Zuitzerland Series Batch #2
7 interviews on topics like DAOs, pop-up cities, network states, solarpunk, cypherpunk & Swiss federalism
Zuitzerland is here to advance the exploration, prototyping, development and dissemination of innovative models for governance, technology, and economics.
Late last year, we participated in their off-site and conducted interviews with many of the attendees, aiming to get a sense of the people and stories that drive them.
This second batch includes topics like localism, polycentric governance, more-than-human decision-making, and community self-organization.
Interviews in this post:
From Polarization Into Localism
The Ultrasound Law Revolution
How Sensors Change Decision-Making
Balancing Techno Optimism & Social Stability
The Art of Self-Organization w/ Ome
Mind Over Machines (& Roaches)
The Zuitzerland Series
From Polarization Into Localism
"Switzerland is the original 'network state' - it just happens to be geographically connected." Conversation with Vlad explores how the Swiss model of federalism - with its light central government and strong cantonal autonomy - offers a blueprint for the future of governance in an increasingly polarized world.
Vlad draws parallels between Switzerland's bottom-up governance system and DAOs, suggesting that localism might be our best path forward when centralized systems struggle with political division.
The Ultrasound Law Revolution
Kyle describes polycentric governance as radical reimagining of how DAOs, legal systems, and even AI agents could be structured. He's bringing this vision to life through Hats Protocol, creating modular governance where responsibilities and roles can be organized as trees-within-trees.
Through his work in Prospera, he's experimenting with everything from AI lawyers to legal personhood for self-driving cars and creating bridges between traditional legal entities and on-chain governance through crypto signature-based systems.
How Sensors Change Decision-Making
Can we quantify the 'vibes' between people? Can we measure how cats & trees are doing? This conversation with Dan explores a future where our governance systems transcend human-only decision making. Systems that integrate biodata and environmental context to create a more holistic picture of how we interact with each other and our surroundings.
Balancing Techno Optimism & Social Stability
"By 2030, we‘ll need two Earths to sustain our consumption, but we only have one." This sobering assessment highlights why we might need to rethink economic systems from first principles. To Masa, "post-capitalism" is not some abstract revolutionary slogan, but a necessity driven by hard ecological limits.
Masa offers a comparative analysis of three models: American-style techno-optimism (innovation-focused but socially unstable), Japanese-style social harmony (stable but innovation-stifling), and the Swiss approach that seems to balance both.
The Art of Self-Organization w/ Ome
"Who is 'we' and how do we update 'we'?" 🤔 This conversation with Ome explores the tension between order and chaos in community organization. Drawing from his experiences organizing festivals, participating in Spanish protest movements, and living in Switzerland for over a decade, he unpacks how groups actually self-organize beyond formal structures.
Rather than advocating for either rigid structure or complete freedom, Ome suggests something more nuanced – what he calls the "structure of structurelessness." This approach acknowledges power asymmetries as inevitable, but makes them legible and transparent so individuals can self-regulate.
Mind Over Machines (& Roaches)
What if you could communicate and use your computer just by thinking? Could living neural networks (lab grown brains) replace artificial neural networks? Not a sci-fi novel, this future is closer than you think. I sat down with Robert, a researcher and entrepreneur in brain-computer interfaces, to hear about the latest developments and future implications of BCIs.
The Zuitzerland Series
These interviews are a part of the Zuitzerland series - we got a few more coming right up! Keep an eye out on the newsletter &/or the YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, learn more about Zuitzerland and apply here 👈