Alternative Narratives and futures

This is the Bowling Alley Theory of the Internet: that people are online purely to meet each other, and in the long run the venues where we congregate are an unimportant background compared to the interactions themselves. Did we meet on MySpace, Tinder, or LinkedIn? Does it matter?

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

[Vitor] : En cambio, Leão ya no cree tan tajantemente en esa frase de «good news, no news». Hoy en día enseña ética en una universidad de periodismo y habla de esto con sus alumnos.

[Leão] : Hoy estoy convencido de que maximizamos las malas noticias en el periodismo Y esto hay que cambiar.

[Vitor] : Piensa que, de algún modo, los medios sobredimensio... 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

In response to the ads, the tracking, the trolling, the hype, and other predatory behaviors, we’re retreating to our dark forests of the internet, and away from the mainstream.

This very email is an example of this. This theory is being shared on a private channel sent to 500 people who I know or who have explicitly chosen to receive it. This is the... See more

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

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.