Alternative Narratives and futures

Are human beings fundamentally good and capable of change, healing, and growth? ...Or are we selfish individuals who must be kept in check?

Those who push a dark, divisive vision of humanity are highly organized in using social media to spread their stories. We must be just as strategic and collaborative in telling and amplifying stories that foste

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Today’s political landscape is shaped by forces investing heavily in spreading fear and division. Given that fear is a dominant force in our culture, it’s no surprise that it defines much of our politics.

f we want to build lasting movements that transform attitudes, behaviors, and culture (ABC strategy!), we need to organize around a shared goal.

The insight that changed everything for me came from neuroscience: all human beings have a fight-or-flight response. When we are in fear mode, our capacity to understand the perspectives of those different from us shuts down. Fear primes us for self-interest.

It’s common sense: if we sense danger, we instinctively take care of ourselves and our gro... See more

the relational perspective, is based on a core belief best expressed by Karl Popper: “While differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal.” This basic belief leads people to assume that we all see things others miss, that disagreements are inevitable and valuable, that those disagreements will at ti... See more

cussed earlier, which came from the actions of the people who run its instances, with how the alternative commercial chat platform Discord handled similar problems. Discord is a closed-source platform that is centralised, not federated, although it devolves moderation down to its groups on the basis of some powerful shared moderation tools. It is h... See more

Was hope a factor for you? Did hope operate as a motivation for some part of your movement?

When we started, society was largely in a state of despair and apathy. And that is why we decided to use hope as one of our major forms of messaging. People were like, “How can you be hopeful? It looks like things are getting worse by the day.” But we didn’t ... See more

Debemos concebir un futuro tan irresistible que despierte en la gente el deseo de hacerlo realidad: un mundo basado en la dignidad, la justicia, la igualdad, la libertad y la coexistencia. Como nos recuerdan Judith Butler y Byung-Chul Han, la imaginación y la esperanza no son ideales ingenuos; son compromisos poderosos y activos que despiertan el d... See more