Edge City

Edge City

Welcome to the Edge City Podcast, where we explore ideas and projects pushing the boundaries of tech, science, and culture. You'll hear about experimental communities, scientific breakthroughs, and social experiments. By the end of each episode, you'll have a clear understanding of an important idea that's set to shape our future. Edge City creates popup villages that bring together people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society across the globe. These serve as living labs for experimentation and innovation, all dedicated to accelerating human flourishing.

Episodes

  1. 12/22/2025 · BONUS

    Norman Ohler: Blitzed, Tripped, and How Drugs Shaped History

    In this fireside chat at Edge City Patagonia with Timour Kosters, author Norman Ohler traces how psychoactive substances shaped world history. From Nazi Germany’s use of methamphetamine to the CIA’s LSD experiments and humanity’s deep evolutionary relationship with psychedelics. A wide-ranging conversation on power, consciousness, and the future of society. Norman's talk was supported by PsyDAO. LINKS Norman Ohler: https://x.com/normanohler Timour Kosters: https://x.com/timourxyz ABOUT EDGE CITY Edge City convenes people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society in popup villages across the globe. Learn more: ⁠https://edgecity.live⁠ Follow us ✨ https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity/ ✨ https://www.instagram.com/joinedgecity/ TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Introduction (02:18) From Novelist to Accidental Drug Research (05:08) The Pervitin Discovery That Changed WWII (07:50) Blitzkrieg Reconsidered Through Chemistry (12:51) The Myth of the “Drug-Free” Nazi Regime (17:15) Fear Suppression, Sleep Deprivation, and Soldiers (22:37) How Meth Changed the Psychology of War (26:06) Hitler as Patient Zero (30:49) Oxycodone, Power, and Political Decisions (38:01) Why History Ignored the Role of Drugs (41:18) LSD, Alzheimer’s, and a Personal Turning Point (49:12) CIA, MK-Ultra, and the Lost Future of Psychedelic Medicine (57:47) The Global Cost of the War on Drugs (01:01:59) Ibogaine, the Stoned Ape Theory, and Brain Evolution (01:18:56) Psychedelic Freedom and the Future of Civilization

    1h 25m
  2. 06/19/2025 · BONUS

    Audrey Tang - Plurality and Digital Democracy | A Fireside Chat at Edge Esmeralda

    Audrey Tang (Taiwan’s first Digital Minister) sits down for a fireside chat with Edge City’s Timour Kosters to talk about digital democracy, the philosophy of plurality, civic technology, and what the rest of the world can learn from Taiwan’s democratic experiments. Recorded at Edge Esmeralda, held in Healdsburg, CA, from May 24 - June 21, 2025. LINKS Audrey Tang: https://x.com/audreyt Timour Kosters: https://x.com/timourxyz Edge Esmeralda: https://www.edgeesmeralda.com ABOUT EDGE CITY Edge City convenes people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society in popup villages across the globe. Follow Edge City on Twitter: https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity Learn more about Edge City: https://edgecity.live/ CHAPTERS (00:00) Introduction: Audrey Tang and the Idea of Plurality (01:53) From Civic Hacker to Minister (04:48) The Sunflower Movement and GovZero (09:42) Tech for Collective Action: Open Data and Pandemic Response (13:01) Democracy as Defense: Radical Transparency in Taiwan (17:12) Global Applications: Bowling Green, Japan, and California (26:00) What is Plurality? From Conflict to Collaboration (31:02) High-Bandwidth Democracy and Civic Muscle (35:07) Real-World Plurality in Japan and California (43:07) AI, Education & Civic Competency (47:50) Q&A: Gen Z, Radical Interoperability and Future Tools (56:57) Q&A: DAOs, Community Design and the Power of Forking

    1h 3m
  3. 05/20/2025 · BONUS

    Network Societies, Civic Tech & Democracy - Glen Weyl & Timour Kosters at Edge City Austin

    Glen Weyl builds new social technologies for collective decision-making, plural coordination, and democratic innovation. He leads the Plurality Institute and co-founded RadicalxChange to turn experimental ideas into institutional prototypes. In this conversation, Glen Weyl and host Timour Kosters explore the intersection of technology, democracy, and civic infrastructure. From Taiwan’s civic tech to new models of money and collective decision-making, this chat covers the intellectual foundations of the Plurality movement. Recorded at Edge City Austin, held in Austin, TX, from March 2-7, 2025. Links Glen Weyl: https://glenweyl.com/ Timour Kosters: https://x.com/timourxyz About Edge City Edge City convenes people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society in popup villages across the globe. Follow Edge City on Twitter: https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity Learn more about Edge City: https://edgecity.live Chapters (00:00) Glen Weyl's work and the vision for Edge City (01:43) The growing chasm between technology & democracy (04:46) From Star Trek to Snow Crash, the cultural collapse of future visions (06:18) Two threats to democracy: chaos and control (09:54) Network societies vs. network states (12:01) The 3 political ideologies of the 21st century (15:22) Why Plurality is the most viable path (18:05) Lessons from Taiwan - GovZero, Pol.is & civic tech (22:50) Japan’s AI-augmented grassroots politics (31:53) New models of money (37:18) Designing experiments at Edge City popup villages (44:25) Decentralized governance, power vacuums & quadratic voting (53:04) Community currencies and plural governance models (58:35) From temporary popup village to permanent city (01:03:52) Integration, not exit (01:12:11) Identity and community recovery (01:15:49) Mathematics and Plurality, final thoughts

    1h 22m
  4. 05/12/2025

    Kevin Owocki & Rena O'Brien: From Gitcoin to Allo - The Case for Onchain Capital Coordination

    Kevin Owocki is the founder of Gitcoin and co-founder of Allo Capital, focused on regenerative crypto economics. Rena O'Brien is a web3 strategist and DAO builder with experience spanning Gitcoin and global capital networks. In this episode, Kevin and Rena explore why onchain capital allocation matters—and how programmable money can transform how we fund public goods, startups, and impact at scale. They discuss new coordination tools, the philosophy behind capital as a force for good, and what it might look like to fund “missions not markets” in the years ahead. If you're curious about the future of funding, DAOs, or the next layer of crypto beyond speculation, this one's for you. Links Kevin Owocki: https://x.com/owocki Rena O'Brien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renaobrien Allo Capital: https://www.allo.capital Timour Kosters: https://x.com/timourxyz About Edge City Edge City convenes people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society in popup villages across the globe. Follow Edge City on Twitter: https://x.com/JoinEdgeCity Learn more about Edge City: https://edgecity.live Chapters (00:00) Introduction (02:51) Why Tokenized Capital Allocation? (05:26) The 8 Forms of Capital Explained (08:59) The Impact of Gitcoin (10:18) What’s Broken with Capital Allocation Today? (14:25) The Case for Onchain Allocation Systems (17:50) Introducing Allo Capital (21:17) Funding Local Projects with AlloIRL (28:01) Relevance to Edge City (39:36) Owocki's New Book: How to DAO (46:36) Gitcoin as DAO (54:57) Popup Villages & Human Flourishing

    1h 2m
  5. 10/31/2024

    Matt Prewitt: Social Technology, Community Currencies, and RadicalxChange

    We chat with Matt Prewitt from RadicalxChange about rethinking communities through intentional design and social technology. The conversation explores various types of intentional communities, including affinity communities, individualist escape communities, and responsible experimenters. Matt highlights how responsible experimentation can create more sustainable and impactful spaces and argues that mutual vulnerability is essential for building trust and shared identity. This is illustrated by RadicalxChange's use of community currencies like "∈dges" at Edge City’s pop-up villages, an experiment to incentivize local exchange and keeping value circulating in the community. The chat closes with ideas on how such social technologies can cultivate human flourishing by combining global connectedness with robust, locally supportive systems. Links Matt Prewitt: https://x.com/m_t_prewitt Timour Kosters: https://x.com/timourxyz RadicalxChange: https://www.radicalxchange.org/ Edge City: https://twitter.com/joinedgecity Edge City Lanna: https://www.edgecity.live/lanna Chapters (00:00) Introduction (02:14) RadicalxChange’s Mission and Theory of Change (06:45) Georg Simmel and the Power of Secrecy in Communities (14:23) Three Types of New Community Initiatives (24:53) The Importance of Social Technology (33:29) Associative Obligations and Mutual Vulnerability (47:42) Reimagining Money: Community Currencies (59:35) Lessons from Community Currency Experiments (1:11:36) Community Currency Experiment at Edge City (1:21:43) Pop-up Villages and the Future of Intentional Communities (1:24:53) Human Flourishing

    1h 27m

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Welcome to the Edge City Podcast, where we explore ideas and projects pushing the boundaries of tech, science, and culture. You'll hear about experimental communities, scientific breakthroughs, and social experiments. By the end of each episode, you'll have a clear understanding of an important idea that's set to shape our future. Edge City creates popup villages that bring together people working at the frontiers of tech, science, and society across the globe. These serve as living labs for experimentation and innovation, all dedicated to accelerating human flourishing.