Discussion
In 2018/19, Extinction Rebellion were convinced that 3.5% of people wanting climate action would be sufficient to unlock progressive change.
In 2026, NATO leaders are obsessed with 3.5% of GDP spent on militarism as being the magic number for generating “security”.
What other 3.5 percentisms are there?
And what chance that 100% of them are ill-founded?
…3.5 is a magic number
Yes, it is, it’s the magic number
Spread through social science with impunity
Is 3.5 a bullshit jive?
Or a magic number?
I assume they got the 3.5% figure from Erica Chenoweth's TED talk about revolutions.
Sadly, 3.5% WANTING something won't get it. They need to be out on the streets, DEMANDING the thing, and they have to keep doing that until they win.
Still, giving up will just get us all cooked...
@Walrus yes, Chenoweth is XR’s talisperson. But not NATO’s, I presume!
XR’s big mistake, I think, was ‘demanding’ doesn’t disrupt an entire system, or come even close. They did an amazing job of bringing hundreds of thousands of people together under a big tent, and then squandered what they could have synthesised with those skill sets. Easy for me to say, of course
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@urlyman
How about,
Twice 3.5
George Miller, psychologist, on human attention, memory and information processing. "The magical number 7".