Overview

Mission

New technologies are evolving at an extraordinary pace, reshaping who we are and how we live, work, and interact. Our mission is to bring together multidisciplinary thinkers and doers to explore these technologies' personal and societal impact; and to build a community to develop ideas, initiatives, products, and services that advance human agency rather than displace it.

Goals

• Understand and Analyze: Investigate how new technologies are reshaping human interaction, community, and identity with insights from one another and outside experts.

• Envision Promising Futures: Apply processes and frameworks from McLuhan and others to help us better understand the present and imagine desirable futures.

• Promote Positive Changes: Support efforts to advance effective, values-driven, agentic tech, putting humans in the driver’s seat.

• Build Community: Build strong direct relationships between group members to enable them to achieve the goals above.

Structure

We will hold monthly 90-minute in-person meetings whenever possible, with the option to join remotely. If a meeting is held in the city where you live, we strongly encourage you to attend in person and stick around before or after the session for coffee, drinks, or a bite.

Meetings will be comprised of some of the below elements

• Group Explorations: Group members or outside experts present for 20 minutes on a topic decided ahead of time, followed by breakout groups and/or full group discussions.

• Breakouts: There will often be time for one-on-one or small group breakouts within sessions to facilitate forming new relationships.

• Mutual Support: At some sessions, one or more group members may present a challenge they are facing. These presentations are meant to be candid and open — not pitches — inviting honest discussion, warts, and all.

  • Following the presentations, group members will provide guidance, share insights, and, most importantly, make concrete support commitments to help accelerate each other’s efforts.

  • Wherever possible, we will try to make the presentation(s) align with a broader theme and bring in relevant external experts as needed.

We will also work to forge ongoing connections within the group.

• We encourage members to form smaller groups to dive deeper into specific topics or collaborate on shared initiatives, later presenting their findings or progress to the full group. A smaller group may also be formed to help design a future slate of THE sessions.

• We will maintain an active email list to encourage members to share knowledge, ask for help, and offer support between sessions.

Expectations

• Attend and actively engage in at least 75% of our meetings.

• Offer guidance and support to colleagues whenever possible.

• Recommend new members who align with our mission and goals.

Members

Technologists, theorists, marketers, journalists, funders, artists