Hot off the Substack press! Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention (Digital Zine Release) Check out our latest community-led research output and learn about how to leverage Metagov's community infrastructure for collaborations. metagov.substack.com/p/collective...

People keep figuring this out. One by one we'll get there.

This is an extraordinary summary of the state of crypto-authoritarianism by @joseatiles.bsky.social: botpopuli.net/the-crypto-s...

It feels especially horrific that the president is dismantling Colorado's atmospheric research gem the same week that we are home from work and school because of apocalyptic winds. weatherkit.apple.com/alertDetails...

It is misery that Alex Karp has just bought this holy place, where I've been praying when I can for 20 years. www.realtor.com/news/celebri...

When a math problem is hard, break it up into smaller problems that aren't so hard. Same with political economy. Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention metagov.org/cg-ai/

Good read. @ntnsndr.in interviews @bnewbold.net about the history of Bluesky from his perspective as a protocol engineer. A great deal of pragmatism and such a unique set of circumstances allowed the network to succeed as it did. protocol.ecologies.info/interviews/n...

Like many collaborations in our community, it all started with a shared Google Doc (s/o @ntnsndr.in)... The Metagov community proudly presents "Collective Governance for AI: Points of Intervention" metagov.org/cg-ai/

AI doesn't have to be run only by and for a few enormous companies. Just out from Metagov! A digital zine listing the MANY ways that people are trying to make AI more governable, accountable, and community-controlled: https://metagov.org/cg-ai/

Over the weekend, the GreenPill podcast dropped this conversation I had with one of the governance technologists I admire most, former Taiwan digital minister Audrey Tang: pod.link/1609313639/e... It is pretty sci-fi. But in times like these, sci-fi is at least part of what we need.

The Bonfire team have met their first “maintenance” fundraising goal. The next stretch goal is designing and shipping federated groups. There is lots of good writing in this post about the needs of different types of groups. bonfirenetworks.org/posts/why-co...

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

The vision behind Pope Leo's call for students not to do homework with AI: "Christian education is a collective endeavour: no one educates alone." www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

In case anyone wants to write a college paper that makes Christian arguments in favor of an expansive and creative view of gender: www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/1...

If it would be helpful for you to meticulously examine the rituals you observe this Thanksgiving, for those who celebrate, I invite you to do so with the inaugural release of the Protocol Bicorder: medlab.host/bicorder/ Let me know how it goes!

Dropped out of computer science, dropped out of religious studies, can't stop doing both

Whatever else happens, there will always have been tonight

‼️ The deadline (December 1, 2025) for our Call for Abstracts on “THE IMAGINATIVE #LANDSCAPE OF #AI – VISIONS, POSITIONS, CONFLICTS” is approaching. I am very happy to edit this thematic issue of @ijoc-usc.bsky.social with @ntnsndr.in #openaccess. More information: comai.space/en/call-for-...

Abstracts due on 12/1: I'm editing a special issue of the Int'l Journal of Communication on "the imaginative landscape of AI." Help us map the imaginaries of this stuff beyond the tech industry fluff: https://comai.space/en/call-for-papers-the-imaginative-landscape-of-ai-visions-positions-conflicts-

The @defector.com annual reports are always spectacular works of art, but this one by @jaspercwang.bsky.social is a particular gem. Especially on the power of journalists building together rather than substacking it alone. defector.com/reflections-...

"Are Protocols Elite?" by @ntnsndr.in (2025)

Happy birthday Calvin & Hobbes. www.npr.org/2025/11/18/n... It was only when reading it with my kids that I realized the secret message: Calvin acts like Calvin because adults almost never play with him. Like, actually play.

Your #ExitToCommunity of the day is Eldora ski resort, in the process of being bought by the town of Nederland. Good for the sellers, good for the workers, good for the town. Still early in the season tho:)

Are you going to Start.coop’s Graduation Showcase for the Black Community Wealth Accelerator? I sure am! Learn about 12 amazing new Black-led co-op startups. �� https://www.eventbrite.com/e/graduation-showcase-startcoops-black-community-wealth-accelerator-tickets-1901897991089?aff=oddtdtcreatator

Gnawing on stolen land

The letter from São Paulo’s peripheral neighborhoods to COP30: globalvoices.org/2025/11/14/t... Oh, and donate to @globalvoices.org, I just did.

For a taste of what I've been working on this season, I have a new, tiny-little essay in the in-house journal of our Center for Media, Religion, and Culture, Rhythms: "Are Protocols Elite?" Based on a collab with Avery Edenfield. https://www.colorado.edu/cmrc/2025/11/06/rhythms-fall-2025-counter-med

Good statement from the US conference of Catholic Bishops

Graduate students interested in learning about investment models beyond capital gains! Here's an opportunity for what seems like a beautiful retreat: www.capitalcommonssummit.org/

As someone who has taught Christensen and activist strategy for years, I think this essay is dead on.

wow great interview. @bnewbold.net is a real one - very thoughtful & cares deeply about the problems we're trying to address this interview does a great job capturing the pressure/anxiety/tradeoffs of designing/developing the protocol, especially the early period

“How do you have credible exit? You need to be able to take your stuff and import it into another server, and it can’t be hard. It needs to be an easy thing to do … the Blacksky PDS is getting up and running, and more people are migrating … this is a moment when some of these ideas are being tested”

Such a great article with thoughtful and insightful questions and answers about what it means to create protocols (and products using protocols) in this space. Essential reading for every atproto hacker (or even critic) out there.

Most engineers don't design protocols like @bnewbold.net does, but we know + love this moment: «But some point, even if you don’t have the final solution, you can see how you’re going to solve it. And when you see it, you’re always like, “This is going to work.” That it is elegant enough to work.»

Overall a fantastic peek by @ntnsndr.in into the mindset of a protocol designer who's trying to build an ecosystem of "small teams" capable of replacing + improving solutions anywhere in the architecture ( Especially insightful for all the folks @wesleyfinck.org calls "builders" on those teams )

Wednesday! Join me for a Metagov Seminar with my colleague Dr. Orit Peleg from CU Boulder, a computer scientist who does the most wonderful work on self-governance among plants and insects—this is going to be glorious: luma.com/pzbp4zq1?tk=...

The latest interview up at the Protocol Oral History Project is a @bsky.app hometown hero: Protocol Engineer @bnewbold.net. I'm so grateful for his time and care in sharing his experience building the foundation for not only this app but many more: protocol.ecologies.info/interviews/n...

Just arrived! Copies of the Open Social Network Cookbook, beautifully designed and made by Janaya Kizzie of Binch Press x Queer Archive Work. Download, print, and bind your own: www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/2...

Just arrived! Copies of the Open Social Network Cookbook, beautifully designed and made by Janaya Kizzie of Binch Press x Queer Archive Work. Download, print, and bind your own: www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/2...

Putting down Radical Technologies (because I literally don't have it on me, lol) and picking up @ntnsndr.in's Governable Spaces for my latest technosocial read: nathanschneider.info/books/govern...

Being a panpsychist is convenient because you get to completely ignore debates about whether AI is becoming conscious or whatever. I recommend it.

Ooh, Gander (Canadian AT Proto social network) is looking really good, and you can become a co-owner! gandersocial.ca

Congrats to @ronentk.me and the rest of the team for such extraordinary progress building social for science!

Loving this so far!!!

The de-Googled @murena-com.bsky.social Fairphone 6 is now available in the US. I have been a tester and the team has done an amazing job making this thing sparkle. It's an easy way to move to fair-trade hardware & user-centered software. murena.com/america/shop...

"At the heart of our work together was the question: How can the online communities that we participate in use tools that truly reflect our values?" This looks so useful for #TeamRhetoric folks seeking to reframe our social media pedagogy!

Hey! My piece "Being Open, Social, and Protective" is out in the Open Social Network Cookbook zine created by a wonderful cohort of community/tech from folks around the world. My recipe offers a 101 guide for curating healthy & happy social media accts. Check it out! www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/m...

Over the past year, my lab has hosted a cohort of people from around the world who are trying to move their communities to online tools under their control. OUT TODAY: Learn about their thinking and doing in our collectively authored Open Social Network Cookbook. https://www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/

A helpful reminder to Curtis Yarvin that CEOs are liberals, not monarchs. www.compactmag.com/article/the-...

Bsky needs some #gobuffs @colorado.edu