1 APR 2019 · Social media, and the fake news that spread across it, no doubt played a role in delivering the “Brexiteers” their surprise victory in the UK’s May 2016 referendum on EU membership. If the benefit of letting social media run amok is that doing so lays bare some chronic and unrevealed ills in democratic society, then we had best cherish those insights and act upon them. Because they come at a very high cost, opening cracks so wide, mere patches no longer suffice. Tribal tendencies. Historical grievances. Simplistic and exploitable stereotypes. Democracies have carried with them into the social media age a receptivity for ideas and attitudes that are fundamentally at-odds with the universalizing ideals upon which post-World War II institutions (like the European Union) were built. Amidst all this will social media be a universalizing force or another tribal tool? You can find Chris's most recent map, which served as the springboard for this conversation, here. We mentioned a book by Jonathan Sacks called The Dignity of Difference. You can find it here. https://atlasproject.fireside.fm/7

11 MAR 2019 · In this episode, recorded shortly after the death of America's 41st President George H.W. Bush, we talk about his legacy, and what leadership, politics and service meant to his generation and what they mean now. We also talk about the possibilities of reforming liberal democratic systems, the protests in Paris, and a conference on the future of work that Chris went to in Australia. You can find out more about Chris' experience in Australia in his most recent newsletter/map, (Whose) Future of (What) Work. https://atlasproject.fireside.fm/6

4 MAR 2019 · We recorded this episode of the podcast in Toronto, where we were there for Basecamp Toronto, a remarkable gathering which Chris Kutarna conceived and convened. This Basecamp was an enabling environment. It is a room of fellow pathfinders—explorers, instigators, creators and thought leaders. It is a room in which you can accomplish, in a single day, conversations, insights, allegiances and commitments-to-action that would otherwise take a year to arrange and complete. It aims is to be the single most exhilarating and exhausting day of your year. It is a collaborative, facilitated effort to identify, embark on and/or accelerate society-shifting expeditions together with the best people and the finest tools. It is precious facetime for ventures that we’ll have already begun together by the time we’ve arrived on the day, and that will continue long after we disperse.

27 FEB 2019 · ABOUT THIS EPISODE In this episode of the podcast we consider a number of hot button words thrown around in public discourse today: nationalism, tribalism, globalism, identity, populism...the list goes on. Inspired by a podcast discussion one of us heard recently, we wonder if the whole tribalism versus universalism, nationalism versus globalism is really an age old clash between the unstoppable force of technological and economic development and the indomitable human spirit that balks at feeling like more of an object than a subject. There's a piece by Meier Y. Soloveichik that's mentioned in the conversation. You can find it here.

14 FEB 2019 · ABOUT THIS EPISODE When too many people believe they have found truth, democracy breaks down. Once truth has been found, the common project of discovery is complete. There is no more sense in sharing power with those who don’t realize it…To rescue the possibility of groping toward Paradise democratically, we need to inject our own group discourses with doubt. In this podcast episiode we dicuss the power of doubt. Its relevance extends far beyond the political realm. It’s an important ingredient in all domains of leadership—from figuring out the future of education, to making decisions in our professional lives, to maintaining our mental health. Can we get comfortable with being uncomfortable? That may be one of the critical skills we all need to develop right now. You can find the map that inspired this conversation here.

7 FEB 2019 · Enterprising minds have spotted our discontent with disintegration and turned reintegration into an industry. Grocery delivery services here in London emphasize, variously, ‘fresh’, ‘simple’, ‘organic’ or ‘mindful’. Meditation apps are booming. Yoga makes you balanced. Electric cars make you clean. To restore lost relationships — with our food, ourselves, our community, our environment, with the truth — has become one of the most compelling stories reshaping consumer behavior. We shouldn’t be surprised that it has become one of the most compelling stories reshaping politics, business and society, too. Economists, sociologists, scientists, tech titans and politicians today all ply us with the need for, or the promise of, restoration. (Start to listen for it, and you start to hear it everywhere…) Social scientists descrube the fragmentation that is happening ‘out there’, in the external world. But, as we’ve all experienced, the fragmentation is also happening ‘in here’. A deeper disintegration is underway, at the level of our consciousness. Because this internal reality of disintegration is hard to show empirically, it’s hard for us to accept it as ‘real’. (Wherever we live, we’ve all witnessed the slow struggle for society to take mental illness seriously and to overcome the stigma that’s been attached to it.) And yet, it clearly is real. We’ve all felt it. We all know the behaviors, the hungers, that it can drive. We all know the fleeting bliss that a sense of reintegration can generate. In this episode we talk about the disintergation we all feel and look to the ancient past to help us find our way to a more integrated future. You can find the map that inspired this conversation here.