Sam Liebeskind

Reclaiming national power to define and incentivise the creation of social technologies should not come at the cost of efforts to also improve the global technology landscape. One way to advance both aims is by enabling interoperability with existing and emerging initiatives to build and scale regional and global solutions that serve the public... See more

Local journalism shouldn’t just close gaps. It should help residents understand how to show up better at public meetings. When people know the backstory, civic participation closes the loop.

21 best ideas in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on Self Reliance (via justin murphy)

1. Most people do not trust their own beliefs. The essence of genius is simply to trust yourself—to infer that whatever seems most true in your heart is most true in reality—and for everybody else, too, despite whatever they may claim.

2. There is hardly anything more painful

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It is because a universal public square cannot be a community that the parameters of the online speech debate are stuck. The conflict between the “marketplace of ideas” framework and the “communal norms” framework seems irresolvable because it is irresolvable.

This is all to say: it’s worth listening when a place calls to you. It’s worth thinking about whether the place you live enables your goals or stands in their way. And it’s worth noticing what surroundings speak of enchantment, cultivate the conditions you feel at home in, and aim toward them. Life is more malleable than we think. It’s a surprise... See more