Mind, Matter, Meta: Three Domains of Activism
2 min read
Divide, dissect, disintegrate important things. The more, the merrier.
What are the different particles that make up the activism space?
One framework that has served me well is the 3M (like the glue company) model: Mind, Matter, and Meta.
They're all deeply interconnected but the way to differentiate them is to look at the main target space in which action should lead to change. For example, undercover investigations are trying to change the minds of humans. Promoting alternative proteins tries to change the environment, matter, in which those minds operate (and bring more options in the supermarket). Doing research to inform activists about effectiveness of different interventions is meta, since it is empowering groups that work to change mind and matter for the better (we hope).
Matter activism can include promoting good tech (like non surgical fertility control for cats), but also inhibiting bad tech (like the insect protein industry).
The animal rights movement used to be very scarce in meta-services, but this has changed. Here are some examples (very non-exhaustive):
- Hive is doing global community building
- The Mission Motor helps the movement strengthen its monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) practices
- Vegan Hacktivists empowering advocates through expert tech services
- Many more grant opportunities are available today, and funding for the farmed animal movement, currently below $400 million, may increase dramatically in the coming years through the possible IPOs of Anthropic and other AI companies.
- Animal Charity Evaluators is evaluating organizations, Faunalytics makes research accessible to advocates.
