The Manifesto Of The Cognitive Revolution
from the taking-action dept
My project thus far has been to educate you, to help you renormalize history from a common ethical center. To show you what should be abundantly clear: that simple truths, all around us, reveal things that are blatantly obvious. That we are now ruled by liars, cheaters, and men with an unbounded appetite for power. And this leaves us with only one path forward: revolution. Not a violent one. Not with guns. A cognitive revolution.
This revolution begins with a fundamental shift in understanding. Democracy doesn’t die in a single dramatic confrontation. It erodes every minute of every day, through thousands of small surrenders to convenience, to fear, to the path of least resistance. And so it must be defended the same way—every minute of every day, through countless small acts of moral courage that rarely make headlines or history books.
The thing about moral choices is that they don’t arrive on a schedule. They don’t announce themselves with trumpets, or come with convenient warning labels. They happen every minute of every day, in moments so small we barely notice them passing.
That quick decision to speak or stay silent when you hear a lie. The instant calculation of whether to stand with someone being mistreated or look away to avoid complications. The split-second choice between comfortable complicity and uncomfortable truth. These aren’t dramatic crossroads with flashing signs—they’re the quiet, constant texture of a life lived.
We love to imagine ourselves at the barricades, facing down tanks with flowers. We romanticize the grand gesture, the defining moment when heroes are made. But democracy doesn’t die in a single dramatic confrontation. It erodes every minute of every day, through thousands of small surrenders to convenience, to fear, to the path of least resistance.
And so it must be defended the same way—every minute of every day, through countless small acts of moral courage that rarely make headlines or history books.
This is why asking “what should we do?” misses the point entirely. There is no single action, no perfect strategy, no one-time gesture that discharges your moral responsibility. The question isn’t what you should do—it’s who you should be. Every minute of every day.
Be the person who names the lie, even when everyone else plays along. Be the one who remembers what happened yesterday, even as others accept today’s contradictory reality. Be the colleague who refuses to participate in the ritual humiliation of others. Be the friend who doesn’t laugh at cruelty disguised as humor. Be the citizen who treats democratic norms as sacred, not optional.
These choices don’t require special talents or privileged positions. They don’t demand heroic sacrifice or martyrdom. They simply require the decision to remain morally awake when everything around you encourages sleep. To maintain your full humanity when systems push you toward becoming a fraction of yourself.
Every minute of every day, you have opportunities to practice standing firm. Each small choice builds the moral muscle memory you’ll need for bigger challenges ahead. Each moment you choose courage over comfort, clarity over confusion, community over isolation—you’re not just preserving your own humanity. You’re keeping something precious alive in our collective existence.
The autocrats understand this reality better than most democrats. They know that control doesn’t come primarily through dramatic shows of force, but through teaching citizens to police themselves—to make the thousand daily calculations that slowly transform a free person into a subject. They don’t need to watch you constantly if they can get you to watch yourself, questioning every impulse toward authentic expression or moral solidarity.
Our resistance must be equally granular, equally present in the everyday. Not just in elections or protests—though these matter enormously—but in the minute-by-minute choices to remain fully human, fully connected, fully awake.
This doesn’t mean living in a constant state of high alert or performing radical acts at every turn. It means developing habits of truth and solidarity that become as natural as breathing. It means creating communities where moral courage is expected rather than exceptional. It means practicing the small disciplines of democracy until they become muscle memory.
Every minute of every day, remember what’s real. Remember that two plus two equals four, regardless of who claims otherwise. Remember that human dignity isn’t negotiable. Remember that your conscience doesn’t need external permission to speak.
Every minute of every day, choose connection over isolation. Reach toward those who share your commitment to truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Build networks of mutual support that make courage possible not just for the exceptionally brave, but for ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges.
Every minute of every day, reclaim joy from those who would reduce existence to power and fear. Autocracy wants you exhausted, isolated, and grim. Find delight in small beauties, in genuine human connection, in the deep satisfaction of living according to your values. This isn’t frivolous—it’s revolutionary.
When I say every minute of every day, I’m not suggesting a life of grim, performative virtue or constant confrontation. I’m describing a way of being fully present in your own life, making choices aligned with your deepest values rather than drifting with currents of fear or convenience.
This is how freedom persists in unfree times. Not through grand gestures alone, but through the accumulated weight of countless small choices to remain human, to stay awake, to act as if your individual decisions matter—because they do. Every minute of every day.
This is my theory of change.
Licensing & Attribution Notice
This declaration is not copyrighted. It is released freely into the public domain, without restriction or requirement for attribution, though I am its author. It is not a personal work but a prosecutorial document, presented on behalf of The People—those who would undersign the basic liberal values it embodies. Let it be used, shared, and invoked wherever the defense of reason, democracy, and human dignity demands it.
Mike Brock is a former tech exec who was on the leadership team at Block. Originally published at his Notes From the Circus.
Filed Under: authoritarianism, coup, resistance, values
Comments on “The Manifesto Of The Cognitive Revolution”
I think this is where we went wrong. It’s been a long time (possibly even the entire history of the US) where corruption, and abuse were tolerated in positions of authority. But the more it’s tolerated there more tolerance it demands.
I suspect we should have aggressively “prosecuted” these. If you hold an elected office… but lie to a grand jury… you should be impeached and convicted. The constitution explicitly says misdemeanors are an impeachable offense. If you are a member of the judiciary who solicits collusion to even, you should be impeached (and convicted, assuming there’s is evidence).
It’s been quite a few years now where Techdirt has describe congress as feckless.
None of these problems are directly what we fact today. However our failure to “every day” defend our liberty (which is anathema to corruptions and abuse of power) has created systematic weaknesses that are now being exploited.
Let me end with: well written Mike.
Mike Brock post. This is gonna rile up the resident Nazis.
Don’t let them “decorum” shame you either. Liberals love to uphold a sense of civility and decorum. Fascists will cynically abuse that forever and a day. They’ll grab any opportunity they can to accuse you of “incivility.”
Fuck it. Even if it wasn’t a boldfaced, hypocritical lie 99% of the time, those assholes don’t actually deserve civility anyway.
Capital as Power
Cory Doctorow recently pointed to an article on nakedcapitalism.com which was the transcript of a colloquy amongst 3 professors and a host about a new approach to modern economics which does not ignore the politics part of political economy.
The general thesis starts with capitalism as power and goes from there.
The neat thing is, I think it unites right-wing populism with left-wing populism in the sense that both are aggrieved with what the powerful/rich/elite do with and to democracy. I think both agree that the average person lacks a great deal of agency in the modern world and that needs to change.
Perhaps we can sway some right-wing populists, who think the solution is to pick the “best billionaire” to put all the “bad billionaires” in their place and we get fascism, perhaps we can convince them we need to redistribute power (wealth, income) down the hierarchy.
Here are the links:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/capital-as-power-in-the-21st-century-a-conversation.html
https://capitalaspower.com/2025/02/capital-as-power-in-the-21st-century/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBOU4xBg2pA
I watched the whole video and got some aha moments, although the conversation is rather dry. But I’m hoping it gains traction (I want Cory to Absorb it all and add it to his current corpus of ideas then polemic the hell out of them).
I work at a day habilitation center for adult clients with intellectual and physical disabilities. Yesterday, after all the clients left for the day, we were given a training on what to do if the police or ICE come in “looking for someone.” It’s nothing compared to what others are enduring at the hands of this administration, but it made work (a warm and welcoming place), feel just the slightest bit chilly. Anyone who tries to lay a hand on the clients goes through me first, and admittedly, they’d probably win, but I know who I am and whom I stand for. I’ll go down swinging for any one of ‘em, and until then, I’ll care for them like always because their needs don’t go away, even in a dying democracy. I think I’m finally picking up what you’re putting down Mike. Thanks for this one.
Good luck making these kind of connections in a country where no one can even agree that the very system that is dooming us needs to be removed, insisting it can be made good, or “reasoned with.”
This is beautifully and powerfully written. I will share it.
Comment
Mike Brock’s “The Manifesto of the Cognitive Revolution” emphasizes that democracy’s erosion occurs through daily, minor concessions to convenience and fear. He advocates for a continuous, personal commitment to moral courage, urging individuals to consistently uphold truth and integrity in everyday situations. This perspective highlights the significance of individual actions in maintaining democratic values.
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