Designing the Mind: The Principles of Psychitecture - Ryan A Bush 2021
Beyond the Human Condition
Chapter 10: Self-Mastery
This painting—that which we humans call life and experience—has gradually become, is indeed still fully in the process of becoming, and should thus not be regarded as a fixed object…
- Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human
What if we could provide each individual with an array of powerful psychotechnologies for understanding and optimizing the functions of their own minds? What would be the cumulative effects on society if every person’s highest goal was to overcome themselves and build the best possible mind? The purpose of psychitecture is not just to decrease suffering, but to pursue greatness and active flourishing. I am interested in psychological development beyond the norm - in human potential. And I believe that for reasons entirely within their control, most people today fall radically short of their own values.
There is a massive and growing gap in our culture between skill and wisdom - a gap that is becoming increasingly dangerous.24 Modern culture is obsessed with the external. We appoint leaders who present thin veneers of strength and superficial accomplishment. We pay so much attention to these facades that we fail to inquire into their foundations. As a result, we live in a world whose fate increasingly falls in the hands of the least wise and most power-obsessed individuals.
When people set out to improve their lives, they look outward. They ask how they might elevate their lifestyle, their status, or their possessions. When we talk about life skills, most think of the skills needed to get jobs, attract partners, and manage finances. These are all perfectly admirable skills. But they are secondary. Every external end is a means to an internal end. And many of our deepest internal goals can be achieved directly. The primary sense in which people today need to get better at living their lives has to do with wisdom, character, and well-being. These are not skills which are taught in school.
Companies promise to make the world a better place25 by creating devices and services which often only serve as new obstacles to well-being. I strongly believe in the promise of technology, when directed toward the right ends, to lead to a genuinely better world for all. But I would estimate that ninety-nine percent of technologies created today only create new addictions. They “improve” our lives only in the sense that they become our new baseline of expectation, ultimately creating new barriers to contentment.
There are technologies, like medicine, which truly improve life for people. But most of the technologies which can actually serve this end effectively are psychotechnologies. We need tools and methods for cultivating robust well-being and self-mastery. We need to find and provide the keys to the kind of flourishing which is less dependent on external things, not more dependent on them. If we want to truly improve the world, we need to train people to build systematically better minds - our emphasis on “making people happy” needs to shift to “making happy people.”
I want to work toward a world of individuals who see through the illusion. Who are no longer fooled by the vanity metrics and tourist traps of life. Who can slow their judgments, call the bluff of facades and personas, and ask the questions which matter most. Who put the cultivation of a better mind at the top of their priorities, not only because it is the most important in and of itself, but because it is at the root of every other endeavor.
I have attempted to build a starting toolkit to inspire and enable people to make modifications to their own minds, but this toolkit is nowhere near complete, and this book is only the beginning. That is why it is my primary goal to ignite the flame of psychitecture in as many people as possible. That way, each individual can construct his own tools and contribute to the great collective toolkit.
Fundamentally, there is no reason why pleasure, excitement, profound well-being and simple joy at being alive could not become the natural, default state of mind for all who desire it.
- Nick Bostrom26
Though it is so often accompanied by descriptions of futuristic gadgets, body augmentation, and distant concerns, the Transhumanist vision provides a reminder that humanity can be far greater than it is today. The human condition is a work in progress. An early and very rough draft of what could be a masterpiece. And the evolution of society begins with the evolution of the individual mind. This evolution cannot be left to chance. It must be the result of deliberate design conducted by each person and directed toward the highest values within them. The software framework and the principles of psychitecture are basic psychotechnologies which, if provided and instilled in each individual, could radically advance our evolution.
The ambition of this book is not just to offer a manual. It may be based on timeless wisdom, but the manual provided here is still only an ever-evolving draft. This book exists, first and foremost, to reinvigorate the directive issued by the many psychitectural visionaries: You must be a software optimizer first and a circumstance optimizer second. Place the development of your mind above all else. Make the psychitectural pursuit your highest priority, and watch your experience, your life, and your being transform. No matter who you are or where you are starting from, know that you have the power to transform your software and attain self-mastery. You can design your mind.
Free Toolkit and Self Mastery
FREE PSYCHITECT’S TOOLKIT AND BOOK OF SELF MASTERY
If this book has been valuable to you and you would like a way to contribute, please write an quick and honest review.
In addition to this book, readers can download a free, 50-page guide on psychitecture, which includes:
· 64 incredible book recommendations related to self mastery and psychitecture
· A list of 16 websites, blogs, and podcasts that can aid in self-optimization
· An cheat sheet for the basic concepts of psychitecture and psychological algorithms
· A breakdown of 8 psychotechnologies you can start using to reprogram your mind
· Inspiring quotes by ancient and modern psychitectural visionaries
I will also give you a free, edition of The Book of Self-Mastery, which contains 150 quotes by some of the greatest self-mastery thinkers who every lived. Just go to designingthemind.org/psychitecture to get your Psychitect’s Toolkit and The Book of Self-Mastery for free.