This week I riff with Austin Wade Smith (they/them) â an animist, designer, ecologist, and creative technologist based in Brooklyn, New York and the Executive Director of Regen Foundation, a US-based non-profit working with distributed ledgers and AI to design sovereign regenerative economics. Austinâs work explores opportunities for social, legal, economic, and information technologies to foster greater interdependence between individuals and our living world. They teach design and engineering courses related to their research at universities in New York.
In this conversation we explore what Austin calls âa simple framework designed to expand the legibility of the âmore than human worldâ (such as âNatureâ, Non-Humans, âMore-than-Human Ecologiesâ, etc.) to various anthropogenic infrastructures and technologies, with the aim of increasing the âsurface areaâ through which non-humans directly exert influence on human-made systems.â
How can we make ecosystems more legible to the economic and political contexts in which they now exist?
Get ready for a conversation that up-ends conventional categories to hack open a new possibility space for human-machine symbiosis and technologically-assisted biospheric stewardship!
PS â Iâm trying to launch a NEW podcast, Humans On The Loop, about how to use our new AI superpowers wisely. Hereâs more info in case youâd like to help support this project or know someone who might!
⨠Relevant Links:
AustinWadeSmith.comTwitterLinkedInEssaysRegen FoundationâLegibility for Our Living World with Austin Wade Smithâ on Ma EarthâCorporate Metabolismâ by Xander Paco NathanâThe Singularity in Our Past Light-Coneâ by Cosma Shalizi
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⨠Select Related Episodes:
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