Conspicuous Acts of Kindness

Something Elon Musk said inspired this week’s article. In a recent podcast appearance on the Lex Fridman Show Elon talked seriously about an idea that, while perhaps tempting to dismiss as another flippant public comment, is rather profound. When asked about his opinion on what Israel should do in response to Hamas, he hypothesized that a truer path to peace might be through “conspicuous acts of kindness.” Whatever your initial reaction may be, stay with me because I think Elon is hitting upon something very insightful and potentially useful, especially for powerful countries around the world.

What Elon is getting at is that as crazy as the world may manifest, we always have a choice. This is the fundamental principle of great books like Frankl’s masterpiece “Man’s Search for Meaning” and the philosophical fountainhead for much of the Buddha’s teaching as well as Jesus’ advice to “turn the other cheek.” The beauty of life is that we get to choose how to respond to what happens in our lives, be it good or evil. The tragedy is that we so often make the wrong choice. 

We all know that in the face of evil or injustice, it’s very natural for us to choose violence. There’s something about revenge that just feels good. Artists figured this out a long time ago. Who doesn’t love the end scene of “The Odyssey” or “Gladiator” or “The Count of Monte Cristo?” Look, it’s not a coincidence that Hollywood keeps churning out revenge flicks and why, for example, Liam Neeson’s performance in “Taken” became a global phenomenon. Revenge is good business. 

That being said, we also know that people respond to kindness in the most unusual and inspiring ways. Kindness, especially if unexpected, can have supernatural effects. What Elon is getting at with his idea of conspicuous acts of kindness is that it’s actually possible to break the cycle of retributive justice. All it takes is one courageous act. The last offended party has to stop and say “No, I won’t let this cycle continue!” This, by the way, is what both “The Iliad” and “Hamlet” are all about. Achilles and Hamlet stop and ask “Wait, do I really need to participate in this crazy cycle of violence around me? Is this really what life is all about?” Both stories end in tragedy, of course, because even after having this moral awakening, both protagonists get drawn back into the cycle. 

But that doesn’t mean the possibility that Achilles and Hamlet glimpsed, if only for a second, for a life outside the cycle of vengeance isn’t real. Acts of unexpected, magnanimous, benevolence have the power to literally change the world. One of the things we know from studying the extremes of the human condition—things like war, prison, and even concentration camps—is that even the hardest of hearts in the harshest of circumstances can change in the face of kindness. Elon’s idea, if taken seriously by a strong nation like America, could usher in an era of unprecedented global peace. If America could find the courage to move first and start doing things like The Marshall Plan, imagine how the world would respond. In the face of unexpected kindness from a superpower of unprecedented global power, the fear-mongering messages of hate from would-be dictators around the world would start to ring hollow. No one really wants what they are selling anyway—fear, division, conflict—they just cannot help but be seduced by their false promises of security. People just need to see that there is a viable alternative—i.e. a world supported by the power and resources of a truly benevolent global power. 

This, by the way, doesn’t mean that countries like America can walk away from trying to maintain military dominance. Not at all. The conspicuous acts of kindness strategy basically only works for countries with the military might to back it up. If we’ve learned anything from the 20^th Century it’s this:

Freedom-loving peoples must be prepared to meet the threat of totalitarianism with violence. 

Lost amidst the narcissistic dreams of our techno-utopian fantasies, we tend to forget that it wasn’t all that long ago when the forces of darkness threatened the very existence of freedom in the world. We also forget that it was actually a hard-fought contest and the outcome was far from some foregone conclusion. There are some evils that unfortunately can only be confronted with violence or at least the threat of violence—think Nazi territorial aggression or terrorism. While I’m usually inclined to take the advice of figures like Jesus, unless we are prepared to surrender this world to evil, we must be willing to fight for good. For if we, the powerful, turn the other cheek, we all know what will happen. 

There’s another powerful lesson from the 20^th Century though, one that is incredibly supportive of Elon’s “conspicuous acts of kindness” idea:

Non-violent acts of courage can also change the world. 

Remember, the 20^th Century is also the century of Gandhi and MLK, who showed us that, in some circumstances at least, there is indeed another way. With this history as our guide, we cannot ignore the almost unbelievable power of non-violent action as a force for change. Indeed, there are certain kinds of evil that can best be addressed this way. 

These great non-violent movements reveal a truth about the human spirit—the same one that Elon is getting at—that it’s courage that ultimately changes us. And an act of kindness, especially against an enemy who is obviously wrong and by a power who is obviously stronger, would be an act of courage potentially world-changing in effect. So, yes, the conspicuous acts of kindness as a strategy for geopolitics is one worthy of our attention. So often in life and history our enemies are more imagined than real. As Achilles questioned for us all so famously, “wait, why did we go to war again?” We could flip conflict on its head by moving first, extending a massive helping hand, and treating even our supposed adversaries as friends.

X as Civic Infrastructure

On the off chance that Elon actually reads this, I want to say a few words about X, for I’m absolutely convinced that it can play a crucial role in rebuilding the civic infrastructure of democratic societies around the world. In many ways, it already is. There’s no better place to get real time information, news, and intelligence. When you really want to know what’s going-on in the world, you go to X. Similarly, if you want to know what political leaders are talking about or what investors and business leaders are thinking about, you go to X. Also, X is the ultimate sentiment meter and useful for things like understanding cultural trends, political polling, consumer research, and assessing risk appetites in markets. Of course, Elon knows all this. It’s not like he bought Twitter by accident after all!  

As powerful as X is, like all social media platforms, it does have a “truth” problem. This comes with the territory whenever you are dealing with crowdsourced intel. But I’m convinced there’s a way to overcome this. 

Fully recognizing that as Rick Rubin famously said—“I have absolutely no technical ability”—here’s my two-part roadmap for turning X into the epicenter of global democratic function:

A. Develop algorithms to boost posts that are the most true, unbiased and constructive

1. Find ways to intelligently boost the best writers/thinkers/citizen journalists  and to deprioritize obscenity and inflammatory content (even more than what’s being done now)

2. Create a feature where tweets on a given topic are accompanied by other popular tweets with different perspectives on that topic (something like: “Hey if you are interested in developing a broader perspective, here are some different takes on this issue”) or even create an X-curated list of diverse perspectives vetted by a modern newsroom of sorts

B. Create multiple layers of search functionality to enable users to search not just by topic but also by location

1. Enable users to get real-time intel on what’s happening around them
   (ideally all the way down to the most local level possible)

2. Create a feature that allows users to search by country/city/zip
   code/address and get a list of

    i. Anyone tweeting about what’s happening in that area

    ii. Relevant local politicians active on the platform from that area (ideally broken out by jurisdiction and positions, so users can see exactly who’s in charge of what for each location)

    iii. Local businesses, non-profits, and other organizations active
   on the platform

The idea here is to turn X into the place where people go to engage with the issues of the community (however defined). To be that place, to be a true virtual town square, X has to evolve in the direction of truth and constructive dialogue while, at the same time, creating valuable pro-democracy tools that people can trust. I’m convinced that a place like this would not only be the most useful tool ever created but also the most valuable business in history. 

Like what you’re reading? Join us on our socials for more content throughout the week. 🙏 Thank you!