Ollie Rankin

You connect dots others don’t see. You hold multiple perspectives and help make things coherent. When people talk past each other, you find the throughline. When there’s chaos, you find structure.

You create clarity, resonance, and shared purpose. You use story, ritual, metaphor, or reflection to help people connect. You bring the “why” into the “what.” Without you, things feel flat or transactional.

You explore new ways of thinking, creating, and organizing. You often live between worlds—bridging cultures, disciplines, or paradigms. You stretch what’s possible and bring back insights others might miss.

These are threats that could lead to human extinction or permanently curtail humanity's potential. Examples include nuclear war, unchecked artificial intelligence, and catastrophic climate change. The existential risks are amplified by the interconnections between technology, environment, and global politics.

This refers to the breakdown of shared understanding and trust in knowledge systems. Misinformation, disinformation, the erosion of expertise, and the polarization of discourse contribute to this crisis, making it difficult for societies to agree on facts or to make collective decisions.

Growing inequality, both within and between countries, is another critical element of the metacrisis. The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few, coupled with the disenfranchisement of large populations, fuels social unrest, destabilizes political systems, and hinders collective action to address global challenges.

Many of the world's governance systems are not equipped to handle the complexity of the metacrisis. These systems often operate in silos, are slow to adapt, and are prone to corruption, inefficiency, and short-term thinking. This governance deficit makes it difficult to coordinate global responses to interconnected crises.

The belief that you need to be the best, always striving for perfection or to avoid mistakes.

The sense that you cannot accomplish your goals, especially if the process contains boring, repetitive, or frustrating aspects. Also, that you cannot resist acting upon impulses that lead to detrimental results.