Economist, strategic consultant, essayist and researcher, Micha Narberhaus is the founder of The Protopia Lab — a space for open and honest conversations about the most important challenges of our time.
What is missing in today's society?
Perhaps what is most lacking are good and deep dialogues on the most important issues and problems we face. There is no dialogue, no real debate. There are only narratives. Everyone has their own narrative and tries to fit the facts into their narrative and a fixed worldview and morality that does not allow for different points of view.
The world is divided into the good guys and the bad guys, who have to be fought against. As there is less and less interest and effort in discovering and describing reality — for example in the worlds of journalism and academia — it is increasingly difficult to build common sense as a society. We are all in our epistemic bubbles.
Do you think progress is good in itself?
It depends on what we mean by progress. I like the phrase 'virtues become vices when taken to the extreme'. In English there is the expression trade-off. It has to do with the idea that a change in society or policy X may have a desired and positive impact, but it almost always comes with costs. We don't talk enough about trade-offs, but it would be very important to do so.
For example, diversity in society or in an organisation can be positive to a certain extent because it brings new ideas and impulses, but there comes a time when more diversity destroys the social fabric and trust, without which a society cannot function.
What motivates you to found The Protopia Lab?
The Protopia Lab is a space for talking openly and honestly about important issues in society. On the one hand, I would like to encourage people who have the ability to see things from different perspectives and also the courage to express them. Furthermore, I want this project to have an impact on public discourse; the idea is that over time we can plant the seeds for public discourse to become more plural and functional again.
What is Protopia?
It is something like the third way between stagnation and utopia that wants to change everything for the sake of a specific ideological idea. Chasing a utopia is often a bad idea. Historically, it has often led to dystopia. That is why Protopia is the attempt to make changes, but bearing in mind that we can only try to approximate a change that as a whole is positive for society and that contributes to the good life — a process of evolutionary search.
