Nothing Makes Sense: AI & Information Ecology

Daniel Schmachtenberger's groundbreaking work on information ecology and sensemaking provides a crucial missing dimension to our understanding of AI's impact on civilization. His framework, developed through "The War on Sensemaking" series and related work, offers profound insights into how information warfare, memetic dynamics, and coordination failures shape our collective ability to make sense of reality—including AI developments themselves. This expansion integrates Schmachtenberger's perspectives with the existing critical analysis of LessWrong technical safety concerns, economic justice critiques, and Neil Postman's technopoly framework to provide a more comprehensive understanding of AI's civilizational implications.

The Information Ecology Crisis: Schmachtenberger's Foundational Framework

Broken Information Environments and the Sensemaking Breakdown

Schmachtenberger's central insight is that our information ecology—the environment of signals, narratives, and meaning-making processes that inform human decision-making—has become fundamentally compromised[1][2]. This breakdown is not merely about "fake news" or misinformation, but represents a systemic failure in humanity's collective ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, understand complex realities, and coordinate effective responses to civilizational challenges.

The crisis manifests in what Schmachtenberger calls the "metacrisis"—the underlying pattern generating multiple overlapping crises including climate breakdown, technological risk, economic inequality, and democratic decay[3][4]. Unlike previous civilizational challenges that were localized, the current crisis is global and interconnected, making traditional sensemaking approaches insufficient[5][4].

The War on Sensemaking: Information as Battlefield

Schmachtenberger's analysis reveals how information has become weaponized through what he terms "information warfare" or "narrative warfare"[6][7][8]. This extends far beyond state propaganda to include market-driven manipulation, attention hijacking, and memetic conflicts that systematically undermine collective intelligence[1][2][9].

Key dynamics include:

Strategic Signaling vs. Truthful Communication: Unlike passive information reflection found in nature, human abstract signaling allows for strategic information sharing designed to advance particular agendas rather than convey truth[2]. This creates endemic uncertainty about whether any signal reflects reality or the sender's strategic interests.

Memetic Weaponization: Drawing on Richard Dawkins' concept of memes as cultural replicators, Schmachtenberger shows how ideas themselves become weapons in ideological conflicts[8][10][9]. Memes that are effective at "warfare"—spreading rapidly and defeating opposing ideas—often succeed regardless of their truth value or benefit to collective welfare[11].

Attention Economy Manipulation: Information providers compete for limited human attention using increasingly sophisticated psychological techniques, creating what Schmachtenberger calls "hyper-normal stimuli" that hijack cognitive processes[2][12][13]. This systematically degrades the quality of attention available for genuine sensemaking.

The Three Pillars: True, Truthful, and Representative

Schmachtenberger's epistemological framework distinguishes between three critical dimensions of information quality[2][11]:

Truthful: Correspondence between what someone shares and what they believe. Breakdowns include outright lying, lying by omission, and emphasis bias.

True: Correspondence between statements and independently verifiable reality. Someone can be truthful (honest about their beliefs) while propagating false information due to poor sensemaking.

Representative: Even true information can mislead if it's not representative of the full context. Selective emphasis, cherry-picked data, or preponderance of information in particular directions can create distortion despite technical accuracy.

This framework reveals why traditional fact-checking approaches are insufficient—the problem extends beyond individual false claims to systemic distortions in how information is selected, framed, and disseminated.

Schmachtenberger's Sensemaking Framework: From Information Warfare to Collective Intelligence

Game Theory, Coordination Failure, and the Moloch Dynamic

Beyond Individual Agency: Structural Drivers of Information Pollution

Schmachtenberger's analysis goes deeper than individual bad actors to examine the structural incentives that systematically produce information pollution[2][14][15]. Drawing on game theory and the concept of "Moloch"—multipolar coordination traps where individual rational behavior leads to collectively destructive outcomes—he shows how information degradation emerges from systemic dynamics rather than conscious conspiracy.

Market Dynamics and Information Commodification: In competitive market environments, information becomes a strategic resource rather than a shared good[2]. Companies have incentives to withhold valuable information (intellectual property), spread disinformation about competitors, and optimize for engagement rather than truth when monetizing attention[12][13].

Rivalrous vs. Synergistic Relationships: When agents perceive their interests as competing rather than aligned, they have systematic incentives to mislead, manipulate, or withhold information from others[2][14]. This creates what Schmachtenberger calls "agency misalignment"—a fundamental divergence between individual and collective interests.

Exponential Technology and Information Asymmetries: Advanced technologies like AI create unprecedented asymmetries in information processing capabilities, allowing sophisticated actors to engage in "asymmetric information warfare" against populations that may not even recognize they're under attack[2][15].

The Metacrisis: Interconnected Civilizational Breakdown

Schmachtenberger's metacrisis framework connects information ecology breakdown to broader civilizational dynamics[4][16][17]. The metacrisis encompasses:

Coordination Failure: Humanity's inability to coordinate responses to global challenges despite having the technical capabilities to address them[18][14][19].

Sensemaking Breakdown: The degradation of collective intelligence and wisdom needed to navigate complex interdependent systems[1][5][3].

Meaning Crisis: The erosion of shared meaning-making frameworks that enable coherent collective action[1][4][16].

Exponential Technology Without Wisdom: Rapidly advancing capabilities in AI, biotech, and other domains without corresponding advances in wisdom or governance[4][15][20].

Integration with Existing Critical Frameworks

Convergences with Surveillance Capitalism and Platform Theory

Schmachtenberger's information ecology analysis powerfully complements Shoshana Zuboff's surveillance capitalism critique[21][22]. Both theorists recognize how digital platforms systematically extract and manipulate human behavioral data, but Schmachtenberger's framework adds crucial dimensions:

Information vs. Behavioral Extraction: While Zuboff focuses on behavioral data extraction for prediction markets, Schmachtenberger examines how information itself becomes polluted in the process[21][2]. Surveillance capitalism doesn't just extract value from human experience—it systematically degrades the information environment humans need for autonomous decision-making.

Attention as Cognitive Infrastructure: Schmachtenberger's attention economy analysis reveals how platform business models don't just capture attention but actively degrade attentional capacities needed for deep thinking[2][12][13]. This connects to Postman's concerns about media reshaping cognition but with more systematic analysis of economic drivers.

Memetic Engineering: Beyond behavioral modification, platforms engage in what could be called "memetic engineering"—systematically shaping the ideas, narratives, and worldviews that populate collective consciousness[8][9][23]. This represents a deeper level of intervention than traditional propaganda.

Amplifying Algorithmic Justice Concerns

Schmachtenberger's framework amplifies concerns raised by Cathy O'Neil and Ruha Benjamin about algorithmic harm[7][24][25][26], but situates them within broader information ecosystem dynamics:

Algorithmic Amplification of Information Warfare: AI systems don't just perpetuate existing biases—they can be systematically leveraged for information warfare, creating what Schmachtenberger might call "algorithmic memetic weapons"[8][9].

Feedback Loops Between AI and Information Degradation: As AI systems are trained on increasingly polluted information environments, they may amplify and systematize information warfare tactics, creating runaway dynamics between technological capabilities and information quality[2][15].

Scale and Speed of Manipulation: AI enables information manipulation at unprecedented scale and speed, making traditional democratic deliberation and fact-checking mechanisms inadequate[15][20][12].

Extending Postman's Technopoly Analysis

Schmachtenberger's work significantly extends Neil Postman's technopoly framework by providing a more detailed analysis of information-age dynamics:

From Information Overload to Information Warfare: While Postman identified information overload as a key problem, Schmachtenberger shows how information abundance enables systematic warfare rather than just confusion[2][12]. The problem isn't just too much information, but actively weaponized information designed to undermine sensemaking.

Technopoly in the Age of AI: Postman's concern about cultural surrender to technological authority becomes more urgent in the context of AI systems that claim superior information processing capabilities[2][15]. Schmachtenberger's framework helps explain why technical solutions to AI alignment may be insufficient without addressing underlying cultural and economic dynamics.

Media Ecology to Information Ecology: Schmachtenberger evolves Postman's media ecological approach into a more comprehensive "information ecology" that encompasses not just media technologies but the full spectrum of meaning-making processes in complex civilizations[2][3][11].

Collective Intelligence and Post-Game Theoretic Solutions

Dialectical Thinking and Narrative Synthesis

Central to Schmachtenberger's proposed solutions is dialectical thinking—the ability to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously and synthesize them into higher-order understanding[5][27][28]. This approach directly addresses the polarization and reductionism that characterize much contemporary discourse around AI and other complex topics.

Steel-manning vs. Straw-manning: Rather than attacking weak versions of opposing arguments, dialectical thinking involves "steel-manning"—seeking the strongest possible version of alternative perspectives[5]. This practice is essential for navigating the complex landscape of AI risks and benefits without falling into tribal warfare.

Narrative Synthesis Across Ideological Divides: Schmachtenberger advocates for mapping entire "narrative landscapes" around complex issues rather than adopting single perspectives[5][29]. This involves identifying clusters of related viewpoints and understanding the partial truths within each rather than dismissing alternatives entirely.

Comfort with Uncertainty: A crucial element of improved sensemaking is cultivating comfort with uncertainty and avoiding premature closure on complex questions[5]. This stands in tension with both AI optimists who dismiss risks and AI pessimists who claim certainty about negative outcomes.

Collective Intelligence and Emergent Governance

Schmachtenberger's vision for addressing the metacrisis emphasizes developing new forms of collective intelligence that can navigate complexity without falling into coordination traps[30][31][32]:

Distributed Cognition: Rather than centralizing decision-making in institutions or AI systems, collective intelligence approaches distribute cognitive work across networks of diverse agents while maintaining coherent coordination[32][3].

Anti-fragile Systems: Drawing on Nassim Taleb's concept of anti-fragility, Schmachtenberger envisions civilizational systems that become stronger through stress and uncertainty rather than more brittle[17][33].

Post-Rivalry Coordination: The ultimate goal is developing coordination mechanisms that align individual and collective interests, moving beyond the zero-sum dynamics that drive information warfare[17][33][14].

Educational and Cultural Transformation

Addressing information ecology breakdown requires fundamental changes in how humans develop cognitive and emotional capabilities:

Sovereignty vs. Groupthink: Schmachtenberger emphasizes developing individual "sovereignty"—the capacity for independent critical thinking—while also enhancing ability to engage in collective intelligence[1][5][31].

Emotional and Relational Intelligence: Technical solutions are insufficient without corresponding development of emotional intelligence, empathy, and trust-building capabilities needed for genuine collective sensemaking[5][31].

Wisdom Traditions and Modern Challenges: Schmachtenberger draws on contemplative and wisdom traditions while adapting their insights to contemporary technological and social challenges[16][4].

Implications for AI Development and Governance

Beyond Technical Alignment: Informational and Cultural Alignment

Schmachtenberger's framework suggests that the AI alignment problem extends far beyond technical challenges to encompass what might be called "informational alignment" and "cultural alignment":

Informational Alignment: AI systems are inevitably embedded within information ecologies. If those ecologies are polluted by warfare dynamics, even technically aligned AI may amplify destructive patterns[2][15]. Ensuring beneficial AI requires healing the information environment in which AI systems operate.

Cultural Alignment: AI development occurs within specific cultural contexts that shape both the problems prioritized and solutions pursued. Addressing civilizational challenges requires transforming the cultural patterns that generate coordination failures and information warfare[4][16][33].

Democratic Participation vs. Expert Capture: Technical AI safety research conducted by small communities of experts may miss crucial perspectives needed for navigating complex social implications[3][34]. Schmachtenberger's emphasis on collective intelligence suggests the need for more democratic and inclusive approaches to AI governance.

Addressing Exponential Technology Risks

Schmachtenberger's metacrisis framework provides crucial context for understanding AI risks within broader patterns of exponential technology development[4][15][20]:

Moloch Dynamics in AI Development: Competitive pressures between AI developers create classic coordination problems where individual rational behavior (racing to deploy more powerful systems) leads to collectively destructive outcomes (increased systemic risk)[15][35].

Information Warfare and AI Capabilities: As AI systems become more powerful, they may be increasingly leveraged for information warfare, creating feedback loops between technological advancement and social disruption[15][9][8].

Wisdom Gap: The core challenge is not just developing aligned AI, but developing human wisdom and coordination capabilities sufficient to navigate the implications of exponential technological change[4][16][17].

Regenerative vs. Extractive Technology Development

Schmachtenberger advocates for "regenerative" approaches to technology development that enhance rather than degrade the cultural and ecological systems within which they operate[17][33][4]:

Technology as Collective Intelligence Amplifier: Rather than replacing human intelligence, AI could be developed to amplify collective human wisdom and coordination capabilities[31][32][17].

Long-term vs. Short-term Optimization: Current technology development is often driven by short-term competitive dynamics that ignore long-term consequences. Addressing this requires new economic and governance models that internalize long-term impacts[4][33][15].

Embedded Social and Ecological Values: Technology development should explicitly account for impacts on social cohesion, democratic participation, meaning-making, and ecological health rather than treating these as externalities[4][33].

Convergent Solutions Across Frameworks

Educational Transformation for the AI Age

Integrating insights from Postman, various justice-oriented critics, and Schmachtenberger suggests comprehensive educational reform priorities:

Media and Information Literacy 2.0: Beyond traditional media literacy, education must develop capacities for navigating information warfare, recognizing memetic manipulation, and maintaining cognitive sovereignty in attention economy environments[2][12][9].

Dialectical and Systems Thinking: Educational approaches should cultivate abilities to hold complexity, engage with multiple perspectives, and understand systemic dynamics rather than just linear cause-and-effect relationships[27][28][5].

Contemplative and Relational Skills: Technical and analytical skills must be balanced with contemplative practices, emotional intelligence, and capacity for building trust and engaging in collective intelligence[5][31][16].

Institutional Design for Complex Coordination

The convergent analysis points toward institutional innovations that could address multiple dimensions of the challenges simultaneously:

Deliberative and Participatory Governance: Decision-making processes that engage diverse perspectives through structured dialogue rather than adversarial debate or expert-technocratic approaches[3][31][19].

Economic Models Beyond Extraction: New economic approaches that align individual incentives with collective wellbeing rather than creating zero-sum competition for resources and attention[4][17][33].

Technology Governance at Multiple Scales: Coordination mechanisms that can operate across local, national, and global scales while maintaining democratic legitimacy and adaptive capacity[3][18][4].

Cultural Renaissance and Meaning-Making

Perhaps most fundamentally, the integrated analysis suggests the need for what Schmachtenberger calls a "cultural renaissance" or "enlightenment" adequate to contemporary challenges[4][16][33]:

Post-Modern Wisdom Synthesis: Approaches that integrate pre-modern wisdom traditions, modern scientific understanding, and post-modern appreciation for complexity and multiple perspectives[16][4].

Regenerative Culture: Cultural patterns that enhance rather than degrade the living systems—ecological, social, psychological—within which human civilization is embedded[4][33].

Sacred Relationship with Technology: Approaching technology development with appropriate reverence and responsibility rather than either uncritical embrace or reactive rejection[16][4][33].

Conclusion: Toward Integral Approaches to AI and Civilization

Daniel Schmachtenberger's information ecology framework provides essential insights that significantly deepen and extend existing critical analyses of AI. His work reveals how AI development cannot be understood in isolation from broader civilizational dynamics including information warfare, coordination failures, meaning-making crises, and the challenges of governing exponential technologies wisely.

The integration of Schmachtenberger's perspectives with LessWrong technical safety concerns, economic justice critiques, and Postman's technopoly analysis creates a more comprehensive understanding of AI's implications. Rather than focusing narrowly on technical alignment or specific harms, this integrated approach reveals AI as embedded within complex social, cultural, and ecological systems that must be addressed holistically.

Key insights from this integration include:

Information Environment as Infrastructure: Just as physical infrastructure enables or constrains economic activity, information environments enable or constrain collective intelligence and coordination. Healing information ecology is prerequisite to beneficial AI development.

Cultural Transformation as AI Safety: Technical AI safety measures are insufficient without corresponding cultural evolution that develops wisdom, collective intelligence, and post-rivalry coordination capabilities.

Democratic Participation in Technology Governance: The complexity of AI's implications requires engaging diverse perspectives and forms of intelligence rather than leaving decisions to technical experts or market forces alone.

Long-term Regenerative Vision: Rather than optimizing for short-term metrics, AI development should be guided by long-term vision of civilizational flourishing that enhances rather than degrades human agency, social cohesion, and ecological health.

The stakes could not be higher. As Schmachtenberger emphasizes, we are making increasingly consequential choices with degraded collective sensemaking capabilities, "running increasingly fast through the woods increasingly blind"[5]. Whether humanity navigates the AI transition successfully may depend on our ability to develop the collective intelligence, cultural wisdom, and coordination capabilities that these integrated frameworks illuminate.

The path forward requires unprecedented cooperation across disciplines, perspectives, and communities. It demands technical rigor, social justice, cultural transformation, and ecological awareness simultaneously. Most fundamentally, it requires recognizing that the question of beneficial AI is inseparable from the broader question of beneficial civilization—and that answering this question successfully may be humanity's most urgent collective challenge.

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3. https://www.youtube.com

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6. https://civilizationemerging.com/media/war-on-sensemaking-2-daniel-schmachtenberger/

7. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/397489/why-the-world-no-longer-makes-sense.html

8. https://stephenreid.net/k/daniel/terms/sensemaking

9. https://conversational-leadership.net/video/video-the-war-on-sensemaking-ii/

10. https://conversational-leadership.net/collective-sensemaking/

11. https://civilizationemerging.com/media/war-on-sensemaking-4-pandemic-conspiracy-daniel-schmachtenberger/