Seems to boil down to a single precondition:

We need so succeed at building a powerful social movement that can raise awareness of the need for and opportunities of arcologies in the general public, fire up the imaginations of bond-buyers and help convince politicians of the popularity of the idea.

Assume for this page that we already have a workable plan.

list and study some of like movements that have come and gone

• Occupy Wallstreet
• Zeitgeist
• The Venus Project
• David Suzuki Foundation

Why did they fail?

• I propose:
  • they were either dedicated only to criticizing and awareness raising (Occupy Wallstreet, Zeitgeist)
  • or they offered a vision with no path to get there: (Venus Project)
  • or they tried to partially reform the existing system with incompatible reforms (David Suzuki Foundation)

What would an arcology movement need to succeed?

• because it needs to last for years, it can’t be a short blip. It needs to sustain.
• you need to be able to build strong empathy with the public

There needs to be Awareness, Urgency, Agency

• they need to be aware of and care about the Problems Arcologies Solve, and believe that it’s possible to solve them
• they need to know about and care about the benefits of arcologies
  • safety from climate change instability
  • more convenient lifestyle
  • Better connections to friends and family
  • cheaper lifestyle, save money
• there needs to be urgency to motivate people and retain their attention
  • people basically need to be convinced that the current system urgently needs replacement
• what we’re asking from people is extraordinary. they’ll need some strong motivation
• people need to feel that they can no longer rely on the old system much longer to keep things going.
• For them and/or their children
• I don’t think it’s enough to warn people or argue that these problems are coming.
  • Generally, things outside of people’s direct experience are not as ‘real’ to them as things they’ve experienced themselves.
  • The deeper, more emotional parts of the brain don’t get it, so it remains mostly cerebral knowledge, and it’s the deeper parts of the mind the drive emotion and motivation.
    • I think this can be overcome, at the great expense of being re-exposed to the same message many many times. IE: propaganda.
• It probably needs to be their lived experience.
  • lived experience of climate change catastrophes
  • lived experience of social breakdown. This can be gradual, but people need to have internalized and deeply understand that this is heading towards devastation.

So what are we looking for?

A people who

1. are already somewhat socialized to progressive ideas (since the arcology will be a very progressive environment)
2. have the education/talent/means to support and populate the arcology.
3. have experienced fairly shocking consequences of global warming first hand.
4. can be effectively and affordably reached, educated and activated.

 

What cultures do NOT meet these requirements today?

• US Seasteaders and libertarians. They would be too uncomfortable with the economics and community living.
• The US public at large:
  • insufficient exposure to climate disasters,
  • poorly socialized for arcologies: generally too right leaning: constantly blasted with right-leaning, strongly consumeristic propaganda.
    • shifting the world-view of the average American to the point where they could understand and accept the benefits of an arcology would be a massive undertaking, and you’d be constantly battling the influence of consumer marketing, organized religion and conventional political propaganda.
  • massive levels of debt among the general public restricts agency.

What cultures are closer?

The Western Progressive Left

• In the west (US and Europe) there is clearly a pretty large, leftist subculture, that cares deeply for the environment, regularly protests and are frustrated by the lack of social progress.
  • The US Progressive Left
  • European Progressive Left
  • TODO: is it also the case that on average, these folks are better educated than the general public?
• Mainland Europeans are generally more left leaning, and already inherently understand the benefits of living in close urban areas. They live in social-democratic societies with higher levels of social services.
• Many of their urban centers are car-free. They are also more adapted I think to understanding the benefits of leisure and balanced lifestyles.

The rich nations of the Middle East?

• Places like Kuwait and the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are awash with money in need of investment.
• Have experienced the privations of excessive heatwaves for years now.
• Suffer from chronic water shortages
• Have always been uncomfortable with interest lending as it’s banned in the Koran.
  • the arcology’s demurrage, cashflow-based, digital currency may have a special appeal to them.
• They would love to one-up the west and leap ahead of them socially & technologically.
• They have a history of extreme engineering, like Dubai and The Line, Saudi Arabia – Wikipedia
• There’s also the advantage that you may only need to convince one person, or a small cadre, to come up with all the funding you need.

TODO: review these:  China, Burma, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Australia