Life Itself Podcast

In this episode, Rufus Pollock sits down with Esther Montmany for part 2 in their mini-series on Conscious Parenting.  Esther Montmany has spent more than 20 years developing a unique approach to conscious parenting and education. She has worked with Mauricio and Rebecca Wild at their legendary school in Ecuador and led the children's program at Plum Village summer retreats as well as starting several initiatives of her own.  In this episode, Esther shares with us how to set up a positive environment for a child, drawing on real life examples. About Esther  Esther Montmany is an inspiration to all who have ever felt that perhaps society could work differently. She has lived in a wide range of intentional communities, from Scotland to India to Ecuador. Her deep interest in education as a process of inner growth, in harmony with others and with nature, means she has devoted her life to understanding human wellbeing and development. Having used her knowledge to educate her own children, she now creates gatherings to help families give to their own children the chance to grow with confidence and develop their potential. Over the past five years she has worked closely with the Plum Village Community, participating actively in the children’s program at the summer retreat for families.  About Rufus  Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age. Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Find out more about his work on his website: rufuspollock.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

In this episode, Rufus Pollock sits down with Esther Montmany who has spent more than 20 years developing a unique approach to conscious parenting and education.  Esther has worked with Mauricio and Rebecca Wild at their legendary school in Ecuador and led the children's program at Plum Village summer retreats as well as starting several initiatives of her own. In this episode, Esther shares with us how she became interested in developing a conscious style of parenting, her journey in developing Conscious Parenting, and offers insight into what Conscious Parenting looks like in practice.  About Esther  Esther Montmany is an inspiration to all who have ever felt that perhaps society could work differently. She has lived in a wide range of intentional communities, from Scotland to India to Ecuador. Her deep interest in education as a process of inner growth, in harmony with others and with nature, means she has devoted her life to understanding human wellbeing and development. Having used her knowledge to educate her own children, she now creates gatherings to help families give to their own children the chance to grow with confidence and develop their potential. Over the past five years she has worked closely with the Plum Village Community, participating actively in the children’s program at the summer retreat for families.  About Rufus  Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age. Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Find out more about his work on his website: rufuspollock.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

Dr. Jeffery Martin, a pioneer in Transformative Technology and a researcher in personal well-being, shares his insights into achieving fundamental well-being through Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience. He discusses his extensive research that redefines happiness beyond traditional methodologies and highlights the challenges of measuring psychological states. The conversation also covers tailored transition protocols for personal growth and a successful four-month course that has helped over 70% of participants find profound psychological benefits. Martin emphasizes the importance of understanding individual motivations in the journey toward true happiness.

In this episode, Rufus Pollock sits down with philosopher, practitioner, and spiritual mentor, Dr. Thomas Steininger. Dr Steininger offers insights and reflections from over 30 years of spiritual practice and cultivation of emergent, co-conscious "We" spaces and practices. Rufus and Thomas explore emergent dialogue, the victories and shadow sides of individuation, and the integral and metamodern movements.Watch on YouTube and view the episode transcript here: https://lifeitself.org/2022/12/08/thomas-steininger-on-emergent-dialogue-and-transcending-individualism/ Dr. Thomas Steininger has been cultivating transformative “We Space” practices for nearly 30 years. He is a philosopher, practitioner, and spiritual mentor and has dived deeply into the practice of meditation and into an exploration of the evolution of human consciousness, particularly the current transition from a hyperindividual “I” culture to a co-conscious “We.”  As an authority on cultural evolution and the different spiritual and religious currents that have formed our postmodern world, he brings this perspective into his work as publisher of evolve-magazin, the leading German magazine on consciousness and culture and as faculty at Meridian U. in California. He also co-founded and developed a process of emergent dialogue, an advanced practice in conscious communication.  Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age. Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Find out more about his work on his website: rufuspollock.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

Rufus Pollock sits down with Professor Joseph Henrich to discuss the study of cultural evolution. Joe gives an insight into how the discipline has emerged and the interdisciplinary nature of the field. He discusses some examples of areas of interest within the field, such as understanding innovation and  institutional evolution, scaling and cooperation. Rufus and Joe finish with a brief consideration of where on the "cultural evolutionary tree" we are today, laying the ground for a potential future follow up.This conversation forms part of the Cultural Evolution: A New Discipline is Born Series.You can learn more here: https://lifeitself.org/learn/culturologyJoseph Henrich is a Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is author of several books, most recently 'The Weirdest People in the World' and 'The Secret of Our Success'. His research focuses on evolutionary approaches to psychology, decision-making and culture, and includes topics related to cultural learning, cultural evolution, culture-gene coevolution, human sociality, prestige, leadership, large-scale cooperation, religion and the emergence of complex human institutions.Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age. Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

On November 11th 2022, crypto giant FTX collapsed into bankruptcy. In this episode, Stephen Diehl and Rufus Pollock explore what happened, what went wrong, and what we can learn. They look back on the past 6 months in the crypto industry, examining other prominent crashes, namely Terra Luna, Celsius and Voyager, and Three Arrows Capital, and their contagion effects.   Stephen and Rufus then look at what remains of the crypto industry. What’s next to fall?   Find the episode notes here: https://web3.lifeitself.org/notes/post-ftx-collapseStephen Diehl is a software engineer, writer and Web3 expert. He has written many articles about the topic on his blog at stephendiehl.com and has been featured in several podcasts on the topic.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

Over the past few months we have been sharing episodes centered around the theme of 'social transformation'. In this final episode of the mini-series, co-hosts Eilidh Ross, Theo Cox and Nathen Fitchen reflect on the series, sharing why we embarked on this project, stand out moments, and key takeaways.   We will be continuing with our exploration of this emerging ecosystem of radical change makers in the near future, so make sure to sign up to our mailing list to be kept up to date with new episodes, event announcements and more: https://lifeitself.org/contact/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

In April 2022, Life Itself co-founder, Rufus Pollock, was invited by the New School at Commonweal onto their podcast to discuss his recent work mapping an emerging “metamodern” ecosystem centered on a radical, alternative approach to social change–one that is simultaneously paradigmatic, integrated, and engaged. Thank you to Commonweal for allowing us to share the conversation, and to Michael Lerner for hosting the conversation.Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He wants his child (and all children) to live in a world of love, abundance and wisdom. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age and has been translated into multiple languages. His next book, Wiser Societies, is about the cultural dark matter that enables societies be wiser (and weller). Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Find out more about his work on his website: rufuspollock.com.  Michael Lerner is the president and co-founder of Commonweal. His principal work at Commonweal is with the Cancer Help Program, Healing Circles, Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, and The New School at Commonweal. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983 and is author of Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Therapies (MIT Press). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

This week in our Exploring Social Transformation series, we are sharing a conversation we had back in September 2021 with acclaimed author of 'The Patterning Instinct' and 'The Web of Meaning', Jeremy Lent. This conversation was originally published as part of the Imaginary Society Forum, a forum curated by Life Itself in association with Untitled for the exercising of social imagination through practice and theory.In this episode, Jeremy and Rufus dig into the myth of man's innate selfishness, how shifts in cultural consciousness have historically come about, what's coming next, and why we have reason to feel hopeful.To view the episode notes and learn more about the Imaginary Society Forum head over to: https://lifeitself.us/2022/08/09/jeremy-lent-on-interconnection-shifting-worldviews/  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org

Welcome to another episode of our Making Sense of #Crypto & #Web3 series. This week, Rufus Pollock and Theo Cox sit down with co-founders of Hypha DAO Alex Prate, Joachim Stroh, and Franz Joseph Allmayer to discuss how DAOs are aiming to revolutionize systems of governance and whether blockchain technology is indeed necessary to this effort.   Explore our guide to crypto and web3 here: https://web3.lifeitself.us/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit news.lifeitself.org