Hey Gena! Thanks for sharing.
Here’s a thought for ya—it seems to me like you’re trying to make an inspirational kick in the pants for people to take action—fight entropy—and go through a handful of challenges that prevent people from acting (I picked out “hoplessness” and “safer to do nothing”). I think another challenge that might be good to address from a psych perspective is “Why me? Or “I don’t know the answer”—which is partially addressed in your piece with the idea that building is iterative and process driven (and you certainly don’t have all the answers on day one).
I’d also try to identify a single story for each of those, rather than having lots of examples that are touched on, but not really built out (Agriculture! Education! Ukraine! Healthcare! -- take the same space and build out one of those per idea).
I agree with distinctions between applied policy advocacy—with significant intellectual diversity of opinion—and conceptual advocacy, which is axiomatic to the field—the idea that progress is “real, desirable and possible”.
I wan to posit an addition flavor of study and applied advocacy, one that is human, rather than progress focused. It asks how we can help people (especially the early/late majority) adapt to increasing rates of progress and change and avoid the worst fates of progress losers. This rather sits squarely between applied and conceptual, likely employing conceptual tools like ‘widespread cultural agreement’ as well as specific policy analysis and advocacy.
A single example where this kind of understanding could have played a large role can be seen with the CDC’s COVID vaccination timelines that were frequently influenced by their opinions on public perception of their decisions, which seemed to lack scientific basis.
Beyond that, this advocacy has the potential to moderate many of the “anti-humanist” arguments put forth by both Adam & Jason.