Denizen

How might we inspire humans to think on the time scale of civilization? What can we learn about long term thinking from the world's most enduring organizations? Long Now Foundation's Executive Director reflects on his learnings from 25 years in his role. To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

Sociocracy is a form of governance that utilizes content-based decision making in small groups. By delegating authority to the handful of people who are responsible for executing on the related work, power is distributed more broadly throughout organizations. In a consent based model, everyone takes responsibility for decisions made by the group.This conversations covers essential things you need to know to understand this progressive governance model:What is sociocracy? [3:08]Sociocracy and egalitarianism [4:29]Types of organizations that sociocracy is a fit for [5:57]History of sociocracy [7:06]Consensus vs. consent-based decision making [8:31]Sociocracy and rapid prototyping [10:58]Circle aim and composition [13:15]Optimal number of people for consent-based decision making [15:14]Determining who is in a circle [16:47]Circles, domains, and mapping circles across an organization [18:02]Linking circles [20:52]Leaders vs. delegates [21:46]Information flows: double links, prototyping, and voice [22:43]Sociocracy and representation: who is in the circle and creating accountability [25:03]Consent vs. autocratic and democratic decision making [28:21]Revisiting decisions [30:34]Limitations of sociocracy : the people [31:59]Limitations of sociocracy: information flows at scale [34:44]Limitations of sociocracy: current legal structures and the current economic paradigm [36:24]Determining what decisions a circle is responsible for [37:35]Sociocracy, DAOs, and Web3 [39:03]Scale and voice vs. decision making [41:12]Sociocracy and trust [42:18]Nonvoilent communication and sociocracy [44:36]Current state of sociocracy in practice [46:50] To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

Long-term capitalism is one of our most foundational topics. We investigate how we might instantiate a variation of capitalism that optimizes over longer time horizons that a quarter, which is the form of capitalism that dominates the public market.Michelle Green, founding employee, President Emeritus, Board member and Interim CEO of the Long Term Stock Exchange joins us for this foundational conversation. We discuss long-term capitalism at a macro level and delineate how policy makers, investors, and business leaders can put in place measures to institutionalize long-term decision making.Outline of the episode:What long-term capitalism isn't [3:23]Drivers of the emergence of quarterly capitalism [4:58]Defining long-term capitalism [7:29]Trends relating to long-term capitalism [9:57]Narratives vs. reality [11:29]Drivers of the decline in pubic companies over the past 30 years [13:51]Post-pandemic trends in stakeholder capitalism and ESG [16:14]Buybacks, short-termism, and extraction [17:58]Policy measures to address buybacks [20:07]Other policy approaches for long-term capitalism [24:22]Long-term capitalism and corporate governance [26:00]How companies can incentivize long-term investment [29:02]Long Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) [36:21]Parallels between LTSE and certification [39:59]Information dynamics and the signalling value of LTSE [40:46]LTSE's choice to be a principles vs. standards based exchange [41:27]LTSE's five principles [43:40]Principle one: stakeholders [43:45]Principle two: strategy [46:15]Principle three: compensation [47:04]Principle three: Board of Directors [48:17]Principle three: investors [48:40]Establishing a research base for long-term capitalism [49:54]LTSE's ecosystem level approach [51:37]What Michelle is seeing in the current moment [54:10]LTSE and the technology industry [58:11]Limitations to the LTSE's success [1:00:08]Alignment with long-term capitalism and social objectives [1:04:57] Resources:Denizen's research summary on long-term capitalismMichelle's TED Talk on the Long Term Stock ExchangePrinciples of Corporate Governance, Business Roundtable 2016"Short Termism Is Harming The Economy" Warren Buffet and Jamie Dimon, Wall Street Journal June 2018‍ To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

On the heels of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's testimony before Congress, we are releasing this important conversation from 2021. Jenny sits down with Stanford political science professors Rob Reich, Jeremy Weinstein, and Nate Persily to interrogate big tech's role in society. How did we get to where we are today? What interventions in the near term, from creating new ethical norms to putting in place more democratic forms of corporate governance to regulation, might we pursue to bring big tech into better alignment with our collective social objectives?Outline for the conversation:Rob's summary of their book System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot [4:40]Comments on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's control of the company [6:40]Silicon Valley's influence on Stanford [8:33]Jeremy and Rob's intervention on campus [9:20]Why technology companies generate social harms with new technology [13:12]Drivers of the loose regulatory environment for technology [16:41]The regulatory environment of the US vs. the EU [18:53]Issues with the dominant mindsets of Silicon Valley [21:29]Regulating tech vs. other markets [25:07]Solutions: new corporate governance and ethics [30:36]Addressing barriers to regulatory solutions: corporate capture [32:50]Addressing barriers to regulatory solutions: pace of technology vs. pace of regulation [32:50]Need for transparency for better accountability [39:57]Ideas for corporate governance with public accountability [41:52]Addressing big tech amidst misaligned market incentives [44:46]Interrogating WhatApp vs. Signal re: social alignment [47:56]Role of competition in enabling social driven usage [50:22]Importance of regulatory reform to enable more competition [53:24]Pushing back on non-profit motives vs. more democratic forms of governance [54:01]The importance of spiritual and cultural pluralism [55:12]Integrating immediate and long term approaches [57:32] To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

In this episode Jenny sits down with Jim Rutt and Jordan Hall, founders of the Game B movement, to understand it's history and main tenets. Jim and Jordan have thought deeply about many facets of the Denizen inquiry, this conversation dives into many core concepts related to social and institutional redesign.‍The genesis of Game B [3:05]Defining complexity science [4:04]Epistemology and epistemic modesty [5:26]Jim's original paper the Root Doc [5:49]The Stanton meetings and establishing a political party [7:01]Evolving from The Emancipation Party to Game B [9:06]Defining Game B [12:23]The dissolution of the original Game B cohort / shifting to "spore mode" [12:38]Main tenets of Game B [16:02]Design and design principles [23:04]Collective intelligence and technology in Game B [24:23]Governance, scale, and Dunbar's number [28:55]The importance of protocols [36:56]Game A's scaling advantage and self terminating nature [38:40]Upgrading humans in Game B with psycho technologies [42:42]Where Game B is now [52:20]How a Game B transition might take place [1:00:27]The relationship between theory and practice [1:03:39]Permaculture vs. Game B [1:11:13]The Circular Economy vs. Game B [1:12:04]Game B and Economic Growth [1:13:32]ResourcesThe Game B wikiRebel Wisdom episode "The Story of Game B"The Jim Rutt ShowGame B Facebook group To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

In this episode Jenny sits down with three leaders in the regenerative movement: John Fullerton, Founder of the Capital Institute and champion of Regenerative Capitalism; Hunter Lovins, pioneer in the sustainability movement and author of Natural Capitalism; and Joon Yun, philanthropist and advocate of inclusive stakeholding. Each have been guests on various topics within the Denizen inquiry: Regenerative Capitalism, Natural Capitalism, and Inclusive Stakeholding. Each of them mentioned the importance of narratives shifts in their individual discussions, so this conversation brings them together to explore the new narratives that are needed for systems change.John, Hunter and Joon are joined by four creatives within the Denizen community who share reflections from their work in various mediums. Recording artist Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, visual artist Ben Von Wong, actor Ryan Caldwell, and filmmaker James Krisel. This is a wide ranging and provocative conversation intended to inspire new narratives for cultural change.In this conversation Jenny, John, Hunter, Joon, Alex, Ben, Ryan and James discuss:Introductory framing [3:08]John's reflections on regenerative captialism's role in crafting new narratives [4:36]Hunter's reflections [11:00]Joon's reflections on storytelling and inclusive stakeholding [17:40]Inclusive stakeholding and regenerative capitalism principles: empowered participation [27:12]Reasons for hope wrt new narratives [31:49]Thoughts from Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros [35:43]Thoughts from visual artist Ben Von Wong [37:30]Reflections from Ryan Caldwell, actor; the importance of story [40:17]The necessity of vision [43:26]Reflections from James Krisel, filmmaker [46:14]Analogies with human aging [48:11]Overcoming tribalism [52:38]Resources:"Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape Our New Economy", John FullertonNatural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, Paul Hawken, Hunter Lovins, and Amory LovinsA Finer Future: Creating an Economy in Service to Life, Hunter Lovins, Anders Wijkman, Stewart Wallis, and John Fullerton‍Interdependent Capitalism: Redesigning the Social Contract through Inclusive Stakeholding, Joon Yun, Jeremy Yun, Conrad Yun‍Essays on Inclusive Stakeholding Joon Yu, Eric Yun, and Conrad Yun‍Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants., Robin Wall KimmererThomas Berry‍Grunch of Giants, Buckminster FullerDonella MeadowsNeuromancer, William GibsonAlex EbertBen Von Wong‍The Stubborn Optimist's Guide, Center for Humane Technology's Your Undivided Attention episode with Christiana Figueres To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

Donnie Maclurcan returns in this episode to discuss the radical, embodied practices he employs as Executive Director of the Post Growth Institute. Learn how PGI uses an asset-based approach, sociocratic governance, and lean processes to create trust, safety, and virtuous cycles. Recorded live in San Francisco, Donnie and Jenny discuss PGI's cutting edge practices such as silent meetings, a long hiring process, a policy of "no shit work", rest week, defining ones own pay rates, and much more. It's a provocative, eye opening conversation that should not be missed.‍Covered in this episode:Origin story of the Post Growth Institute [2:28]PGI's asset based approach [5:37]How PGI employs being over doing [11:53]Silent meetings [16:02]No shit work [19:33]Starting meetings [23:39]Embodied response [27:19]Defining one's own pay rates [30:35]Harmony restoration [34:44]Rest week [38:44]Sociocracy and decision making at PGI [30:05] Resources:Appreciative InquiryThe More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, Charles EisensteinSociocracy for All To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

This episode is a little different than most, we’re not exploring a single topic.  Instead we discuss Elena’s expansive work as it relates to our inquiry. This conversation ties to so many episodes to date: Change from Within with Bobby Klein, Nonviolent Communication, Beyond the Enlightenment, Liberatory Technology, and Parenting, just to name a few.  Elena  helps us weave them together under the banner of our personal practices.We discuss her upcoming book, Softening Time, how nonviolent communication has helped her learn self compassion, her recent devotion to Zen Buddhism, her decision to become sober ten years ago,  lessons from parenting, her course on living intentionally, and the importance of community. Resources:Elena's website: https://elenabrower.com/Softening Time, Elena's substackThe Kind Teacher, the company offering the micro dosing protocol Elena recently did To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

Our guests for this episode are Aden Van Noppen, Davion Ziere, and Sará King, the team behind Mobius. With historical and current advisors such as Jack Kornfield, Dr. Angel Acosta, and Krista Tippet, Mobius's mission is to activate a tech ecosystem focused on healing and well being. Mobius' work prioritizes support for Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, youth, and others who are marginalized by the dominant tech sector.In this conversation we discuss their vision for the technology sector and how Mobius' work seeks to enable it.Sará, Zi, and Aden's visions for the technology sector [3:36]Learnings form Mobius 1.0 [11:05]Defining liberatory technology [16:56]Mobius' theory of change [26:41]Structures of accountability [32:04]Mobius' trust and governing structures [34:46]Sará's work with Mind Heart as an example of a liberatory technology [42:28]Establishing Liberatory technology foundations [50:00]ResourcesMobius' website"Creating Technology Worthy of the Human Spirit," Aden Van NoppenSará King: Liberatory Technology from the Future; Sará's episode on the Sounds True podcast To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.

In this episode we're exploring a foundational topic: trust. Our guest Davion Ziere, known as Zi, has been thinking deeply about this topic for years. He's even written a yet to be published book on it. Davion is co-director of Mobius, founder of an online community marketplace called Origyn, a recording artist, and student of many indigenous traditions. This is the first of a two part series exploring Zi's work.In this conversation Jenny and Zi touch on:Trust and grief [2:54]Defining trust [5:31]Trust in pre-modern cultures [8:10]Learning from Zi's study of indigenous groups in Hawaii, Peru, and the Amazon [13:30]Why trust is a root issue to address [17:00]Trust of self [19:59]Defining self worth [26:09]Restoring trust and the importance of truth [30:04]The importance of listening [41:51]The first law of thermodynamics [44:05]Zi's values around trust [45:47]Moving from transaction to trust [56:08]Redefining ownership [57:26]ResourcesBraiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall KimmererBuilding Trust: In Business, Politics, Relationships, and Life, Fernando Flores and Robert SolomonThe Truth about Trust: How It Determines Success in Life, Love, Learning, and More, David DeSteno To stay connected to all things Denizen, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.becomingdenizen.com.  There we share our latest content alongside community events, educational opportunities, and announcements from our many partner organizations.