I am noticing that the most successful new ideologies of the past decade are very object-level (prescriptions on specific issues) and quite little meta-level (social processes for making decisions on object-level issues). Examples:

* Abstract libertarianism feels much weaker than 10 years ago. But issue-specific versions of it are quite successful: YIMBY (housing), the crypto space
* e/acc (it's about all technology in theory, but ends up being about AI in practice)
* The largest cluster in effective altruism morphed from being meta-level ("think harder to making sure your donations are going where they can do the most good!") to object level (AI safety, with a little bit of animal welfare and global public health)
* Longevity movement

Maybe network states and Glen and Audrey's Plurality movement are two exceptions - but in general the above feels like a strong pattern. Any ideas why this meta level -> object level shift seems to be taking place?

Is it a shift, or has this always been the case?

Founder, The Roots of Progress (rootsofprogress.org). I write about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. Former tech founder.