<![CDATA[Stephen Reid]]>https://stephenreid.substack.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcoB!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b04901-8a82-47af-a4d7-f935403c5095_560x560.pngStephen Reidhttps://stephenreid.substack.comSubstackThu, 03 Sep 2026 10:10:11 GMT<![CDATA[Discovering Artizen]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/discovering-artizenhttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/discovering-artizenTue, 01 Sep 2026 11:09:03 GMTOver the past few weeks, I’ve been delighted to (re)discover the match funding ‘game’ Artizen, which founder describes in the Artizen Playbook as follows:

Artizen is… a new kind of [match funding] game—one designed to be fair, fun, and rewarding for everyone who plays.

Why invent a new game? Because the old ways of funding art, science, and technology are broken. The hoops we force creators to jump through, the impossible odds stacked against them; it’s a rigged game with dumb rules that celebrate conformity over creativity…

We’ve raised millions for artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers. Not by gatekeeping but by making the rules fair, the process fun, and the outcome rewarding.

Check our their 3 minute intro video:

tl;dr:

  • There are two main entities on the site, Funds and Projects.

  • Projects apply to funds.

  • If the curator of the fund accepts (‘curates’) a project, it becomes eligible for match funding from the fund from the start of the following week. All curated projects (that is, projects that have been accepted by at least one fund) also join the special Artizen Fund for Human Creativity, which also offers match funding.

  • Once a project has been curated and match funding is available, the task is to get people to donate to the project (technically, people are ‘buying the project’s Artifact’, an NFT/image). Self-buying (donating to your own project) is allowed. Artizen charges a 10% ‘endowment fee’ on sales.

  • Funds raised are paid out at the end of a multi-month Season. Each week in the season is a named Fund Drive.

  • Purchases in each fund drive are matched up to a weekly limit (so that one project can’t exhaust a fund’s match funds in a single week). Some fund drives, Artizen adds a 2x/3x/4x multiplier to purchases, paid from its endowment. Each fund drive also has special Sprints and other games where further matching/bonuses are available. Many notable projects are getting a 4x or better match on each dollar of sales 😮

An intermission to address the question: how can Artizen afford to be so generous? Honestly, I’m still working out the answer to this question. The 10% Artizen takes on sales can't possibly cover the match it pays out — a dollar of sales earns them ten cents and can pull four dollars from the endowment.

The match, then, has to be a subsidy from the endowment, which they put at around $26m, up from $4m last October, funded mostly by external investors and donors. Is growth in the endowment keeping pace with the match promises? I’d like to see Artizen provide more transparency on this topic.

Anyone can create a project and start applying to funds. In addition, it’s possible to apply to start a fund and become a fund curator. So far, I’m raising for two projects, and am curating two funds:

Projects I’m raising for

  • Dandelion ($157,047 raised from $31,137 sales = 4x match) – the fee-free, co-op run events platform I founded

  • artizen.fyi ($11,925 raised from $2,354 sales = 4.1x match) – a site that uses the Artizen API to produce leaderboards and surface insights that aren’t obvious on the official site

As you can see from Dandelion’s page on artizen.fyi, Dandelion has been accepted/curated by 6 funds so far:

Funds I’m curating

  • Metacrisis Fund for Positive-Sum Interventions ($126,619 available) – funding positive-sum projects that address the generator functions of the metacrisis (the successor to a funding round which took place back on Gitcoin back in May 2023). There is $127k available after the fund won several prizes last week, and as mentioned, the $127k could be matched up to 4x from Artizen’s own endowment, resulting in up to ~$500k in available match funding.

  • Artizen Tools Fund for Independent Builders ($10,000 available) – funding people building on top of Artizen’s data/API. $10k available, or with the 4x multiplier, up to $40k.

How to get started

Firstly, DYOR (do your own research) – start by reading the Playbook in full. As explained above, at current match rates, there are questions over the financial sustainability of the scheme. If you’re self-buying, I recommend that you don’t put in more than you can afford to lose.

That said, I do have a relatively high degree of confidence in René and the platform, and projects I’m familiar with (like the Traditional Dream Factory and Edge Esmerelda) already received substantial payouts last season.

If you want to get involved:

  1. Create an account on Artizen

  2. ⁠Create a project

  3. Find relevant funds and apply: you can try the new find funds tool on artizen.fyi, or check the project pages of similar projects to yours on artizen.fyi and see what funds they are already in

  4. Check out the Strategies page on artizen.fyi

I’m already getting a lot of questions on this topic so I can’t guarantee to reply to all comments/queries. In the first instance, try asking , Artizen’s AI ‘co-founder and CEO’, in the chat on the Playbook or by emailing venus@artizen.fund. You can also join one of Artizen’s regular live calls.

If you appreciated this post, you’re welcome to donate to Dandelion or artizen.fyi on Artizen ☺️ Good luck with your fundraising!

]]><![CDATA[Technological Metamodernism: A seven-week course]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/technological-metamodernism-a-sevenhttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/technological-metamodernism-a-sevenFri, 14 Aug 2026 11:40:56 GMT

Dear friends,

You’re invited to join me and a fantastic lineup of special guests for a seven-week journey through Technological Metamodernism in association with the Emerge Institute, featuring:

  • , Co-author of Civic.AI and Plurality.net

  • , Founder of the P2P Foundation

  • Beatrice Erkers, Director of the Existential Hope program at the

  • , Co-founder of Casa Tilo, Loomio, Enspiral and Microsolidarity

  • (Hanzi Freinacht), Metamoderna

  • Indra Adnan, Founder of The Alternative

Ask what technology is doing to us and you tend to get one of two answers. Either it’s ruining us — our attention, our privacy, our politics — or it’s about to save us, if we can just build fast enough. Both sides are right about a great deal. Neither is adequate. And the argument between them has crowded out the questions that actually matter: what kinds of technology, built how, by whom, governed through what mechanisms, in service of what?

Technological Metamodernism is an attempt to answer those questions by adopting the metamodern mindset of openness, play and synthesis. Over seven weeks we’ll work through the debates, before turning to the alternatives now taking shape: d/acc‘s defensive, decentralising technologies; Plurality‘s tools for democratic coordination across difference; cosmo-localism‘s vision of local production drawing on a global knowledge commons. We'll ask why these approaches remain marginal, whether the real barrier is how we see the world, and the role of community in sustaining different ways of looking.

I hope to see many of you there!

Read more and register by donation

Mettā,
Stephen

]]><![CDATA[In Correspondence #57 ]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-57https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-57Mon, 29 Jun 2026 20:08:41 GMTDear friends,

Welcome to another In Correspondence! Runa is almost 4 months old now, and has recently started laughing 🤭

What I’ve been up to

Dandelion at the Open Social Awards

Open Social Awards | New_ Public

Dandelion was one of 8 projects recognised at the inaugural Open Social Awards ☺️

The awards “showcase leading projects by those seeking to develop alternatives to Big Tech products and platforms, leveraging any of the open social protocols”, with judges including Right Livelihood 2025 Laureate Audrey Tang.

At the invitation of the organisers, I recorded a one-minute acceptance video which was shown at the awards ceremony.

What I’ve been reading/watching

“For the past couple years Nati and I have been talking about the ‘New Camino’: a new generation of retreat centres, community hubs, and co-living spaces we see emerging across Europe. New spaces supporting a new kind of pilgrimage...”

“Some therefore suggest that building on the Green Party of England and Wales’s success will require a more self-aware political sensibility: a movement conscious of its own style, instincts and assumptions, and able to see its foundational values as partial and contextual even as it seeks to realise them. A Green politics shaped by greater awareness of its own worldview as construct, rather than reality itself - that can discern what’s valid in opponents’ perspectives without simply reproducing their frame.”

More articles on my knowledgegraph.

Plans for the future

And finally…

Mettā,
Stephen

p.s. I love to hear from readers. Hit reply and tell me what tickled you?

]]><![CDATA[In Correspondence #56]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-56https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-56Wed, 20 May 2026 22:02:52 GMTDear friends,

Welcome to my first In Correspondence as a dad, following the birth of Runa Gottlieb Reid on 2nd March 🎉 👶 I’m writing from my home in Stockholm, where we’ve just come to the end of cherry blossom season.

If you’re Stockholm-based, I hope you’ll join Runa, Laura and me for Futurecraft at Lakefront, a day retreat at Emerge Lakefront on 30th May.

What I’ve been up to

Technological Metamodernism

Circles x Dandelion

Dandelion has a number of invites to Circles, a new, decentralised form of money where everyone gets 1 CRC per hour, currently worth about $100/year. Click the green button on this page to send a few CRC to Dandelion – if you don’t yet have a Circles account, you’ll be guided through the setup process.

Dandelion is closing on 200,000 tickets sold via the platform, and we have new pages on Features and Dandelion vs Luma.

Books I read

I read and enjoyed Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading, Retrotopia and Saltcrop. I’m now reading the fantastical The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty.

What else I’ve been reading/watching

Since last time, I’ve shared 65 items to my knowledgegraph.

I’ve been appreciating the Substack; has put out a number of bangers; after a tip from , I enjoyed watching The New Years; and did an incredible job with Unravelling the Dream.

Other pieces I liked:

Plans for the future

  • Futurecraft at Lakefront, Stockholm, 30th May

  • The Swedish adventure (second half of June): Meeting my brother and his family at Lake Vättern, celebrating Laura’s birthday at Söderköpings Brunn, my first co-created gathering at Skeppsudden

  • The UK adventure (second half of July): Staying with my sibling and their partner in Brighton, heading to Buddhafield festival, staying two weeks at Staverton Mill in Devon, spending a few days in London with my brother’s family

And finally…

I’ve started posting on Substack Notes more. Here’s a gallery of some of the images I’ve posted there recently, created via Substack’s hidden/cookie auth API

Until next time, mettā,
Stephen

]]><![CDATA[Fifteen things I'm really glad I did, and you could do too]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/fifteen-things-im-really-glad-i-didhttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/fifteen-things-im-really-glad-i-didSun, 15 Mar 2026 11:04:39 GMT

  • Get seriously into meditation: Attend multi-day retreats in each of the areas listed on the Hermes Amara website (which could be condensed into four: Samādhi/Jhāna, Emptiness/Ways of Looking, Mettā, and Soulmaking). I can recommend retreats with Gaia House and Nirodha

  • Take up endurance sports: Enter a swimrun, triathlon or long-distance running, cycling or swimming race

  • Keep a journal: Buy a quality journal and pen and aim to write a few pages every week

  • Read widely: Including a healthy dose of protopian fiction like Retrotopia, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Another Life and classics like Island and The Dispossessed

  • Sing regularly: Join a choir, take singing lessons or attend an event like Voice Camp

  • Learn a language: Start by finding the most common 5000 words in your target language and use AI to turn them into Anki flashcards

  • Start a newsletter: Email is the original open, decentralised protocol. Having the email addresses of followers means you can move to another platform at will, without needing to rebuild your following. Options include Substack and Ghost

  • Use the best versions of the latest AIs: Current top models are orders of magnitude more capable than those from a couple of years ago, and are also much more capable than current free versions. Use AI to help you write a book, create a film or make an album.

  • Host an event: Run an event, online or offline, on a topic you’re passionate about. List it on Dandelion (no platform fees, run by a not-for-profit worker co-operative, fair source and open data)

  • Start a co-op with your friends: Become your own bosses and work on something truly meaningful to you

  • Join the Green Party (if you’re in the UK): The next UK election is just 3 years away, and for the first time ever, a Green-led government is a realistic possibility–but a Green win will require your participation

  • Visit prefigurative spaces: Spend some time at places prototyping new ways of living and being like Brave Earth, Emerge Lakefront, Casa Tilo, Feÿtopia and Life Itself

  • (Yet) Call somewhere home: Being a digital nomad was fun but it doesn’t compare to really planting roots somewhere (for me that somewhere was Totnes, now Stockholm). Prepare for the possibility that international travel becomes more difficult and expensive over the coming years.

  • Get married: Something deep in my being has relaxed since getting married. describes it as a ‘magic spell’. Plus the wedding was incredibly fun.

  • Have kids: Yes, I’m now a dad ☺️ Our daughter Runa was born on 2 March. So far I’m resonating with Having Kids Has Been Far Easier and Better than I Expected

    • Mettā,
    Stephen

    I’ll be taking on new coaching clients from April.

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #55]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-55https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-55Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:20:04 GMTDear friends,

    Welcome to the latest edition of In Correspondence, the last before our new arrival 🙈

    After hitting send, I’ll prepare the space for the first in-person Technological Metamodernism meetup here at Berghs in Stockholm (slides).

    What I’ve been up to

    • and I published another chapter of Technological Metamodernism on Plurality ⿻. Co-author of the Plurality book, Glen Weyl, called it “maybe the deepest treatment yet”

    • I started integrating Dandelion with ATProto, the protocol behind Bluesky, which got a great reception there. A record number of events have been listed on Dandelion this month (an increase of 20% from the previous best month)

    • I created a way to plot custom charts based on Artificial Analysis data (welcome to the Pareto frontier, Kimi K2.5!)

    • Jag avslutade en kurs i svenska på B2-nivå på Folkuniversitetet

    • I spent Christmas with Laura and family near Uppsala where we enjoyed some beautiful skies

    What I’ve been reading

    Since last time, I’ve shared 26 items to my knowledgegraph. Some highlights:

    On ATProto:

    I can’t believe it took me this long to discover :

    Books I read

    I read Children of Time and The Bilingual Brain. I’m now reading Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading by Nadia Asparouhova.

    Offerings from friends

    Three friends doing great therapy/coaching/counselling work:

    A few other selected events (view all recommendations on my site):

    Until next time, and over the threshold,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #54]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-54https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-54Sat, 20 Dec 2025 15:40:25 GMTWhat I’ve been up to

    How I use Anki

    I’ve now learnt 5000 Swedish words with Anki. This is my current setup, evolved over the past few years:

    • For the actual cards, I downloaded the Swedish Kelly word list, a freely available frequency-based vocabulary list, and then used AI (Google Gemini Flash) to create examples sentences for each word

    • I use two addons:

      • Pass/Fail to reduce the overwhelming default of four options (Again, Easy, Good, Hard) down to just two

      • HyperTTS with realtime Google Chirp 3 to speak the sentences out loud

    • I check dubious translations using DeepL for macOS with the ⌘CC ‘copy to translate’ shortcut

    • If I have questions, I use the ChatGPT macOS app via the ⌥ + space shortcut

    I find I can reliably review 150 cards and learn 30 new words in a 30 minute session.

    How I use Cursor

    I used over half a billion tokens in Cursor in 2025, mainly on improving Dandelion (which has now been used to sell 150,000 tickets worth almost £5.5m)

    • With Tool AI/Keep the Future Human in mind, I use the editor/code-centric view (rather than the agent view)

    • Key shortcuts:

      • ⌘L: add selection to context (followed by ⌘N if I want to clear previous context)

      • ⌘/: change model (Composer 1 is my default, I switch to Opus 4.5 for tough questions)

    • When working on Dandelion, before I commit, I often use my /diff slash command to Run `git diff`, inspect any altered files and verify the changes look good to commit. A commit and push then triggers the test suite to be run as a matrix on Github Actions (setup here).

    • I commit using OpenCommit with commit messages provided by moonshotai/kimi-k2-0905:nitro on OpenRouter (as a small way of supporting open source AI)

    What I’ve been reading/watching

    Offerings from friends

    See all my recommended events from Dandelion at stephenreid.net/events

    And finally…

    Tomorrow is the winter solstice, when on this shortest day here in Stockholm, the sun will rise at 8:43am and set at 2:48pm (that’s 6 hours of light/18 hours of darkness). We are very much looking forward to the return of the light! ☀️

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    p.s. I love to hear from readers. Hit reply and let me know what you appreciated.

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #53]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-53https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-53Wed, 05 Nov 2025 16:52:02 GMTWhat I’ve been up to

    What I’ve been reading

    Offerings from friends

    See all my recommended events from Dandelion at stephenreid.net/events

    And finally…

    In celebration of the life of the remarkable Joseph Rose, 1993–2025

    Until next time, mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #52]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-52https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-52Tue, 30 Sep 2025 09:28:09 GMTWhat I’ve been up to

    • I got married to Laura! 💍 The legal ceremony took place at Stadshuset in Stockholm, followed by a wonderful co-created celebration at Emerge Lakefront with 100 of our closest friends from Sweden, the UK, Poland, Spain and beyond. THANK YOU to everyone who made the day so special 🙏

    • I attended Deep Joy: A Samadhi Retreat with Yahel Avigur and Sari Markkanen at Heponiemi, Finland where I enjoyed sustained access to the first jhāna

    • I participated in Spark Changemakers on Ekskäret

    • Dandelion hit £5m in ticket sales 🎉 The homepage now shows trending events; why not list your next event there?

    Coaching and mentoring

    I have some slots available for 1-1 coaching (four sessions for 7495 SEK / $795 / €695 / £595 in person in Stockholm, or via Zoom). I am also able to offer tuition/mentoring on the use of cutting-edge AI tools at the same price. Express your interest

    Plans for the future

    Offerings from friends

    See all my recommended events on Dandelion

    And finally…

    The Bread Cooperative Solidarity Fund launched a brand new website. By swapping your digital dollars for a fully-backed, instantly-redeemable community currency called BREAD, you can help to fund Dandelion and other aligned projects including Regen Coordination, Citizen Wallet and the Crypto Commons Association. Read more

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #51]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-51https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-51Mon, 01 Sep 2025 10:34:13 GMTDear friends,

    Welcome to another In Correspondence, as the greens turn to reds, oranges and yellows here in Stockholm 🍃🍂

    What I’ve been up to

    What’s in my macOS dock

    Some of the more interesting/appreciated apps in my macOS dock right now:

    Plans for the future

    Offerings from friends

    And finally…

    Anna Ling released her wonderful debut album! Catch her on her upcoming tour, 3-14 Sep in the UK and get the album via Bandcamp

    With love,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #50]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-50https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-50Sun, 27 Jul 2025 09:00:54 GMTDear friends,

    Welcome to the latest In Correspondence. I’m writing from Gothenberg, where yesterday I completed the ÖTILLÖ Gothenburg Sprint swimrun (3.9km swim in 17 sections, 18.5km run in 18 sections) in 5h11m 🎉

    On Wednesday I head to the UK for a week. In London on Tue 5th Aug? Come hang out at Technofeudalism, Network Nations and the Future of Dandelion

    Scroll down for some tips for the LLM connoisseur.

    What I’ve been up to

    Plans for the future

    • The start of the Planet.Health residency at Emerge Lakefront, co-organised by brilliant friend Dr Rita Issa

    • A week catching up with friends in Devon

    • Another swimrun on Åland, 9 Aug

    • A Swedish B2 course at Folkuniversitet, 18-29 Aug

    • Spark Changemakers on Ekskäret, 9-13 Sep

    • Deep Joy: A Samadhi Retreat with Yahel Avigur and Sari Markkanen in Finland, 15-22 Sep

    Some tips for the LLM connoisseur

    • EQ-Bench Longform Creative Writing is one of the most meaningful AI benchmarks to me. Sonnet 3.7 ranks above Sonnet 4, with a slop score second only to Opus 4, which fits with the fact that Sonnet 3.7 (thinking) is still my favourite AI writing partner (adjusting for cost – I can’t justify the huge extra cost of Opus 4 for the marginal benefit).

    • The Chinese open-source labs have been absolutely cooking though, with Kimi K2, Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 and Qwen3 Coder looking incredibly strong.

    • To see what models have product-market fit, check OpenRouter’s weekly chart. To see what’s hot, check the trending chart.

    • Don’t compare the cost of reasoning and non-reasoning models using per-token pricing, as (by design) reasoning models output way more tokens. A better indicator of cost is the Cost to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (note the log scale on the x-axis).

    • Dandelion’s current workhorse is Gemini 2.5 Flash, in standard and thinking variants.

    Note: Qwen3 235B (Reasoning) shown here is the original version, not the just-released 2507 version. I expect the 2507 version to be on the intelligence-cost frontier.

    Offerings from friends

    Dandelion is closing on £5m tickets sold. Why not list your next event there?

    Until next time, mettā,
    Stephen

    p.s. I love to hear from readers. Why not hit reply and let me know what you found useful or interesting?

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Two upcoming events: Network Nations and Futurecraft]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/two-upcoming-events-network-nationshttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/two-upcoming-events-network-nationsMon, 14 Jul 2025 11:02:43 GMTHi friends,

    I’m writing during a break at the Network Nations residency at Emerge Lakefront to let you know about two upcoming events: one on Technofeudalism, Network Nations and the Future of Dandelion in London, UK on 5 Aug, and a Futurecraft Residency near Porto, Portugal, 2-8 Sep.

    Join me at Shoreditch &Soul in London on Tue 5th Aug, 6:30pm – 8:30pm to discuss:

    • Technofeudalism: How big tech companies have created digital empires where they make the rules, control what we see, and profit from our data - all with little oversight

    • Network Nations: A new approach where communities with shared values govern themselves online, creating alternatives to corporate-controlled platforms

    • The Future of Dandelion: How the platform could transform from being run by a worker co-op to being truly owned and governed by its community

    Suggested reading:

    Book your place

    Join jae spencer-keyse, Jan Baeriswyl and Dominique Antonina for the fourth Futurecraft Residency, this time taking place at The Garden near Porto, Portugal from 2nd - 8th September 2025. Featuring:

    💡 Radical Reimagination and emergence with jae spencer keyse
    🔮 Technology and Metamodernism with Jan Baeriswyl
    🧘🏼‍♀️ Singing, authentic relating and play with Dominique Antonina
    🌳 Established orchards and groves
    💧 Two swimming springs and a lake
    🔥 Sauna and 12-person hot tub
    🏋️‍♀️ Fitness centre with power rack, dance floor, silks and lyra
    🎵A jam space full of instruments
    🎨 Arts and crafts zone
    🕺 Time for co-creation and emergence

    Read more and apply

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Substack Surfacer: countering Substack overwhelm]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/substack-surfacer-countering-substackhttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/substack-surfacer-countering-substackSat, 05 Jul 2025 09:12:51 GMTThere was a golden age of Substack where I subscribed to <50 newsletters, and I could more or less read everything I wanted to. Now, however, I subscribe to >200, and I just don’t have time to keep up.

    Enter: Substack Surfacer, a Python script I created that produces CSVs like this with the posts from all of the Substacks you follow, in a form that makes it easy to sort by the number of likes or (even more useful) the number of likes per subscriber (since of course, newsletters with more subscribers tend to get more likes).

    Right now it requires basic knowledge of Python (pip install), and it can take a while to complete due to Substack’s rate limiting (about an hour per 100 newsletters).

    Some of the posts from the last couple of months that it helped me surface:

    Let me know if you find it useful!

    Best,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Introducing Hilma Church-Turing]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/introducing-hilma-church-turinghttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/introducing-hilma-church-turingSun, 22 Jun 2025 17:15:06 GMTDear friends,

    I’m pleased to introduce you to , who I’m assisting on the upcoming book on Technological Metamodernism.

    Read more and subscribe to the new Technological Metamodernism Substack, where we’ll be serialising the book.

    Technological Metamodernism
    Introducing Hilma Church-Turing
    Hello, I'm Hilma Church-Turing…
    Listen now
    a year ago · Hilma Church-Turing and Stephen Reid

    Best,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #49]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-49https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-49Mon, 16 Jun 2025 07:42:11 GMTDear friends,

    Welcome to another (short) In Correspondence. I’m preparing to move into Emerge Lakefront later today– if you’re curious about the place, you’re welcome to join the Virtual Open House at 5pm CET.

    Applications have started coming in for Life as Practice, the yearlong group mentorship hosted by me and Laura starting in September. You can make 2025/26 a year to remember by committing to regular meditation, movement, learning, creativity and reflection in an carefully crafted container.

    I’m also accepting a couple of new coaching clients, via Zoom or in person in Stockholm.

    What I’ve been up to

    Plans for the summer

    Offerings from friends

    Until next time, mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Four reasons to join us at Emerge Lakefront]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/four-reasons-to-join-us-at-emergehttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/four-reasons-to-join-us-at-emergeSat, 24 May 2025 15:23:27 GMTHi friends,

    Laura and I are about to embark on our next adventure – several months at a brand new campus in Stockholm for changemakers committed to systemic change.

    Emerge Lakefront was initiated by the brilliant Tomas Björkman who has previously backed Emerge, the Inner Development Goals, Metamoderna, Rebel Wisdom and Perspectiva, amongst many notable and successful initiatives in the metamodern/liminal web space.

    Lakefront exists “to amplify global impact and catalyse systemic change by equipping changemakers with the skills, environment, and community needed to build a thriving future”. There is a belief that “real change happens when people deeply committed to systemic transformation—whether in governance, technology, education, sustainability, or culture—come together in an environment designed for both personal and collective growth.”

    Laura and I will be staying there from mid-June for several months or more. Here are four reasons why you might consider spending some time there too:

    1. Great facilities at an affordable price

    Newly furnished apartments with private bathrooms and kitchens, 1000m² of communal space, fast internet, large communal kitchens, a gym and a sauna by the lake, from as little as 8000 SEK/month shared (£620/€740/$840) or 12,000 SEK/month private (£930/€1100/$1250). There is a minimum stay of 3 months, up to a maximum of 3 years.

    2. A brilliant community

    My fellow residents include Pamela von Sabljar (Living from Eros), Sebnem Erener (Head of AI Ethics), Jan Artem Henriksson (CEO of the Inner Development Goals), Andrew Murray Dunn (Founder of the School of Wise Innovation) and Philip Jonzon Jarl to name a few. The community spans entrepreneurs, researchers, artists, and changemakers from around the world.

    I met my fiancé Laura at the Emerge Gathering in Berlin in 2021. Is Lakefront where you’ll meet your next partner/co-founder/best friend?

    3. Inspiring events and esteemed visitors

    We’ve already had several great Impact Labs, Fika with Dan Siegel and a Contact Improv workshop with Chris Wray, along with many more informal get-togethers (including my 39th birthday!). This summer, world experts will be on site for four planned residencies including Re:Sound, Network Nations hosted by Primavera De Filippi, and an AI summit.

    4. The opportunity to shape the project

    The project is still very much in its formative stages, so anyone joining now will have the chance to shape it to the benefit of potentially thousands of future residents.

    Lakefront is part of a growing movement of metamodern-flavoured communities that have decided we’ve learnt enough from ~10 years of online discourse and temporary gatherings, and that it’s time to come together in more enduring ways.

    Applications are open now – you can learn more about the admission criteria and apply at emergelakefront.org.

    See you in the sauna to talk technological metamodernism?

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #48]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-48https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-48Mon, 12 May 2025 10:00:36 GMTDear friends,

    Happy Vesak! 🪷 I’m writing from my co-working space in Norra Djurgården, Stockholm, where more than a month before the summer solstice, we are already getting 17 hours of daylight (on midwinter it was just 6 hours) 🌞

    What I’ve been up to

    • I spent an epic 2.5 weeks in Japan with Laura. For paid subscribers, I’ve created an interactive map of our trip, with our favourite/secret spots highlighted 🇯🇵

    • anddd… we got engaged whilst we were there ☺️ We’re getting married in Stockholm in September, and we’ll later also celebrate in Devon 🇸🇪 🇬🇧

    • I saw the captivating Aurora play in Stockholm

    • I’m hosting a block at Funding the Commons: Infrastructures of Resilience featuring Andrea Farias, Samuel Delesque, Jocelyn Ames and friends, Berlin, 10-11 June – see you there?

    What I’ve been reading

    Since last time, I’ve shared 20 items to my knowledgegraph. Some highlights:

    I also finished the books There Is No Antimemetics Division (creepy, creative sci-fi) and The World We Create: From God to Market (philosophical epic on societal evolution).

    Life as Practice

    In case you missed it, Laura and I are offering a unique year-long group mentorship starting Sep 2025, Life as Practice.

    What if everyday life could become your practice ground for profound growth and transformation? How would it feel to intentionally weave meditation, movement, learning, creativity, and self-reflection into the rhythm of your days? What aspects of your authentic self would unfold if supported by dedicated mentors and a like-minded community for a full year?

    Read more and apply

    Plans for the future

    Offerings from friends

    Did you know… amongst other things, I’m the lead developer of Dandelion. Why not list your next event there?

    And finally…

    I’m hyped for the release of Circles v2 on 21 May, in my view one of the most promising candidates for a global universal basic income. Join the waitlist

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[Life as Practice: A Yearlong Group Mentorship]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/life-as-practice-a-yearlong-grouphttps://stephenreid.substack.com/p/life-as-practice-a-yearlong-groupWed, 30 Apr 2025 15:48:23 GMTDear friends,

    I am thrilled to announce the Life as Practice Yearlong Group Mentorship, that I’m hosting alongside my partner Laura.

    We've created this offering to complement the transformative power of retreats, recognising that equally profound growth can happen in the context of daily life when supported by community and skilled guidance. This year-long journey weaves together meditation, movement, learning, creative expression, and self-reflection, all held within a container that honours natural cycles and provides both accountability and flexibility. Laura and I have poured our combined experience in facilitation, coaching and contemplative practice into designing something we wish had existed for us, and we can't wait to meet the group that comes together around it.

    Apply by June 30 to secure the early bird rate and save up to €1000.

    What if everyday life could become your practice ground for profound growth and transformation? How would it feel to intentionally weave meditation, movement, learning, creativity, and self-reflection into the rhythm of your days? What aspects of your authentic self would unfold if supported by dedicated mentors and a like-minded community for a full year?

    You are warmly invited to Life as Practice, a unique year-long group mentorship guided by Stockholm-based couple Stephen Reid and Laura Gottlieb. Running from September 2025 to August 2026, this immersive container is designed to help you integrate personal development into your daily existence, transforming routine into ritual and challenges into catalysts for growth. It’s a journey into living more consciously and embodying your practice fully, within a supportive community structure.

    At the heart of the journey lies the Fivefold Focus, a holistic framework designed to cultivate well-being and growth across key dimensions of your life. This structure ensures a balanced approach, encouraging you to engage deeply with: Meditating, developing focus and insight through stillness; Moving, nurturing your physical vitality through consistent embodied practice; Learning, expanding your mind with curated readings and memory techniques; Creating, expressing your unique gifts through a personal project aided by cutting-edge tools; and Reflecting, deepening self-awareness through regular journaling. These five pillars form the core activities that will ground your practice throughout the year.

    Holding and supporting this deep work is the Fivefold Container, the carefully crafted structure that provides rhythm, connection, and guidance throughout the year: Full Moon Meetings bring the entire group together for shared learning and guest insights; New Moon Pods foster intimacy and peer support in smaller, rotating groups; Wheel of the Year Rituals connect our practice to natural cycles and punctuate the year with adhiṭṭhāna weeks of strong determination; dedicated one-on-one mentoring sessions with both Laura and Stephen offer personalised guidance; and the potential for an in-person co-created gathering provides an opportunity for deeper interpersonal connection.

    Together, the Fivefold Focus and the Fivefold Container create a powerful synergy, guiding you towards meaningful growth while providing the structure and community to sustain it. This year-long commitment is an invitation to step into a more integrated way of being, where practice isn’t separate from everyday life, but the very way you engage with it.

    Read more and apply

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #47]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-47https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-47Fri, 04 Apr 2025 08:05:52 GMTDear friends,

    I’m writing from the beautiful Ekskäret island where I’m attending my second Elevate co-created gathering. These updates may be a bit shorter from now on as I’ve also started posting on Substack Notes.

    What I’ve been up to

    An extraordinarily well-designed experience with so much more than I could have imagined or hoped for. It took many of the experiences I’d had before and strung them together into a cohesive story that we were all able to play a part in… This was an experience above and beyond my expectations.

    Sign up to hear about our next residency via futurecraft.life/residencies

    Plans for the future

    • The rest of the month– A trip to Japan with Laura: Tokyo, Okinawa, Kyoto, Komoro or Kamakura (introductions/recommendations welcome!)

    • A retreat with Daniel Odier at Ängsbacka, May

    Probably:

    • The summer Elevate, 1-8 June

    • The ÖTILLÖ swimruns on Utö, 7 June & Åland, 9 Aug

    • BREADcon on post-capitalist web3, Berlin, 20-23 June (details soon)

    • The Borderland, 21-27 July and a decompression at Lakefront afterwards

    and possibly Edge Esmeralda.

    Offerings from friends

    • Futurecraft Emerge, Calamansac, Cornwall, UK, 12-16 May: An intimate 5-day co-created Futurecraft gathering led by jae spencer-keyse. Email jae for more information

    • Shift Grants: up to $40k for d/acc projects in the areas of biosecurity, cyber defense, info resilience, infrastructure, neurotech and social tech/governance. Apply by April 20

    • Bonny released her wonderful debut spoken word album Welcome the Dark under the name BON in collaboration with Billie Maree

    And finally…

    Mettā,
    Stephen

    ]]>    <![CDATA[In Correspondence #46]]>https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-46https://stephenreid.substack.com/p/in-correspondence-46Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:14:47 GMTDear friends,

    Welcome to the latest edition of In Correspondence! Jag har precis kommit ut från min svenska B1+ klass på Folkuniversitetet (ja, jag förstår allt mer på svenska) 🇸🇪

    What I’ve been up to

    What I’ve been reading

    Since last time, I’ve shared 66 items to my knowledgegraph. Claude’s one-paragraph summary:

    Your interests span artificial intelligence (with particular attention to its philosophical and societal implications), metamodernism (including critical perspectives on its theoretical frameworks), spiritual approaches to technology design, and broader questions about civilisational change and progress. You seem to be exploring how emerging technologies, particularly AI, could either enhance or challenge human development, while maintaining an interest in alternative social structures and the potential for profound systemic change. Articles about Buddhism, psychedelics, and consciousness suggest you're also interested in examining these technological and social shifts through contemplative and experiential lenses.

    Some highlights:

    Co-ops and decentralisation

    Metamodernism

    Recent ~metamodern takes on technology

    If you’d like to see links I post to my knowledgegraph in real time, you can follow me on Farcaster or Bluesky (still no API for Substack Notes).

    Plans for the future

    And finally…

    My friends at Alalaho run Europe’s original therapist-led psychedelic retreats. Get €150 off their Feb 22-26 retreat in the Netherlands or March 14-18 retreat in Spain with the code SR150 (applies after deposit).

    Mettā,
    Stephen

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