The Edge of the Future: Education, Civilization, and the Metacrisis

Navigating the Potentials and Perils of New Media, AI, Pervasive Propaganda, and the Looming Metacrisis

“A crisis at the root of the way we make choices about civilization itself—the metacrisis is a crisis of the mind.”Zachary Stein

Educator, author, philosopher, and futurist Zachary Stein gives a startling account of the effects the digital age already has on education and where this is headed. Think AI tutors and students talking in 3D with Socrates. Zak sees education in a deeply philosophical sense as fundamental to the sustainability of our civilization, with implications for each component of the metacrisis. Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable civilization? Can we maintain our psychological sovereignty in a sea of digital propaganda and know the truth?

Zak describes the metacrisis as a gestalt shift that allows us to orient toward the whole in an intuitive way and how this can give us traction in finding solutions. He finds hope for our future in the untapped potential of our collective human family and especially in the untapped potential of our youth, given the opportunity to make their lives meaningful and connected, working together to resolve the pressing challenges of our time. If you have a slightly outdated perception of the present, this impactful, far-reaching conversation may rock it squarely to the edge of present and future.

Recorded November 30, 2022.

Topics & Timestamps: Part 1

Introducing Dr. Zachary Stein, educator, author, philosopher, futurist (01:12)
What exactly is the metacrisis? (03:30)
The main risk to the planet is our inability to make the right decisions (06:06)
Creating a world philosophy that would be adequate for sustaining civilization, and shifting to an intuitive gestalt of the planetary whole rather than addressing only the parts or individual crises (07:10)
The metacrisis is also about existential risk and catastrophic risk: the near-term future is precipitous (09:07)
Where is the hope? What can we do as individuals? (10:14)
The metacrisis does not imply anything faulty about humans (11:09)
It’s as a result of our successes that we need to rebalance the domains that need attention
The metacrisis hyperspace is so complex, it forces you to look at it intuitively—consulting the analytical and then returning to the whole gestalt (16:05)
The sensemaking crisis and the booby trapping of the ecosystem of information (17:54)
Public sensemaking, propaganda wars, the issue of trust with the news and politicians, cyber troops, and social media (20:03)
The behavior manipulation machine, the thought terminating cliché, and how propaganda targets the intuition (24:05)
Propaganda is the evil twin of education (32:28)
How do we find our way through? Psychological sovereignty says a human being can know the truth (37:47)

Topics & Timestamps: Part 2

How we ourselves are weaponized to spread propaganda (01:52)
Meditation as an antidote: coming back to our own fundamental present moment experience (02:58)
Algorithmic radicalization and how to stop the limbic hijacking that happens via the screen (04:20)
The future of education: AI tutoring, virtual reality, and talking with Socrates (07:50)
For the first time a generation could be raised by a non-human entity, creating a trans-human generation and fundamentally changing the dynamic of what a human is (12:31)
The “return of the human” and the bicycle analogy (16:51)
Who will be driving the technology stack that actually leads to a viable democracy in America and a viable civilization altogether? (19:06)
Education broadly defined is social autopoiesis—the way the social system identifies, reproduces, evolves (21:06)
Self-conscious evolution occurs through human education; our capacity for education makes us unique as a species (23:55)
The future of education involves the end of schools and learning to socialize doing collaborative work (26:50)
The adolescent mental health crisis: everyone senses schools are irrelevant (28:04)
Making the lives of adolescents meaningful and reviving the guild structure (30:30)
How do we foster virtue and maturity, and intelligence rather than only intelligence? (32:40)
The de-spiritualization of society and the need to reintroduce religious meaning making (35:00)
What gives Zachary hope: how much we underestimate human potential, and all the untapped collective intelligence that could come out of a cooperative approach vs a competitive one (39:31)

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos
Image created via MidJourney

Presented by iAwake Technologies’ innovative, sound-tech infused Journey to the Center of the Self.

Guided Meditation and Brainwave Frequencies for a Deep Dive into Beingness

Journey to the Center of the Self is a powerfully inductive, yet gentle guided meditation by master hypnotherapist, Joseph Kao, supported by a deeply immersive, consciousness-altering sonic massage that guides us to experience pure awareness — which is our deepest Self.

Check out the free sample:

Click here to hear more!

About the Deep Transformation series

We are clearly in a new era, facing world-threatening challenges and graced with barely conceivable opportunities. In this mind-boggling new world, we all face two crucial questions:

First, the ever-present conundrum of how to best live fully, deeply, wisely, and well.
Second, the new question unique to our times, how to best understand and heal our endangered world.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to hear responses to these questions from some of the great consciousness pioneers—the outstanding thinkers, sages, scientists, and activists—of our time? These are the people and conversations that Deep Transformation offers.

Deep Transformation: Self-Society-Spirit draws on diverse ideas from around the world. It goes beyond traditional positions and polarities—beyond left and right, material and spiritual—to seek syntheses of deep wisdom and practical know-how that integrate the best of all positions.

Click here to learn more about Deep Transformation!

Previous Episodes of Deep Transformation

Spiritual Intelligence: 21 Skills for Wisdom, Compassion, and Love in Action

Cindy Wigglesworth

Cindy Wigglesworth, trailblazer in the field of spiritual intelligence, has created an assessment tool that identifies our spiritual strengths and weaknesses — qualities that fall outside the traditional IQ or emotional intelligence (EQ) parameters — in order to provide a guide for determining which skills we as individuals need to develop in order to show up in the world as love in action.

The Wonderful (But Flawed) Ideals of DEI

Keith Martin-Smith

Keith Martin-Smith takes a careful look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to.

The Mysterious World of Shamanism

Roger Walsh

Roger Walsh provides us with a brilliant, big picture perspective, pointing out that at the heart of shamanism (and every great world tradition) are psychospiritual technologies—actual practices—that lead us to the doorway of the Great Mystery, and that service is the culmination of each tradition, both as a means to and an expression of one’s realization.

Democracy in Decline? The Supreme Court and the Threat to Public Morality

Mark Fischler

How did the democratic process and the values it represents — equality and liberty for all — come to be teetering on the brink? Mark illuminates the fact that the Constitution is not a set-in-stone document, but eminently open to interpretation, and explains that its interpretation is a direct reflection of the worldviews of the Supreme Court justices. In fact, the whole process of democracy needs to be aligned with a certain level of development in order to deliver...

Ken Wilber’s Map of Everything

Brad Reynolds

Brad Reynolds gives us a beautiful distillation of Ken Wilber’s work, starting from the beginning and spanning decades. Not only does Brad elegantly relate the major themes of Ken’s work, he also makes clear the value of Ken’s contributions—the way this knowledge can be understood and applied to literally expand our notion of reality and evolve our consciousness

The Psychology of Climate Change

Gail Hochachka

Climate change researcher, sustainable development expert, and activist Gail Hochachka works on the front lines of climate change research, asking—and answering—questions like: How does the way we make meaning, at all our different stages of development, relate to the ways we act on climate change? How can we foster more engagement with climate change? Is climate action scalable? And how are we going to show up for the people who are facing the greatest impacts?

Bringing Soul and Integrity to American Politics

Marianne Williamson

More than a political talk, Marianne reveals a psychological and spiritual portrait of the United States, referencing the brilliant vision of our founding fathers, Martin Luther King’s goal of Beloved Community, and telling a stirring story of the way Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration reflects the high morality of the populace at that time.

Deepening Our Explorations of Reality

Bruce Alderman

Bruce Alderman, poet, mystic, and spiritual explorer, is also an integral scholar and pioneer of the emerging field of metatheory, looking at how to put our disparate fields of information—spiritual, psychological, philosophical, environmental, scientific—together and integrate them into a useful whole.

Buddhas in Blue: Enlightened Ways to Make Policing Work For Everyone

Ryan Johansen

In this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve.

The Essence of Awakening: Who Are We Really?

Lama Surya Das

Lama Surya Das, beloved meditation teacher, scholar, pioneer of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West, and author of the bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within among many more, shares bright gems of wisdom from his extensive experience practicing Dzogchen, his long immersion in meditation retreats, and studying in person with the great spiritual teachers of Asia.

Building a Just World: How Our Laws Express Our Collective Values

Mark Fischler

Constitutional law expert and criminal justice professor Mark Fischler has a thirst for justice and a gift for teaching. With cogency and passion, Mark explains that law is not the absolute that we perhaps thought, but an ever changing reflection of the values we hold as a society. Law is a developmental process, and will benefit from our own dedication to inner moral development.

The Enneagram as a Spiritual Tool

Leslie Hershberger

Enneagram expert, teacher, master facilitator, and transformational coach Leslie Hershberger leads us into the world of the Enneagram, painting a broader, deeper picture of the Enneagram and its uses as a psycho-spiritual tool than is commonly understood.

From Race to Culture to Kosmos

Greg Thomas

Join cultural analyst and co-founder of the Jazz Leadership Project, Greg Thomas, as he explores the transformative power of culture, using his knowledge of jazz and blues as a conduit to greater understanding and connection. Greg tackles layered issues of race through a systemic lens, suggesting a shift from racial to cultural worldview, offering an enlightening dialogue filled with anecdotes from music history and a rich exploration of how shared cultural experiences can dissolve boundaries and unite us all.

Grappling with the Metacrisis

Sean Esbjörn-Hargens

In this dialogue, the world of metatheories comes alive with urgent, purposeful meaning, because as Sean and Nick point out, integrative metatheories like Ken Wilber’s integral theory and Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism are the only tools that provide a useful framework for us to talk about and confront the vast web of interrelated and wicked problems we face on every level at this time.

Illuminating the Integral Vision: A Metatheory for Understanding Self, Life, and the World

Corey deVos

Corey gives a terrifically lucid explanation of what the term Integral encompasses: a stage of psychological development, a description of Ken Wilber’s life’s work, and a comprehensive map that comes alive for people, guiding their way and making sense out of enormously complex issues. Corey also describes Integral as a gateway between two massive phases in human history — the “adolescent” phase of collective development now starting to fall behind us, and an integrated phase quite possibly ahead.

The Human Potential Movement: Then and Now

Mike Murphy

Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential.

Nature as Teacher: Finding Beauty, Wisdom, and Self in Everything

Susanne Cook-Greuter

Adult psychology pioneer and ego development expert Susanne Cook-Greuter introduces us to her favorite wisdom teacher: Nature. Susanne explains how Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process can be practiced with elements in nature to gain greater insight into the teachings of nature—evolution, cycles of life and death, the transience of life, the beauty that is everywhere—and to experience oneness with all.

Awakening Joy: Life Skills for Living, Loving, and Serving Life to the Full

James Baraz

James’ teachings take us deeply into states like gratitude and compassionate presence, to where we can focus our attention on how it feels to feel good somatically, thereby creating new neural pathways that strengthen awareness and aliveness. James has witnessed a lot of people learn to love themselves and turn their lives around as a result of this teaching.

Nonduality (And Beyond)

A. H. Almaas

A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), renowned author and co-creator of the Diamond Approach, describes his own process of inquiry and some of what he has come to discover in his lifelong pursuit to understand the nature of reality and know the truth.

The Source and Heart of Judaism and the Great Religions

Zvi Ish-Shalom

In this remarkable conversation, Zvi describes how he found ways to map and interpret his own profound mystical experiences, how the teachings arise from the ground of being, about how they might become accessible to us all, regardless of religion or spiritual tradition, and how they are especially relevant for young people today, seeking to find a structure for their spiritual journey.

Vertical Development’s Many Gifts

Beena Sharma

Beena Sharma, president of the Vertical Development Academy (VeDA), gives a beautifully cogent explanation of the 8-stage, full spectrum model of adult psychological development, Vertical Development — illuminating us not only to the characteristics of each stage of development, but the implications and ramifications of each stage, the process of human development as a whole, and how this model can help us face our current metacrisis.

Become a member today to watch this video presentation and support the global emergence of Integral consciousness

About Zach Stein

Dr. Zak Stein is a philosopher of education, trained at Harvard, co-founder of Lectica, Consilience Project, and Center for World Philosophy and Religion (formerly Center for Integral Wisdom). He is the author of dozens of published papers and two books, including Education in a Time Between Worlds.

About John Dupuy

John Dupuy is co-founder and CEO of iAwake Technologies, a company that creates cutting-edge, high-tech brainwave entrainment soundtracks that support the healing of emotional/shadow issues, deepen meditation, mental focus, creativity, and flow states, and enhance a daily integral transformative practice. John has been working personally and professionally with brainwave entrainment technology since 2004, and travels internationally to teach and inspire on the subjects of Integral Transformative Practice and Integral Recovery®. John is also the author of Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction (SUNY Press, 2013), winner of the 2013 USA Best Book Award, and co-host of the popular Journey of Integral Recovery podcast. John also hosts the online series Spiritual Tech Talks 2.0, in which he converses with leaders, pioneers, and inventors on the current wave of emerging spiritual technologies.

About Roger Walsh

Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., has spent nearly a quarter century researching and practicing in the world's great spiritual traditions. His critically acclaimed book, Essential Spirituality, is a summary of that wisdom, outlining the seven spiritual practices common to the world's major religions.