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In a previous article, I introduced Ripple Detection, a comprehensive model to map out the various spheres of human activity, proximity, and engagement (SHAPE), along with a quality check on our digital feed for complete, aligned, reputable, and ethical (CARE) content as a map and compass mental model to help cut through the bullsh*t and keep things in context.

As an award-winning technologist, designer, and researcher who has specialized in digital workflows and the sense-making of complex systems around people and places, it’s time we talked about how it all fits together. In this follow-up article and Part 1 of a two-part exposition, I lay out examples for each of the various SHAPE domains and their conditions and the ways that I leverage this understanding to think through the impact of technology on humanity.

Align to Objectivity

Before I get into the main topic, I have a small adjustment to my initial CARE model and a great story of continual improvement and the criticality of choosing our words intentionally.

A wonderful colleague, Jeanette Cajide, pointed out a valid concern that “aligning with what I know is true” could be a scary implication as someone's subjective truth can often overshadow their logical objective understanding. I think the simplest correction to this is altering my acronym to CORE, replacing the “A” for “align” with “O” for “objective,” which is the core value I am proposing.

We must be more careful to verify ideas that are subjective vs. objective. Opinions are fine, but we should not mistake them for objective truths. Measurably verifiable things that occur regardless of our desired position or outcome should hold a deeper value to us and our civilization. Without that distinction, we spiral into chaos quicker than we may ever realize before it’s too late.

In his book Starry Messenger, Neil deGrasse Tyson lays out an astute perspective on our relationship with ‘truth.’ He lays out three types of ‘truth’ that reflect how people tend to use them to support an argument: personal truths (subjective), political truths (subjective), and objective truths (obviously, objective.) The first two are principles and positions we hold based on personal belief, while an objective truth can be tested/proven outside ourselves and beyond our opinion. It supersedes any singular position and is a testable fact for everyone, regardless of belief.

Objectivity is essential to critical thinking, which is essential to knowing what you can trust. Trust is central to our AI conversation and one of the five aspects of predictive and generative design methods to help clarify expectations I wrote about previously. Predictive and generative AI tools will catapult us into an “even deeper misinformation era,” as Jeanette put it. We now need to equip our minds with the tools to clearly define objective or subjective content as we scroll through life’s events, which can be hard.

One way to maintain an objective perspective is to build a habit of filling the gaps with other verifiable information not presented immediately, but it’s tough with large systems. Hence, my proposal for Ripple Detection is a mental tool to help provide scaffolding that frames your understanding of how one event, idea, or headline impacts the system of things around you. So, why is this harder today?

Bigger Worlds Around Each Us

Our individual worlds are much bigger today, and so, too, the setting & context around a topic might stretch from the Self or Society out to the Earth and our place in the Universe. Given our interdependency on globalization, the internet, and ubiquitous engagement with digital products, I am exploring how we might more easily understand things on a planetary scale since those largest entities surrounding and consuming us are very difficult to wrap our heads around.

Thinking from an object-oriented-ontology (OOO) perspective, Timothy Morton coined a name for these largest of objects as Hyperobjects. Hyperobjects are objects so massively distributed in time and space that they transcend spatiotemporal specificities, such as global warming, styrofoam, and radioactive plutonium. They are so big yet so close to us that they tend to impact our lives in ways we may not perceive. I’m investigating technologically induced hyperobjects and the impact of technology across all SHAPE (Spheres of Human Activity, Proximity, and Engagement) domains.

Over a series of articles, I will explore our techno sapiens condition through each SHAPE domain in more detail to see what events, ideas, and human activity tie back to how we think about ourselves and what ripples we can start to visualize. I want to discover a simpler way to configure a meaningful understanding of our hyperconnected and hypercomplex world. To better grasp what I’m talking about, this Part 1 introduction overviews the smaller four SHAPE domains that relate most closely to ourselves, what is included within each, and how to think about their scale and impact.

The SHAPE of Existence, Part 1 (Self — Humanity)

AI and Quantum Computing are blasting through our knowledge horizon and very quickly catalyzing the collective processing of understanding, making it more critical to have a mental model in place to envision better how it all goes together. It could also be useful in fighting Skynet when the AIs turn sentient, but we can talk about that later. It still might be futile to try and know how everything — always — all-at-once fits together, but here we are, attempting to do the very thing mankind has pursued from the beginning of time: know the truth about things and how it all works. Let’s get into the first four SHAPE domains and their significance in making up the backdrop of your everyday existence in Part 1 of examining the shape of existence.