There's been a lot of talk about the "context layer", the institutional knowledge AI agents need to be effective. But the hardest knowledge is tacit, trapped in people's heads. Our MCP server and /harmonica-chat command let you launch and manage Harmonica sessions that surface it, straight from CLI.
I'm glad Vitalik sees potential in "tools like Polis" and acknowledges deliberative democracy can't be "installed like a USB drive". Our gov/acc research with @metagov.bsky.social is exploring various challenges and paths forward: blog.harmonica.chat/gov-acc-phas...
OSS health audit slash command for Claude Code — based on Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel
github.com/zhiganov/cla...
— shared via My Community (Chrome extension)
Remember when the internet wasn't awful? We can go back to that.
Some friends and I have released the Resonant Computing Manifesto: a call to bring back such a time, to see if we can bring back a world where technology works for us, rather than against us.
resonantcomputing.org
Exactly. It would also make it easier to find the right tab in browser
Hi Nick, can you please fix the page titles / metadata, so when sharing the link with someone the message would contain the event name instead of "smoke signals"?
There is an ongoing war for the soul of "Open-Source". We lost the battle, but we don't have to lose the war.
On Dec 3rd, @kpaxle.bsky.social and I are co-hosting a discussion with members of @scenius.bsky.social: @ranganaut.bsky.social, @erlend.sh, and Regis Chapman.
RSVP here!
luma.com/z9ivf64k
It is - feel free to join our Telegram or Signal group
Wednesday! Join me for a Metagov Seminar with my colleague Dr. Orit Peleg from CU Boulder, a computer scientist who does the most wonderful work on self-governance among plants and insects—this is going to be glorious: luma.com/pzbp4zq1?tk=...
Stuart Lynn from CrownShy talking about some very cool digital democracy projects in Scotland and elsewhere! Nice to see Harmonica mentioned @zhiganov.bsky.social ;)
Yes, and this is why we've created CIBC: to connect builders of citizen infrastructure with local communities all around the 🌎 cibc.notion.site
I think it's good practice to use existing platforms as MVP to test your hypothesis before building something new... but of course a Goodreads list might not be a good MVP in this case
if someone is already using Goodreads, the friction to participate in the experiment would be much lower for them
btw do you want to vote on this list or add some other "mind-space beacons" to it? www.goodreads.com/list/show/23...
Fun fact: before moving to SF Eugenia was a lifestyle journalist who reviewed chic restaurants and night clubs in Moscow
Individual preferences are meaningful within a relationship but create noise for collective sense-making, without shared context. Why doesn't Tinder allow filtering by Letterboxd/ Goodreads/ Spotify likes? Such an obvious way to increase the value. But would it help us run better citizen assemblies?
That's why some people believe Goodreads to be the best social network ever created
basically, any truly prosocial AI agent should:
- be open source
- support BYOM (e.g. public AI or locally hosted AI)
- be enhanced by prompts & datasets provided by data co-ops
- be owned by employees or DAO members
- adhere to democratic standards (e.g. democracylevels.org)
- what else?
This project is part of Metagov's effort to build deliberative tools that can't be captured by corporations or governments. Open source, interoperable, designed so communities can choose their own path rather than being forced into someone else's vision. metagov.substack.com/p/interopera...
Our WG at @metagov.bsky.social is working on "AI facilitation primitives" that could empower communities to have better conversations. We're learning from practitioners and synthesizing patterns that can inform prompts, evals and datasets for developers of tools like Harmonica 🪗
It's weird timing - working on tools for democratic participation while watching actual democracy crumble in real time. But that's exactly why this work matters. When the old systems fail, we need alternatives ready to go. Actual ways for ordinary citizens to govern themselves.
A proposal with policy recommendations for supporting prosocial platforms - governing tech design goes "upstream" as opposed to the "downstream" regulations that govern content. toda.org/assets/files...
As predatory markets tighten their grip and the charade of democracy is abandoned, commons will become even more indispensable. I'm thrilled to say that a significantly revised, updated edition of my book ‘Think Like a Commoner’ is now out, today! Details at thinklikeacommoner.com.
"Facilitated by professionals from Missions Publiques, the assembly featured an AI prototype to synthesize input manually entered by students and groups at various stages of the deliberations and link summaries back to the original discussion with a search function."
Ooh, nice write-up from Yale! Actually the "AI prototype" is called Harmonica (www.harmonica.chat) — we created a custom workspace for ENS students and built a few RAG pipelines based on MP's facilitators requirements (coming soon to our regular app!)
6/ This vision merges collective intelligence, radical interoperability, and agentic thinking to create a pathway toward global alignment of human and more-than-human needs at every scale—from neighborhoods to cities, and beyond. 🌎🌍🌏
5/ Imagine these avatars engaging on X / Bluesky. They could:
- Share insights & perspectives with relevant audiences
- Be monitored & guided by their communities
They would dynamically update based on:
- Collective dialogues & deliberations
- Data from scientists & journalists
- Data from sensors
4/ To be legitimate representatives, these avatars must:
- Operate based on constitutional principles
- Have open-source code and opinion provenance
- Be subject to ongoing audits
- Allow real-time adjustments
Transparency ensures they would truly reflect the collective will.
3/ Double interoperability:
These digital representatives could also learn from collective dialogues in Remesh, GoVocal, Talk to the City, etc. if they agree to use a standard protocol. And the avatars wouldn't be locked into one platform. They could operate across different systems.
2/ For example, residents of a neighborhood use Harmonica to sensemake on local issues. Over time, it will gather enough data to create a community avatar.
This avatar could then participate in deliberative processes at the city level, representing the voice of the neighborhood.
