Civilizational Functionalism

The essay argues that civilization should be understood through function rather than Purpose, a religious or progress-based narrative that it says is unfalsifiable and self-soothing. It contrasts purpose, which carries a presumed positive valence, with function, which carries none. Using Buckminster Fuller's Spaceship Earth as a functionalist frame, the author argues that the approach avoids moral presumption while still supporting action, and compares it to the Taoist farmer parable and Carse's infinite game.