Could we solve the world's big problems by shifting from conversational spaghetti to intellectual lasagne?

LIke most people, I watch some of the wars and suffering going on in the world at the moment and feel terribly sad. Sad for the victims, and scared for the world. And the same about big issues like climate change. It only makes it worse when I listen to the quality and nature of the discussions going on. There are at least three problems: (1) People are coming from fixed ideological positions, and aren't really trying to see the other side. (2) There is plenty of misinformation and disinformation around. (3) The dialogues and negotiations resemble spaghetti. One of my ex-colleagues, who I respect very much but don't know well, Massimo Pezzini, famously used types of pasta to describe architectural constructs in a company. The discussions resemble spaghetti in that there is no structure to them. They wander between levels of abstraction. From the definition of words, to values, to how to know what is true and not, to strategies, to tactics. It is like trying to climb up mountains made of sand. There is no solid foundation. If we were able to 'freeze' some levels of a conversation, at least temporarily, and focus on one aspect, we might get somewhere. Declare some things that all parties were going to hold to be true just for the purpose of one conversation. If we could create some conversational ravioli (akin to object-oriented programming), where topics were modularized and held separate from one another, and we could delve into each separately, we might make more progress. Even better if we could introduce some intellectual lasagne. I am no cook, but I believe lasagne is built in layers of meat, pasta and cheese sauce. Could we layer our engagements into deep fundamental discussions of beliefs, values and definitions, a middle layer of broad brush strategies and approaches, then the day to day tactics and operations on top. This reminds me of a very wonderful approach to programming called metalinguistic abstraction, where you build layers and can program the higher level functionality once you have settled the lower layers. This programming approach can create more resilient outcomes. I know this pasta metaphor is somewhat lighthearted - forgive me. I definitely don't mean to make light of the death, suffering and danger in the world right now. But it feels like we needs some new thinking somehow. #unask #unthink #unlearn