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I came to the same conclusion as you pretty much from reading too much TLP and observing the fervor and insanity in (American) politics that subsumed what felt like the whole internet since 2016.
However, I'm also of the conclusion that these four conditions can't be addressed. So what's to be done?
We don't parent kids properly, assuming you live somewhere with a curriculum that has to go through frequent and regular change, there's plenty of money in shilling parents a false bill of goods, and many don't even get to kids at all. Although it's been pointed out fairly frequently that woeful parenting has been almost the norm for as long as parents have existed, the increasing speed of technological and societal change has likely decreased the amount of useful information and knowledge relevant to kids passed down from their parents.
We don't have life scripts because again, things change quicker than any script can be written and people don't update their priors fast, if at all. As recent as ten years ago tech was seen as the golden path, and it was, for a bit, now it isn't unless you're the top 0.1% or in India.
Literally every company on earth that sells things to consumers and not other businesses has an incentive to define consumption as identity construction. If Apple and Starbucks didn't teach you anything, the age of broadcast television should have; products are sold and marketed as if they're aspirational lifestyles. And in the modern era of targeted data harvesting, increasingly, products are sold and marketed entirely off of how they make the consumer feel about themselves.
And obligation-based identity basically doesn't exist anymore, outside of those tied to careers with very strong definitions of those obligations, like being a professional soldier or doctor. The social structures that provide obligations have all been torn down, in many cases eagerly, by people who didn't like those obligations in the first place.
Legislate around these things? There's no single piece of legislation that would tackle any of them individually. The closest thing I could think of is a mandated period of compulsory military service, but from a quick survey of people who've been through it and live in countries with this system, it's not viewed very positively either and would likely fail in any sort of government where it's on the ballot.
But have we actually tried anything? Is this really a lost cause when most people aren’t even aware of the problem? I think awareness and mindshare matter which is why we should write about this more and explicitly, but as for more concrete ways of creating meaning and agency:
People like parenting books. Maybe we should write one? Even if it’s only targeted at our shared rat/post-rat spaces? Or target it at the red tribe, for example, and pitch it as “how to raise an agentic child.” I got a parenting book as a gift a while ago. It’s about developing the baby’s right hemisphere of the brain - my mom regrets that I never got into math - and there’s a set of exercises in there, and I swear I’m not bullshitting you, aimed at developing precognition and a “sixth sense,” because the right hemisphere is responsible for that sort of magic, I guess. The author is also extremely incredulous about skepticism: “If you don’t think this is true, you are a SCIENCE DENIER.” He even offers a sort of Pascal’s wager for the exercises: “Even if you don’t believe it, what’s the harm? Best case: it’s true and your child is Lisan al-Gaib. Worst case: it’s a fun exercise with your baby.” Maybe the author read too much Dune. My point is: even bullshit like this sells. Why wouldn’t a book about agency sell?
Mormons seem to have adapted to modernity quite well. Maybe the Mormons should win the culture war? How do we help them? Maybe we should borrow some of their tenets and start a cult?
Maybe if we think phones and the internet are a big problem, we can incorporate that into our cult too.
Those ideas are a drop in the ocean, and they’re probably stupid, and I’m also being flippant to an extent. But in the whole diagnosis-sphere we don’t even have this. We have the diagnosis, and then what? Let Moloch win? Put all our hopes into AI? I mean, we could do that and in reality a lot of people have decided to do that. But maybe we should also take the problem seriously and at least try to imagine some solutions because I don't think that even benevolent AI would save us. Like the other response to your comment is civil service - we haven't talked about that before. That's better than dooming, no?
It's a lost cause when people's jobs depend on them not realizing it.
You can trust people to do the right thing, but only after exhausting every last possible option, and modern society provides a lot of options. What you're fundamentally asking people to do is burn their idols in the shape of themselves; experience the painful process of narcissistic injury, and as long as there's money to be made in selling people the opposite of something they didn't want to do anyway it's a non-starter.
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What about compulsory civil service? For improving public spaces and services that people would vote for, like cleaning cities, fixing/extending public infrastructure (especially housing), hosting public events, and elder care (for older demographics’ vote).
It would be “half-communism”: younger people are assigned jobs (with some freedom to select based on performance in standardized exams regularly administered during school), but the underlying economy is still capitalist and the jobs are temporary (though may begin lifelong careers).
Every reasonable career today should have a corresponding civil service entry-level job. Especially leadership: future politicians and CEOs should almost all be former civil service members (because the vast majority, including me, believes that civil service makes good leaders).
Maybe the civil service isn’t legally mandatory, but by far the easiest path to financial stability (like military, but more diverse specializations, and pays better or the private sector pays worse). Or maybe it starts during school, is mandatory until 18 (or a few years later), but encouraged for longer. Regardless, the rich (at least some) will avoid it, but I think that’s fine, because the civil service should benefit its members not just the outside public (especially future leaders, both in obtaining and effectively doing their role, as mentioned above).
I think this is possible in certain parts of Europe, but Europe is pretty broke, so it likely wouldn't survive annual government budget review. America on the other hand, I'm not so optimistic. People won't even spend the money to maintain roads that everyone depends on.
I think in America, the civil service should be implemented per state. Otherwise, it would be hamstrung by culture war and the practically inevitable bureaucracy and corruption that arises from being too large and centralized.
Then, I think it’s very possible in states like California and New York City, which seem to be constantly raising taxes to implement other programs. If it succeeds, more tax-averse states may be convinced; or maybe not, but existing in some of the US may be enough (especially because anyone who wants the program can move, much easier than moving to another country).
Or per town, but towns probably need some money or law power from their state.
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