RadicalxChange(s)

When French citizens took to the streets during the recent Bloquons Tout ("Block Everything") protests, they were united in opposition to the proposed national budget. But beyond that shared frustration, what did they actually want? This is the question plaguing modern protest movements. We know what people oppose, but the mechanisms to understand what they support, and to find consensus amid that...

Executive Director Jess Scully speaks with Takahiro Anno, an AI engineer, science fiction writer and newly elected member of Japan's House of Councillors. Anno shares his remarkable journey from software engineer to politician, driven by a desire to "fix the bugs" in society and democracy. Anno's political rise has been rapid. In his first-ever campaign for Tokyo Governor in July 2024, Anno receiv...

Join new host and Executive Director Jess Scully for a critical conversation on digital resilience, democracy, and reconstruction with Max Semenchuk, Program Director of the Web3 Institute in Ukraine. In this episode, Max explains why, even in the midst of full-scale war, digital innovation has become a critical priority for the Ukrainian government. He provides context on the immense challenges f...

Some people might call Jonathon Keats an artist, but he calls himself an experimental philosopher. His body of work explores the way that human life intersects with political and economic systems. His first major work, in the year 2000, involved sitting in a chair thinking for hours, and then selling his thoughts to patrons at prices calculated on the basis of their income. He once copyrighted his...

In today’s episode, renowned academic and legal scholar Professor Joseph H.H. Weiler speaks with Matt about The Trial of Jesus – connecting the historical event as a lens for understanding justice, religious pluralism, and democracy. The examination leads us through the limits of state neutrality in matters of faith, the balance between freedom of and from religion, and the evolving role of digita...

In this episode, Matt Prewitt sits down with Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador-at-large and 1st Digital Minister, as well as the star of the new short documentary Good Enough Ancestor . It is a fascinating conversation exploring the profound intersections of technology, spirituality, and democracy.  Topics they cover include:  Daoism and spiritual practice – and their favorite Leonard Cohen l...

Matt Prewitt and Gary Zhexi Zhang discuss Chinese cybernetics, focusing on pioneer Qian Xuesen and how the field developed differently in China versus the West. They explore how Chinese cybernetics emerged as a practical tool for nation-building, examining its scientific foundations, political context, and broader cultural impact. Together, they discuss key concepts like information control system...

What happens when artificial intelligence starts weighing in on our moral decisions? Matt Prewitt is joined by Meaning Alignment Institute co-founder Joe Edelman to explore this thought-provoking territory in examining how AI is already shaping our daily experiences and values through social media algorithms. They explore the tools developed to help individuals negotiate their values and the impli...

Join host Matt Prewitt in an inspiring conversation with Edge City co-founders Janine Leger and Timour Kosters, as they dive into the transformative world of pop-up villages and cities. Discover the story behind Edge City's latest experiment, Edge Esmeralda, and learn how temporary communities are reshaping the way we live and work. Janine and Timour share their passion for experimentation, collab...

In this episode, Project Liberty Founder Frank McCourt joins Matt for a second round to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly developing AI technologies. Building on their previous chat about digital infrastructure, they explore whether AI will exacerbate social media, digital advertising, and data centralization issues, or fundamentally change them. McCourt emphasizes fixi...

Today, in Part I of a two-episode conversation, Matt Prewitt is joined by civic entrepreneur and Founder of Project Liberty, Frank McCourt, who is on a mission to reclaim the internet and prioritize human rights in our digital landscape. Drawing parallels between the early public oversight of television and the current state of the internet, Frank highlights the commodification of our data and ide...

In today’s episode, Matt Prewitt engages in a thought-provoking dialogue with Tahir Amin, the Co-Founder and CEO of the Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK). Together, they delve into the history of the patent and trademark systems – flaws and all, especially within the pharmaceutical realm. Tahir, drawing from his experience as a former intellectual property lawyer turned refor...

In this final episode of our short series, host Matt Prewitt speaks with Indy Johar, architect and co-founder of Dark Matter Labs. Together they discuss the topic of ownership through the lens of theories of governance. Indy advocates for decentralized protocols in property governance, emphasizing complex contributions and contextual responsiveness – moving away from control-oriented systems towar...

In today’s episode, guest host Margaret Levi interviews Matt Prewitt, President of RadicalxChange Foundation. With the tables turned from our last episode, Margaret interviews Matt on rethinking property rights. Beginning with a reflection on the state of political liberalism, Matt dives into the mechanics of Partial Common Ownership (also known as “Plural Property”) and it being part of the solut...

Welcome back to RadicalxChange(s), and happy 2024! In our first episode of the year, Matt speaks with Margaret Levi, distinguished political scientist, author, and professor at Stanford University. They delve into Margaret and her team’s groundbreaking work of reimagining property rights. The captivating discussion revolves around their approach's key principles: emphasizing well-being, holistic s...

In this episode of RadicalxChange(s), host Matt Prewitt engages in a deep and thoughtful conversation with Barry Threw, Executive & Artistic Director of Gray Area. They explore Barry's diverse career integrating art, technology, and humanities for economic, social, and ecological regeneration, and examine the cultural shifts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Barry and Matt saunter through anecdotes f...

In today’s episode, Deepti Doshi, Co-Director of New_ Public (and leader in the intersection of social media, community organizing, and leadership development) speaks with Matt Prewitt on how to create online spaces that foster interconnection, mutual dependency, and democratic outcomes. Together, they explore the need for socio-technical expertise and community stewards to work together to design...

In today’s ep, Matt Prewitt speaks with Victoria Ivanova, R&D Strategic Lead of Serpentine Arts and curator-strategist-writer, about the role art and culture have in society in preserving democratic ideals while offering critical and actionable solutions for the emerging technological era. They delve into the historical and present significance of art, its crisis of meaning in the age of accelerat...

Shrey Jain, an applied scientist at Microsoft Research Special Projects, speaks with Matt Prewitt on a very timely and topical subject: AI and – more specifically – the dangers it poses to the nature of natural human communication (“context collapse”). They take a deep dive into the current threats to privacy by expanding beyond the often discussed cryptographic sense into “privacy as contextual i...

In today's episode, Will Holley (Founder of 721 Labs), Graven Prest (Co-Founder of the Geo Web project), and Kevin Seagraves (CEO of NiftyApes) are three mission-focused entrepreneurs who join host Matt Prewitt in a roundtable discussion on the topic of Plural Property — RadicalxChange's umbrella term for Partial Common Ownership, Harberger Taxation, Self-Assessed Licenses Sold via Auction or SALS...

This episode is a continuation of a mini season of RadicalxChange(s) titled A New Era of Democracy . In today’s episode, we welcome Professor of Communications and Political Science Zizi Papacharissi who discusses her latest book, After Democracy with host Matt Prewitt. In this thought-provoking conversation, they examine how social media affects our culture, our relationships, and consequently ou...

In this exciting episode, Matt Prewitt speaks with the inquisitive and captivating Christine Lemmer-Webber, who is CTO of the Spritely Institute and whose lifelong work focuses on advocating user freedom. This philosophical and technical discussion focuses on the many ways to look at ethical methods of building technology without usurping the free agency of others; a pluralistic view of examining...

This episode is part of a mini season of RadicalxChange(s) titled A New Era of Democracy . Lauded poet, author, and activist Anasuya Sengupta joins Matt Prewitt on this episode to discuss the culture of Wikipedia, the embedded power dynamics of digital technologies, and how plurality plays a role in empowering the global South's presence on the internet. Links: State of the Internet’s Languages Re...

This episode is part of a mini season of RadicalxChange(s) titled A New Era of Democracy . Rosa O’Hara moderates a discussion between Audrey Tang and Jo Guldi on Taiwan’s expeditious response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the history of the g0v movement, the democratic power of embracing new forms of civic technology, and more. Audrey Tang ( @audreyt ) is Taiwan’s Digital Minister in charge of Social...

In this conversation with James A. Evans,  we examine the relationship between artificial intelligence and democracy, the tradeoffs between hybridization and speciation, and much more. James is a professor at the University of Chicago, director of its Knowledge Lab, and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His research focuses on the collective system of thinking and knowing, ranging from...