Change the World in the Most Efficient Manner

Followup to: Strive Towards the (Second) Best Society

If you know what political ideal to strive towards, what then is the most efficient strategy to pursue to achieve that goal?

To gain an understanding of this goal it might, again, be best to not list proposals and search arguments for them. Instead one should list facts which should be on one's mind when forming the optimal strategy. What sorts of facts are then important to know about?

They will probably have to do with how others change their behaviour. That is, people act according to pattern X today, and you want them to act according to pattern Y. What does one need to know when planning for this?

Similar to when trying to figure out what society best fits your ideal, you should now (1) list all possible political strategies, (2) list the most explanatory facts regarding how people change their behaviour, (3) list the facts that disparages most strategies, and (4) list all ideas which, if you knew them, would settle the matter or damn a whole many other strategies. (Also, saying one thing necessarily means saying the entire theory which supports that statement, which needs to be remembered when discussing with others.) 

Next are some examples for illustration:

Political strategies: Winning elections, the many forms of starting a revolution, secession or establishing a new society on uncontested lands, and some general techniques.

The general method (advice from Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard):

1. FOLLOW THE BRIGHT SPOTS. Investigate what's working and clone it.
2. SCRIPT THE CRITICAL MOVES. Don't think big picture, think in terms of specific behaviors.
3. POINT TO THE DESTINATION. Change is easier when you know where you're going and why it's worth it.
4. FIND THE FEELING. Knowing something isn' t enough to cause change. Make people feel something.
5. SHRINK THE CHANGE. Break down the change until it no longer spooks the Elephant.
6. GROW YOUR PEOPLE. Cultivate a sense of identity and instill the growth mindset.
7. TWEAK THE ENVIRONMENT. When the situation changes, the behavior changes. So change the situation.
8. BUILD HABITS. When behavior is habitual, it's "free"-it doesn't tax the Rider. Look for ways to encourage habits.
9. RALLY THE HERD. Behavior is contagious. Help it spread.
10. Direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path.

(The authors use the metaphors the rider and the elephant for our minds, originally from Buddha, recently written on by Jonathan Haidt and Daniel Kahneman. The rider is the self-aware part of the brain and the elephant is everything that does stuff automatically, sort of.)

The specific method:

1. "There are three main sources of influence that shape political orientation which creates long-term effects. [Family, teachers/instructors, and peers.]" (Theories of political behavior)

The search method:

1. "What will it take to get the necessary number of people to engage in one massive action, or series of actions, that will change the world into society/societies X/YZ?"
2. "How large is the necessary number?"