation (not as flashy): [WWW] http://transhumanism.org/images/uploads/transflash.swf

"As you think about a corporate virus or a personal one, consider: What you are the best or the most at? How can you refine and amplify those traits to create a Wow! product..., a world's record holder that is worth mentioning?" - World's Most Dangerous Idea. People like Fukuyama (his quote?) have big names, we should exploit that!

"Maybe it's not as easy to find or as easy to reach, but there are powerful sneezers in the audience for almost every idea. Finding these sneezers and giving them a sample of your idea for free is a no-brainer. Even better, figure out what it costs to deliver it with impact."

The challenge in launching an ideavirus is to understand who the pre-chasm sneezers are, and using them but not letting them use you. In other words, they're the ones who are most likely to embrace your new idea and talk about it, but if you don't get past them to the rest of the curve, you're doomed.

Step By Step, Ideavirus Tactics

Make it virusworthy. If it's not worth talking about, it won't get talked about.

Identify the hive. You won't get the full benefit of the ideavirus until you dominate your hive.

Expose the idea. Expose it to the right people, and do whatever you need to do to get those people deep into the experience of the idea as quickly as possible. Pay them if necessary, especially at the beginning. NEVER charge for exposure if you can help it.

Figure out what you want the sneezers to say. You've got to decide what you want the sneezers to say to the population. If you don't decide, either they'll decide for you and say something less than optimal, or they won't even bother to spend the time.

Give the sneezers the tools they need to spread the virus. After you've got a potential sneezer, make it easy for him to spread the idea. Give him a way to send your idea to someone else with one click. Let me join your affiliate program in sixty seconds or less. Reward the people I spread the virus to, so I don't feel guilty for spreading it.

Once the consumer has volunteered his attention, get permission. The goal of the ideavirus marketer is to use the virus to get attention, then to build a more reliable, permanent chain of communication so that further enhancements and new viruses can be launched faster and more effectively, under your control this time.

Amaze your audience so that they will reinforce the virus and keep it growing. Why do some viruses burn out more quickly than others? The simplest reason is that marketers get greedy and forget that a short-term virus is not the endofthe process, it's the beginning. By nurturing the attention you receive, you can build a self reinforcing virus that lasts and lasts and benefits all involved.

Memetic engineering

Ideas as memes and what questions to ask (for TeachingManual)

What else is available on memetic engineering?

Presenting transhumanism

When presenting about transhumanism to a fresh audience, especially if there is a possibility of a discussion/debate, concentrate on obviously strong points of transhumanism, avoid its weak and controversial points. During the first talk there is no need to paint a comprehensive picture with all the subtleties. First impression is important, so present an optimistic picture to make people accept it.

Take into account future shock levels. Pick the level you and your audience will be comfortable with and don't stray too high from it.

Explain why transhumanism is a topic that can't be ignored, why some stand must be taken on the upcoming technological developments and then explain why transhumanist position makes most sense.

And of course, use general presentation best-practices.

Countering irrational negative responses

When dealing with mostly rational people, a general-purpose counter-argument for the "yuck factor" can be "Your personal emotional discomfort with some developments is not a valid argument against scientific progress." This makes logical sense and will appeal to those who prefer logic. However, those from the "yuck-factor" may be focussed on their emotions over logic, and no amount of logic will counter their emotions.

To counter emotions with emotions you can do something like, "Sure transhumanist medical interventions are scary, but not as scary as deteriorating throughout old age until we die." (a good argument for cryonics - "You think it's repulsive to lie frozen in liquid nitrogen. Do you find the images of worms eating your decomposing body and bugs crawling in your half-eaten brain more attractive? You have issues then.") Or, "Sure people who want to transform themselves to look alien seem strange, but at least they choose their own strangeness. It would be stranger for society to force people to live their entire lives trapped in a body that dislike just for other people's viewing pleasure."

Likewise, religious arguments cannot be countered by scientific facts. If someone says transhumanism is against god, arguing that there is no god is not going to help. Instead, one may find it more useful to say "If god made me this way, and gave me this brain, then he probably expects me to use it." Or, "if god want to take my soul when I am dead, I doubt a little cryonics freezer is going to prevent him from doing so." Or, "if reincarnation is true and cryonics doesn't work, then I am sure my cryonics freezer won't last forever, and sooner or later my body will return to the earth and I will be reborn again."

Knee-jerk reactions

There is one great thing about negative responses to transhumanism - they aren't original. In fact, there is at most about 20 standard knee-jerk reactions that are automatically evoked in people. Among them are:

The good thing about them is that since we already know what our potential opponents will say, we can prepare a good response. And since our opponents haven't really changed their reasoning over the past decade or so, we can hone our responses to perfection. May be we literally should learn perfect witty and "original" responses by heart and be able to recite them when needed.

We need to identify all those difficult challenges from the other side and prepare strategies for the other side to use against us, and then be prepared to respond to those. The other side may bring up higher shock values to make us look bad and we must have a response (that would give us confidence).

People

People working on this project: DanilaMedvedev, LionKimbro. May be: VirianFlux. Potentially: Valeriya (RTD), Ari (FTA).

Discussion

We need someone who can take responsibility for this project.

Lion is right about the effort and dedication required.

LionKimbro: Well, [WWW] here's a novel approach. I like it! ;D

last edited 2006-01-01 20:19:38 by DanilaMedvedev