18th Jun 2024 Gemini 1.5 Pro
Jessy Kate Schingler begins by describing the origins and evolution of the Embassy Network, a decentralized collective of intentional communities. It started with a group of friends, many from the space community, seeking to create a living experiment in alternative ways of organizing.
We were kind of like, well, you know, if we're like space nerds and we're living together in this environment and we're talking about the future of humanity, but it's not like we're just going to kind of get to space and somehow flip a switch and humanity will be organized differently or we will, you know, we'll have different political systems or different social systems. Presumably we need to kind of like start experimenting with that a little bit here before we go to space.
Over time, the network has grown organically, connecting with like-minded communities globally. Schingler emphasizes the importance of balancing institutional structures with what she terms the "extitutional," the emergent, relational aspects of community.
We ended up giving this concept a name, and we called it extitutional as opposed to institutional, and just naming it as a way to kind of interrogate it.
Schingler highlights the "salon" as a key social technology employed within the Embassy Network. These intentionally crafted conversations provide a space for deep dives into topics of shared interest.
It's this balance between inviting some framing so that you have a kind of backbone to the conversation, but then by opening it up, it becomes a peer-based conversation.
She emphasizes the importance of facilitation in ensuring diverse voices are heard and encouraging follow-up actions.
The interview delves into Schingler's approach to conflict management within communal living. Transparency and open communication are paramount, fostering a culture where challenges are addressed proactively.
Something that I notice I've become more comfortable with over the years is talking about people and issues more out in the open, I would say.
Schingler, a self-proclaimed introvert, also shares how communal living, paradoxically, provides a comfortable space for managing social energy.
Schingler discusses the financial and legal structures underpinning the Embassy Network, emphasizing transparency and collective responsibility.
So transparent that we've gotten in a lot of trouble with the city of San Francisco for like I used to. Sadly, I had to take some of them down, but I had these amazing, in my opinion, blog posts about our participatory budgeting process with using using co-budget, which is an inspirational tool.
She explains how the network utilizes loans, guest income, and shared expenses to maintain financial sustainability.
The conversation shifts to Open Lunar Foundation, a non-profit co-founded by Schingler to address the emerging governance challenges of increased lunar activity.
Open Lunar is a nonprofit that we started about four or five years ago now. It was started initially by a group of technologists and space engineers.
With the rapid advancement of space technology and a lack of comprehensive policies, Open Lunar focuses on fostering collaboration and developing practical solutions around issues like resource management, debris mitigation, and timekeeping in space.
And so we decided to start this nonprofit that would be able to engage specifically in questions of governance and policy around lunar activity that could look, I'd say, just over the horizon of where certainly governments are focused on programmatic work.
Airtable