Yves Laurent
A cybernetics engineer who spent 25 years optimizing corporate systems while gaming for 40+.
Why aren't we using gaming lessons to design social systems?
I don't have THE answer. I have ONE proposal among many possible ones.
I'm not promising it works. I'm promising honesty about why it will fail.
I'm not selling solutions. I'm documenting experiments.
Currently writing
The Generosity in the Doorway
14 essays on Universal Basic Income and the architecture of work that comes after AI displacement. My first English-language book — on Amazon Kindle.
See the bookLas Piedras No Mienten (Spanish edition)
230,000 words, 27 chapters across 5 parts. Currently in editorial review. Spanish first via Kickstarter; the English edition follows.
About the bookIndependent. No sponsors.
Like the work? Buy me a coffee.
No sponsors. No investors. No algorithms deciding what I'm allowed to ask. If something I wrote was useful and you'd like it to keep existing, a coffee goes further than it looks.
Buy me a coffeePay what you want. One-time or monthly. Hosted at buymeacoffee.com.
Professional background
Education
- • Cybernetics Engineering
- • Master's in Data Science
- • Postgrad diplomas: Gamification, Philosophy, History, Cinema
Experience
- • 25+ years at transnational corporations
- • Six Sigma Green Belt, PMP
- • Founder: digital effects, AI, consulting
- • Founder Institute mentor
Gaming and systems
- • 40+ years gaming
- • First computer at 9 years old
- • MMORPGs: guilds, raids, virtual economies
- • Analyzing emergent social dynamics
Why this book
9/11 as wake-up call: I was in New York days later. I saw the gap between the official story and what was on the ground. That was my "waking up" to media constructions.
Dot-com bubble, three corporate layoffs: I worked at GE through the crisis. I watched "optimal" systems collapse from the inside. Eventually I moved into entrepreneurship.
The central frustration: Optimization know-how plus 40 years analyzing coordination in games. Why aren't we applying any of this to social systems design?
I'm not offering certainty. I'm offering an honest analysis of why systems fail and what we could try differently.
Reach me at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @IvesFLaurent.
Biases and limits
Engineer/corporate perspective: My background is mostly urban, professional, privileged.
Urban Mexican: Limited rural experience. I haven't lived through extreme poverty.
Privilege of being able to experiment: I had resources for startups, educational experiments, research. Not everyone can spend years without immediate financial return.
Admission: I don't have all the answers. This is ONE thought experiment among many possible ones.
