RadicalxChange(s)

RadicalxChange Foundation
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RadicalxChange Foundation’s Jess Scully speaks with inspiring personalities to explore critical ideas and stories about next-generation political economies.

  1. What Protests Want, With Yuting Jiang

    26/11/2025

    What Protests Want, With Yuting Jiang

    When French citizens took to the streets during the recent Bloquons Tout ("Block Everything") protests, they were united in opposition to the proposed national budget. But beyond that shared frustration, what did they actually want? This is the question plaguing modern protest movements. We know what people oppose, but the mechanisms to understand what they support, and to find consensus amid that complexity, remain frustratingly elusive.  In this episode, Executive Director Jess Scully sits down with Yuting Jiang, CEO and co-founder of Agora Citizen Network. Unlike mainstream anti-social media that pulls us into tribal camps, Agora is prosocial, using machine learning to identify shared beliefs and bridge statements that unite rather than divide. Inspired by Polis, Agora is a space where citizens can move beyond broadcasting grievances to actually deliberating solutions together.  Yuting walks us through a consultation during the French protests with over 200 participants, in which Agora revealed a nuanced opinion landscape showing some key points of consensus, while exposing meaningful disagreements about how radical their calls for reform should be.  As RadicalxChange launches our own consultation on Agora, this conversation explores how we might build the prosocial media infrastructure that democracy actually needs.  Participate in our community conversation on Agora: https://agoracitizen.network/feed/conversation/4OcpxQ Host: Jess Scully  Guest: Yuting Jiang  Producer: Jack Henderson Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    20 min
  2. Takahiro Anno: Fixing Bugs in Democracy

    11/11/2025

    Takahiro Anno: Fixing Bugs in Democracy

    Executive Director Jess Scully speaks with Takahiro Anno, an AI engineer, science fiction writer and newly elected member of Japan's House of Councillors. Anno shares his remarkable journey from software engineer to politician, driven by a desire to "fix the bugs" in society and democracy. Anno's political rise has been rapid. In his first-ever campaign for Tokyo Governor in July 2024, Anno received over 150,000 votes, an unprecedented milestone for a candidate in their 30s with no prior political experience. Following this success, he founded Team Mirai in May 2025 and, just months later, won a seat in Japan's national parliament with 2% of the vote, securing a six-year term. The conversation explores his innovative "broad listening" approach, which challenges the traditional "broadcasting" model of politics. Anno treated his campaign like an open-source software project, publishing policies on GitHub and openly accepting "pull requests" from citizens. During the Tokyo campaign, his team received over 100 proposals and merged more than 80, continuously updating their 100-page policy book just like open-source software. Anno also details the technology that made this possible. His team created "AI Anno," an AI avatar hosted on YouTube Live that could engage voters 24/7, bypassing legal restrictions limiting human campaigning to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The avatar enabled two-way communication: citizens could see each other's questions, making it easier to participate, while Anno's team analyzed conversation logs to identify and address common concerns. For his national campaign, Anno's team scaled participation dramatically using Model Context Protocol (MCP). Citizens could simply converse with an AI, which would automatically generate GitHub pull requests on their behalf, removing technical barriers entirely. This approach gathered over 10,000 proposals, 100 times more than his first campaign in Tokyo. Critically, Anno made all of these tools open source, embracing openness as a core value and the most practical way for a small party to create systemic change. Politicians from other parties have already committed to using these tools in future campaigns. Jess and Anno discuss his mission for the next six years: using technology to enable large-scale deliberative democracy. While many fear AI's potential to erode democracy through deepfakes and misinformation, Anno provides a powerful, working example of how these tools can make democracy more transparent, participatory, and responsive to citizens' voices. Host: Jess Scully Guest: Takahiro Anno Producer: Jack Henderson Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    26 min
  3. Max Semenchuk: Digital Democracy, War & Resilience

    07/11/2025

    Max Semenchuk: Digital Democracy, War & Resilience

    Join new host and Executive Director Jess Scully for a critical conversation on digital resilience, democracy, and reconstruction with Max Semenchuk, Program Director of the Web3 Institute in Ukraine. In this episode, Max explains why, even in the midst of full-scale war, digital innovation has become a critical priority for the Ukrainian government. He provides context on the immense challenges facing the nation, including population decline from 52 million to 37 million and the pressures of war on democracy. The core mission, he argues, is not just to survive, but to "build a country desirable for the young to stay or for others to return," using Web3 to contribute to better coordination and new institutions. Max shares his personal journey from software entrepreneur to civic technologist, catalyzed by the 2016 DAO experiment and accelerated by applying DAO principles during the COVID-19 crisis. This eventually led him to advise Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation on crypto regulation and Web3 strategy. The conversation explores Ukraine's remarkable digital transformation: rising from 57th to 1st place globally in the UN's e-participation index between 2022 and 2024. Max discusses groundbreaking platforms like Diia (digital ID), Prozorro (transparent public procurement) and Dream (reconstruction project coordination), showing how decentralized infrastructure strengthens democratic resilience even under extreme conditions. Max also discusses the challenges of translating "radical" Web3 ideas to government officials who often confuse the technology with cryptocurrency, and how the Web3 Institute is bridging that gap through education, practical experience and building "minimum viable consortia" that bring together business, academia and government. Tune in to learn how decentralized digital infrastructure is supporting Ukraine's resilience and to hear about the upcoming IEEE Ukrainian DLT Forum: Rebuidl, where RadicalxChange is co-hosting a virtual event on "The Future of Digital Democracy: Learning from Ukraine." Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    23 min
  4. Jonathon Keats: Experimental Philosopher

    16/05/2025

    Jonathon Keats: Experimental Philosopher

    Some people might call Jonathon Keats an artist, but he calls himself an experimental philosopher. His body of work explores the way that human life intersects with political and economic systems. His first major work, in the year 2000, involved sitting in a chair thinking for hours, and then selling his thoughts to patrons at prices calculated on the basis of their income. He once copyrighted his own mind as a sculpture. He created a ringtone based on John Cage’s famous piece, 4’33”, which is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of complete silence. He built a pinhole camera that takes photographic exposures lasting 100 years. In Berkeley, California, he built a temple for the worship of science. Recently, he has been involved in efforts to formalize rights of nature.  Jonathon challenges us to look carefully at the assumptions built into our markets, our democracies and our technologies, and constantly seems to do it in ways that seem abstract at the time, but end up prefiguring political or cultural issues years or decades before they erupt. He’s a wonderful guide to this territory, and to the big questions it involves.  In this conversation Matt and Jonathon discuss the philosophy of timekeeping. They consider the connectedness and the alienation of being on universal atomic time, the promise of alternative systems such as the river clock, and how different notions of timekeeping influence our understanding of democracy and nature. Jonathon Keats is an experimental philosopher, artist and writer. He is currently a fellow at the Berggruen Institute, a research fellow at the Long Now Foundation, a research associate at the University of Arizona, principal philosopher at Earth Law Center and an artist-in-residence at Hyundai, the SETI Institute and Flux Projects. His most recent book is “You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future” (Oxford University Press). Mentioned: Alaska RiverTimeIf you have feedback or ideas for future episodes, email us at info@radicalxchange.org. Host: Matt Prewitt Guest: Jonathan Keats Producer: Jack Henderson Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    1h 8m
  5. J.H.H. Weiler: Academic & Professor at NYU Law

    16/03/2025

    J.H.H. Weiler: Academic & Professor at NYU Law

    In today’s episode, renowned academic and legal scholar Professor Joseph H.H. Weiler speaks with Matt about The Trial of Jesus – connecting the historical event as a lens for understanding justice, religious pluralism, and democracy. The examination leads us through the limits of state neutrality in matters of faith, the balance between freedom of and from religion, and the evolving role of digital platforms. Professor Weiler shares perspectives from his extensive legal scholarship while reflecting on the intersection of theology, democracy, and technological change in our modern world. An incredibly poignant episode that is a must-listen. Note: This episode was recorded in Dec 2024. Links & References:  References: The Trial of Jesus - First Things | By J.H.H. WeilerSanhedrin trial of Jesus - WikipediaThe Christian Europe by J.H.H. Weiler | Una Europa cristiana - Ediciones Encuentro“La Rochefoucauld voice in our ear” | François de La Rochefoucauld (writer) - WikipediaNostra aetate [EN]Second Vatican Council - Wikipedia“imitatio Dei” | Imitation of God - WikipediaLautsi v. Italy - Wikipedia"Laïque” (FR) = “secular”European Convention on Human RightsStatement of Micah | Why Micah 6:8? | Westmont CollegeGuarini Colloquium on Legal Controls of Digital Platforms | NYU School of LawSALVIFIC | English meaning - Cambridge DictionaryVoltairean - Wiktionary, the free dictionaryOlga Tokarczuk - WikipediaThe Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk - WikipediaThe Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk: 9780593087503 | PenguinRandomHouse.comTelos - Wikipedia “goal”Bios: J.H.H. Weiler is University Professor at the NYU Law School and a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard. He served previously as President of the European University Institute, Florence.  Prof. Weiler is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL) and the International Journal of Constitutional Law (ICON). Among his Honorary Doctorates there is one in Theology awarded by the Catholic University of America. In 2022, he received the Ratzinger Prize awarded by Pope Francis. J.H.H.’s Links: J.H.H. Weiler - Biography | NYU School of LawFreedom Of and From Religion in Democracies by J.H.H. Weiler | Combinations Magazine by RxCMatt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation. Matt’s Social Links: ᴍᴀᴛᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴡɪᴛᴛ (@m_t_prewitt) / XProduction Credits: Produced by G. Angela Corpus.Co-Produced and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides.Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)This is a RadicalxChange Production. Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    1h 25m
  6. Audrey Tang: On Becoming a "Good Enough Ancestor"

    11/03/2025

    Audrey Tang: On Becoming a "Good Enough Ancestor"

    In this episode, Matt Prewitt sits down with Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador-at-large and 1st Digital Minister, as well as the star of the new short documentary Good Enough Ancestor. It is a fascinating conversation exploring the profound intersections of technology, spirituality, and democracy.  Topics they cover include:  Daoism and spiritual practice – and their favorite Leonard Cohen lyrics.“Laser blended vision” as a metaphor for democracy – integrating different perspectives into a coherent whole.“High-bandwidth, low-latency” democracy – allowing for real-time collaboration.January 6 vs. Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement – contrasting two parliamentary occupations.Marshall McLuhan’s “hot and cool media” – and what it means for how we should build and use AI.The role of education in democracy – and how spirituality’s place in learning differs between the East and West.AI’s moral tradition gap – why today’s models lack cultural and ethical grounding.Trade, sovereignty, and democracy – how to balance open societies with national autonomy.RadicalxChange – how the movement is like “conservative anarchism” and Daoism in transcending left-right divides.Watch Good Enough Ancestor at combinationsmag.com/good-enough-ancestor. Bios: Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador-at-large and 1st Digital Minister (2016-2024), is celebrated for her pioneering efforts in digital freedom. Named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in AI” in 2023, Tang was instrumental in shaping Taiwan’s internationally acclaimed COVID-19 response and in safeguarding the 2024 presidential and legislative elections from foreign cyber interference. Tang is now focused on broadening her vision of Plurality — technology for collaborative diversity — to inspire global audiences. As the first nonbinary cabinet member globally, Tang identifies as “post-gender” and is comfortable with any pronouns. She is a respected community leader and a founding contributor to g0v, an initiative promoting transparency by making information about Taiwan’s economy, history, politics, and culture accessible. Tang has been key in developing participation platforms such as Join.gov.tw, leading to practical improvements like enhanced access to tax software and revised cancer treatment regulations. A “conservative anarchist,” Tang is dedicated to boosting digital competence and safeguarding information integrity online through collective intelligence. A child prodigy, Tang excelled in advanced mathematics by age six and computer programming by age eight. By 19, she had held significant positions in software companies and worked as an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. Growing up in a large family following Christian and Taoist traditions, Tang embraced pluralism and the internet’s potential to connect people based on shared interests rather than geography, fueling her drive for global impact. In Taiwan, Tang’s generation has always intertwined politics with the internet, striving for a more transparent and inclusive society. Despite Taiwan’s martial law history, Tang and her fellow civic technologists have achieved internationally acclaimed progress toward greater governmental transparency. During the 2014 Sunflower Movement, Tang played a crucial role in livestreaming protests against a trade agreement with Beijing, facilitating real-time communication that led to more peaceful negotiations and the movement’s success. “Democracy can evolve.” Tang says. “We can create innovative policies by simply asking the people, ‘What should we do together?’” There is also promising news behind Tang’s grand plan: more than half the world’s population – over 4 billion people – are holding elections in 2024. That’s over 70 countries. Says Tang, “I want to be a good enough ancestor for future generations.” Audrey’s Social Links:  ⿻ Audrey Tang 唐鳳 (@audreyt) / X⿻ Audrey Tang 唐鳳 (@audreyt.org) — Bluesky唐鳳Audrey Tang (@digitalminister.one) • Threads, Say morePlurality.netMatt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is President of the RadicalxChange Foundation. Matt’s Social Links: ᴍᴀᴛᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴡɪᴛᴛ (@m_t_prewitt) / XMatt's WritingsProduction Credits: Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)Additional Credits: This episode was recorded, narrated, and edited by Matt Prewitt.Production support from Jack Henderson.This is a RadicalxChange Production. Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    1h 30m
  7. Gary Zhexi Zhang: Artist & Writer

    30/01/2025

    Gary Zhexi Zhang: Artist & Writer

    Matt Prewitt and Gary Zhexi Zhang discuss Chinese cybernetics, focusing on pioneer Qian Xuesen and how the field developed differently in China versus the West. They explore how Chinese cybernetics emerged as a practical tool for nation-building, examining its scientific foundations, political context, and broader cultural impact. Together, they discuss key concepts like information control systems while highlighting the field's interdisciplinary nature and its evolution from thermodynamic to information-based approaches. Links & References:  References: The Critical Legacy of Chinese Cybernetics by Gary Zhexi Zhang | Combinations Magazine Cybernetics - WikipediaNorbert Wiener ("Father of Cybernetics")Whose entropy is it anyway? (Part 1: Boltzmann, Shannon, and Gibbs ) — Chris AdamiCollection: Norbert Wiener papers | MIT ArchivesSpaceRelationship between entropy of a language and crossword puzzles (a comment from Claude Shannon) - Mathematics Stack ExchangeA Mathematical Theory of Communication BY C.E. SHANNON | Harvard MathA Mathematical Theory of Communication - WikipediaCybernetics - MITBrownian motion - WikipediaIntercontinental ballistic missile - Wikipedia AKA “ICBMs”Summary: The Macy ConferencesWarren Sturgis McCulloch (Neuroscience), Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead (Cultural Anthropology)Claude Shannon (Mathematician)The Bandwagon BY CLAUDE E. SHANNONFrom Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner, introductionFrom Cybernetics to AI: the pioneering work of Norbert Wiener - Max Planck NeuroscienceMarvin Minsky | AI Pioneer, Cognitive Scientist & MIT Professor | BritannicBios: Gary Zhexi Zhang is an artist and writer. He is the editor of Catastrophe Time! (Strange Attractor Press, 2023) and most recently exhibited at the 9th Asian Art Biennial, Taichung. Gary’s Social Links: Gary Zhexi Zhang (@hauntedsurimi) / XMatt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation. Matt’s Social Links: ᴍᴀᴛᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴡɪᴛᴛ (@m_t_prewitt) / XProduction Credits: Produced by G. Angela Corpus.Co-Produced and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides.Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)Additional Credits: Introduction by Guy Mackinnon-LittleThis is a RadicalxChange Production. Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    58 min
  8. Joe Edelman: Co-Founder of Meaning Alignment Institute

    06/12/2024

    Joe Edelman: Co-Founder of Meaning Alignment Institute

    What happens when artificial intelligence starts weighing in on our moral decisions? Matt Prewitt is joined by Meaning Alignment Institute co-founder Joe Edelman to explore this thought-provoking territory in examining how AI is already shaping our daily experiences and values through social media algorithms. They explore the tools developed to help individuals negotiate their values and the implications of AI in moral reasoning – venturing into compelling questions about human-AI symbiosis, the nature of meaningful experiences, and whether machines can truly understand what matters to us. For anyone intrigued by the future of human consciousness and decision-making in an AI-integrated world, this discussion opens up fascinating possibilities – and potential pitfalls – we may not have considered. Links & References:  References: CouchSurfing - Wikipedia | CouchSurfing.org | WebsiteTristan Harris: How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day | TED TalkCenter for Humane Technology | WebsiteMEANING ALIGNMENT INSTITUTE | WebsiteReplika - AI Girlfriend/BoyfriendWill AI Improve Exponentially At Value Judgments? - by Matt Prewitt | RadicalxChangeMoral Realism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)Summa Theologica - WikipediaWhen Generative AI Refuses To Answer Questions, AI Ethics And AI Law Get Deeply Worried | AI RefusalsAmanda Askell: The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2024 | TIME | Amanda Askells' work at AnthropicOvercoming Epistemology by Charles TaylorGod, Beauty, and Symmetry in Science - Catholic Stand | Thomas Aquinas on symmetryFriedrich Hayek - Wikipedia | “Hayekian”Eliezer Yudkowsky - Wikipedia | “AI policy people, especially in this kind Yudkowskyian scene”Resource-rational analysis: Understanding human cognition as the optimal use of limited computational resources | Resource rational (cognitive science term)Papers & posts mentioned [2404.10636] What are human values, and how do we align AI to them? | Paper by Oliver Klingefjord, Ryan Lowe, Joe EdelmanModel Integrity - by Joe Edelman and Oliver Klingefjord | Meaning Alignment Institute SubstackBios: Joe Edelman is a philosopher, sociologist, and entrepreneur whose work spans from theoretical philosophy to practical applications in technology and governance. He invented the meaning-based metrics used at CouchSurfing, Facebook, and Apple, and co-founded the Center for Humane Technology and the Meaning Alignment Institute. His biggest contribution is a definition of "human values" that's precise enough to create product metrics, aligned ML models, and values-based democratic structures. Joe’s Social Links: Meaning Alignment Institute | WebsiteMeaning Alignment Institute (@meaningaligned) / XJoe Edelman (@edelwax) / XMatt Prewitt (he/him) is a lawyer, technologist, and writer. He is the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation. Matt’s Social Links: ᴍᴀᴛᴛ ᴘʀᴇᴡɪᴛᴛ (@m_t_prewitt) / XProduction Credits: Produced by G. Angela Corpus.Co-Produced and Audio Engineered by Aaron Benavides.Executive Produced by G. Angela Corpus and Matt Prewitt.Intro/Outro music by MagnusMoone, “Wind in the Willows,” is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)This is a RadicalxChange Production. Feedback or ideas for future episodes? Email us at info@radicalxchange.org.   Connect with RadicalxChange Foundation: WebsiteXYouTubeLinkedInDiscordBlueSky

    1h 22m
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About

RadicalxChange Foundation’s Jess Scully speaks with inspiring personalities to explore critical ideas and stories about next-generation political economies.

Information

  • Creator
    RadicalxChange Foundation
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 RadicalxChange Foundation Ltd.
  • Show Website
    RadicalxChange(s)