The Shared Centre

Ideas are either regarded seriously by the policy community or as complete non-starters. Watch to learn about the Overton window of interest and the Overton window of the imagination.

Politics is broken, but we already found a cure: there is a way to bypass endless ideological debates and focus on serving the public interest. The answer lies in a house with no formal power but a massive influence.

Watch how a simple lottery system could replace endless debates and finally put everyday people back in the driving seat: what if the best leaders are the ones who never ran for office?

Stop voting for the loudest person in the room: learn how a Council of Leaders and secret ballots, not elections, can improve institutional logic and restore trust in our modern democracy.

What happens when you give everyday people the power to challenge Congress or Parliament? Simple: a safeguard against political polarisation, bringing common sense back to our government.

Every human conversation demands a careful balance between shared goals and private desires. When your personal motives dominate the interaction, the entire social ecology collapses. The balance between the shared and the private is the essence of whether our systems function.

We evolved on the African savanna to solve problems in groups. So why do our modern institutions rely on endless, divisive debates? There is a way to use a different logic: one that centres on everyday citizens instead of rigid ideology.

Irish politicians faced a deadlock regarding same-sex marriage due to immense pressure from the Catholic Church. Using a random ballot, a Citizens' Assembly was able to listen to other ideas, discuss, and ultimately break the stalemate, securing a supermajority for equality.

Centuries ago, 50 random citizens ran an entire city to stop the rich from taking over. They used a system Aristotle claimed was the only path to true freedom. Why did we swap this fair lottery for a system that keeps the same few people in power?

Our current system allows politicians to prioritise funders over voters: we need a standing citizen assembly chosen by lottery to assert itself into the voting process. It is time to expose the difference between party lines and what the people actually want.

There is a way to see exactly when politicians are ignoring you for their funders. We do not need permission from the government to start building this new constitutional pillar. The campaign for real accountability begins with us.

What if we could have a secret ballot on the issues Congress refuses to touch? From Brexit to gun checks, discover the one mechanism that could make parliaments responsible again. The power of the "better angels" is closer than you think.

Imagine a branch of government run by ordinary people like you: these everyday people meet, deliberate, and vote on the same issues as the legislature. It is already working in places like Michigan. You will never see voting the same way.

It’s commonsense: the rules of the political game need to be kept out of politicians’ hands. But where most democracies did that, the United States did not and is now backsliding on gerrymandering, voter suppression and partisan courts.

Politicians divide us because that’s the most effective way to to get our attention. Juries start out trying to solve a common problem. And after they’ve deliberated citizens feel better understood, even if they don’t agree.

Wanna know why politicians won’t tell you the truth? You wouldn’t vote for them if they did!

Imagine rerunning the Brexit vote using a citizen assembly. Shortly after the original referendum, a citizen jury met to discuss the issues. After four days, the group swung from 26/24 majority in favour to a 30/20 majority against, roughly the position today.

In early 2020, medical establishments treated Covid like influenza despite contrary evidence. Leaders prioritised public reassurance over facing the scary facts. This reveals a fundamental flaw in systems that value rule-making over genuine problem-solving.

Competition can be a trap. For centuries, we have designed institutions that run on and reward self-interest, squeezing out the shared centre that actually matters. We either learn to collaborate on a planetary scale or we watch everything we have built fall apart

Open competition for power in our politics has its downside. We need some countervailing institutions to slow the rise of psychopaths to the top and to focus democracy on what kind of future we want rather than on which memes can be got to fly.

Are we hardwired to fail, or are our institutions just designed poorly? History shows that when we build for our "better angels," things actually work. It’s time to move past the contest and start solving problems before it’s too late for all of us.

Why does every political leader today sound like they’re reading from the exact same PR script? Back in the 70s, leaders actually admitted when they changed their minds or disagreed with their party. Today, it’s all 14-second soundbites and stolen credit.

Ever feel like the system is just a game where the rules don't apply to everyone? When we let partisan interests take over the shared centre, justice disappears and costs blow out. Watch to see why we need a neutral umpire to get back to reality.

We're wrecking the "game" of society by letting partisan interests run the show. From the courtroom to your social media feed, the lack of a neutral umpire is fuelling dysfunction. It's time to demand a reality we can actually share again.

Imagine a party leader admitting to a journalist that their personal views contradict their own party. That level of honesty feels impossible in modern politics. See why independent politicians give us hope and remain a stabilising healthy influence in a very bad situation.

Tired of the mudslinging and the constant "felon" vs "liar" drama? It’s time to move past the electoral circus and get back to actual dialogue. Find out why a citizens' assembly might be the only way to actually unite us all.

The survival of the loudest online Ever wonder why the internet feels so toxic? It all comes down to how social media environments reward outrage. It is a battle for your attention where shouting always wins, so the internet morphed from a democratic dream into a massive shouting match.

Do you feel like politicians are just putting on a show? You're right. Our whole electoral system is built for drama, not deliberation. Discover why your vote feels like a ticket to a bad play.

When a lion cub playfully bites its mother, it’s learning how to survive. That instinct is why humans invented theatre. We play out events to understand our reality. From childhood to the language you speak, human connection is one massive game.

Are you tired of politicians answering to algorithms? We swim in a toxic swamp of echo chambers and endless news cycles. Uncover the truth about our political landscape and see how a citizens' assembly provides a real solution to this mess.

Have you ever watched a politician defend something you know they don't believe? Seeing Penny Wong forced to argue against her own rights broke Josh Szeps' faith in the party system. It proves our political setup is fundamentally broken.

Next time someone cuts you off, watch what happens if they just wave to say sorry. Your anger dissipates. Uncover the hidden psychology behind driving and why we all crave basic human acknowledgement on the road.

Ever feel like your conversations are being hijacked by someone else's agenda? Our political system has industrialised rage to keep you from focusing on things that actually matter, like education and care. Stop falling for the link bait and see how the game is really played.

What if your first thought in politics wasn't "how do I win," but "how do we solve this together?" That’s the jury mindset. See how shifting from a political contest to a community dialogue could restore the trust we’ve lost in our institutions.

We know what’s right, but politicians are too scared of losing their jobs to do it. From link bait to hot-button issues, the system is designed to hijack your attention and colonise our democracy. It’s time we look at how ordinary folks on juries can actually solve problems.

Why can we trust 12 random people with a life-or-death court case but can't trust our own leaders? We’re looking at why the jury system actually works while our politics keeps failing. It’s time to move from "winning" to actually working out what to do next.

Why do we crave things we know are bad for us? It comes down to the battle between what you want right now and what you want to want. See how social media platforms and politicians hijack this exact loop to keep you hooked.

The UK justice system is falling apart due to crumbling infrastructure and insufficient funding. Barristers are leaving the country to escape this mess. What happens when the legal system stops working for you?

How to win an election - The ugly truth You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Stop falling for the slogans and the media portrayals. Watch how the winning strategy actually forces leaders to ignore "we the people" just to keep their funders happy.

Ever feel like you can't have a real conversation online anymore? It’s not just you, the entire system is built on "primary preferences" like sugar for the brain. Discover why our democracy started chasing clicks instead of the truth.

Most politicians don’t actually represent you, so why do we keep electing them? Imagine a House of Citizens chosen by lottery just like a jury. From Texas to Ireland, regular people are already making big decisions. Are you ready to fire the professional campaigners?

Ever wonder why a simple noise dispute can cost you $100,000? The legal system is a pay-to-win game where the richest person takes all. See why the law is no longer about finding the truth, but just a costly game of who puts on the best show.

We trust regular people to decide criminal trials, so why not trust them with the big stuff? From tax rates to fixing gerrymandering, see how citizen juries are already making better decisions than politicians. People's minds can change a lot when they actually talk.

Politicians represent their funders and the powerful before they ever think of you. What if we stopped electing them entirely and used a lottery system instead? See why regular people make better decisions than the career politicians.

Ever notice how politicians dodge every awkward question during debates? We traded real conversations for pre-rehearsed talking points and zero-sum contests. See why the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debate was one of the last real political conversation.

Ever feel like politicians are nothing like you? You aren't alone. We went from everyday citizens holding power to being ruled by career celebrities. If elections just create a toxic contest, where do we turn next?

Think the internet is the key to direct democracy? If we all voted on every law, we’d spend hours every day fighting disinformation and hype. Here is why the ancient Greeks didn't use elections for their day-to-day decisions—and why we shouldn't either.

Our representatives have become celebrity politicians who push their way to the top. What if we went back to the Athenian way and chose leaders by lottery instead? It’s the same logic we trust for our juries in courts, and it might just save our politics.

Jack Dorsey thinks social media should be a public good, not a profit machine. But if likes and shares don't build bridges between people on social media, what does? We’re looking at how "middleware" and merit-promoting networks could actually save our democracy.

Why is social media so toxic while Wikipedia actually works? It all comes down to "merit-ware" and how we reward truth over trolls. This video breaks down the bridging algorithms that could finally rebuild the middleware of our democracy.

Why does the loudest person in the room always seem to win online? We’ve built a "shoutocracy" that rewards rage over actual merit, but there’s a way to fix the middleware of our democracy. Discover how bridging algorithms can actually help us find common ground again.

Stop scrolling for a second and ask yourself: why do some online comments make you so mad? Social media isn't a meritocracy; it’s a clickbait engine fuelled by your anger. Here is how the "wrongness" of the internet traps your brain.

Ever wonder what actually happens in a real citizen's jury? People with radically different views listen to each other and despite the initial anger, leave in tears of relief. True democracy is about dialogue, not just winning a contest. Let's make our leaders listen and act.

Most workplaces are full of people "kissing up and kicking down," but Wikipedia found a different way. You start as a stranger and have to prove your reliability to a panel of real humans. Is this the blueprint for a better way to work together?

Why is your feed so toxic? Algorithms prioritise high arousal private interest stories over the subtler, non-hostile public interest ones. Unless it’s a fake AI tiger rescuing a goat/baby. Most of the time real public interest stories don't get traction despite being important.

You’re being tricked into amplifying the very things you hate. In a real-life pub, we’d just ignore the loudmouth, but the internet turns our outrage into profit, creating the rise of rage bait. See why the attention stack is rigged against us and how we can change the game.

Most people think democracy is just about voting, but there’s a "depolarisation machine" hidden in our history. By bringing back the jury-style model of representation, we can finally reduce the power of lobbyists and special interests. It’s time to balance the stool again.

Protests are powerful, but what if we had an inbuilt system for everyday people to hold the White House accountable? Imagine 50 citizens in Minneapolis, paid to deliberate like a jury, calling out constitutional breaches in real-time.

Ever feel like politics is just one big, exhausting culture war? Belgium tried something radical by letting 50 randomly selected citizens call the shots on the issues that actually matter. See why they're focusing on real life issues instead of just trying to get in the headlines

Do you ever feel like a fool for still believing in our political system? We’re so used to the contest that we’ve forgotten how to actually talk to each other. Here's why the secret to saving democracy isn't about winning an argument—it’s about changing the DNA of how we disagree

Our political system is sclerotic because politicians are too busy trying not to get ousted to actually lead. Nicholas is proposing an activism of sortition to help everyday people into the decision-making process. See how we can light the spark to bypass this gridlock.

You wouldn't push a surgeon aside to do the operation yourself because hospitals rely on deep layers of earned skill. Yet, the people running our government win popularity contests to gain power. Are we trusting our entire society to the right system?

Most people call astrology a pseudoscience, but are we even testing it correctly? Spencer Greenberg tried to find a correlation between sun signs and life events and found absolutely nothing. But then the astrologers told them why the tests were wrong, and things got interesting.

The tech utopia of the 2010s ignored one crucial rule: the Neutral Point of View. A hive mind thrives on objective facts. But what happens when you introduce subjective political opinions? This is why the hope of a wiki government didn't get further than books.

Wikipedia works because it is a meritocracy, unlike politics or business. We confuse competition with merit. Competition gives us great tennis players, but does it give us the best leaders? Let us rethink what winning means for society.

We force leaders to play a brutal power game to win elections. When Joe Biden stepped down, we missed a huge chance to change the rules. Imagine a system that ignores campaign speeches and uses a Venetian merit system to pick the best candidate. It is time to end this circus.

You wouldn’t let a tennis player call their own lines, so why do we let politicians set their own rules? This is the simple umpire fix that could restore trust in our institutions. It’s time to change how the game is played. We need independent truth, not more partisan fighting.

We’ve turned our elections into a giant game, but politics isn't supposed to be a sport. George Washington didn't want to be President, and that reluctance was exactly what made him the right choice. Here is the lost history of how we were supposed to pick our leaders.

Have you ever wondered why Wikipedia doesn't just turn into a big mess? It turns out there’s a strict ladder of authority and a committee process that keeps everything in check. Here is how a global army of volunteers actually aligns their goals to build something world-changing.

The Founding Fathers tried to fix power with checks and balances, but the system has still left the door open for tyranny. We are living in a pyramid structure that is way too easy for partisans to capture and weaponise. It’s not just a glitch in the system; it’s the design

Wikipedia should’ve been chaos, but its "invisible architecture" saved it. Successful open-source isn't a free-for-all, it’s a meritocracy of "middleware" and gatekeepers. Without this structure, social media stays toxic. How do we fix the digital conversation?

Think Wikipedia is just a free-for-all? You’re actually looking at one of the most perfect meritocracies ever designed. From basic edits to committee approvals, here is how the world's biggest encyclopaedia actually keeps the "rage" out while social media lets it in.

Michael Polanyi coined the term "tacit knowledge," which is the idea that our most fundamental wisdom comes from striving to make life better. You’re building a pathway in the multiverse every single day without even realising it.

Learn why most medical research is either wrong or completely useless for your health! Our system prioritises publication over problem-solving, hindering real progress. Watch to see how the "sociological laws" of academia are holding back real medical progress.

Most people think politics is just about ideology, but it’s actually more like a bad game of tennis. When private interests start to dominate the shared goal, the most aggressive player wins and everyone else loses. Here is why our institutions are failing us right now.

Economics explains why social media apps turned into tribal battlegrounds: they prioritised private profit over the public good of our shared network. If we want to fix the internet, we have to start treating it like a game of tennis where the rules matter more than the score.

We’ve turned social media into a digital thunderdome, but it doesn't have to be this way. Wikipedia proved that radical openness can actually create a public good instead of total chaos. It’s time we stop amplifying our worst instincts and start building for our better angels.

Remember the euphoria about social media 15 years ago? We were promised a global revolution, but we ended up in an anarchic thunderdome. If social media platforms are the cars, where are the rules of the road? Here is why our digital culture collapsed and how we can fix it.

Why social media is breaking our brains - Ever wonder why every online "conversation" feels like a war zone? We’re playing a game where the referees only care about the ticket sales, not the rules. It’s time to look at how maximising profit actually collapsed our culture.

Every expert thinks their solution is the only answer, but that’s exactly how institutions fail. If your system depends on one leader at the top, it’s an ego trip rather than a system. Watch how to shift from being "in charge" to building a truly high-quality system.

Why are teams with expert bosses significantly happier and more productive? We’re losing our way with "careerism," and it’s making our institutions less healthy. Watch to see why the "general manager" myth might be the biggest mistake in your organisation.

Think the courtroom is about finding the truth? It’s actually a strategic game where the side with the most money buys the most convincing PhD. You deserve to know how adversarial justice is making fairness a luxury most people can’t afford.

When McKinsey brought corporate metrics to British Intelligence, truth became a secondary concern. Discover how a "point system" for senior readership incentivised agents to sensationalise reports, leading to one of the biggest intelligence failures in history.

You think you chose your political side, but did you really? The competitive system isn't just about voting; it’s programming how you see the world and locking you into a box. It’s time to realise that treating politics like a team sport is breaking our ability to think clearly.

We’ve convinced ourselves that elections are the only way to run a democracy, but we’re missing half the picture. There’s a second, even more powerful way to represent the people that we already trust in courtrooms, so why aren't we using it in government?

A surgeon always thinks the answer is surgery, and a psychotherapist thinks it's all in your head. Your specific expertise is actually blinding you to the real problem. Stop trying to force your professional toolkit onto every issue and learn to see the system as it really is.

Ever wondered why politicians seem so fake? It’s because the system actually filters out honest people like Mal who can’t stomach the nonsense, leaving us with the narcissists who thrive on rage. If you hate the self-promotion, you’re exactly the kind of person we’re losing.

If you think "management" is your only specialism, you’re doing it wrong. Studies prove that bosses who are highly competent in their field run happier and significantly more productive teams. We need to stop rewarding empty careerism and start valuing real expertise.

Mal Meninga was a rugby legend, but he lasted only six weeks in politics before walking out. He wasn't weak; he just wasn't "fake" enough to survive the game of self-promotion we force leaders to play. This is exactly why we keep ending up with the wrong people in charge.

Rory Stewart on why Citizens' Assemblies should appoint the BBC board - We all want to know that the board members of a public broadcaster are there on their merits, not because they're doing the bidding of one political party or another.

Edmund Burke famously said that society is a pact between the dead, the living, and the unborn. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants, but are we actually adding anything for the people coming next? It’s time to rethink what kind of legacy we are actually leaving behind.

The Most Honest Campaign Feedback Ever We all know that polished "politician voice" feels fake, but this story nails exactly why. When Lucas tried his campaign speech, his wife called it out for exactly what it was—bullsh*t. It’s the reality check our political system desperately needs.

Ever feel like the people in charge are good at winning elections but bad at actually leading? It’s because our system rewards self-promotion and flattery over intrinsic merit and doing good for its own sake. We’ve confused "winning the game" with having actual integrity.

We know the price of everything and the value of nothing. From waiting in a queue to editing Wikipedia, here is why we need to stop promoting leaders based on cash and start looking for intrinsic merit.

Aristotle noted that you cannot define a knife without knowing what makes it good or bad. This applies to us too. Goodness is not an external judgment from the sky, but rather it is built into our makeup. We are living this drama, yet the modern world has forgotten it.

Democracy by Theatre: Why Boring Policies Matter Ever wonder why schools crumble while politicians argue about culture wars? It’s because fixing education isn’t "entertaining" enough for the news cycle. We’ve turned democracy into a reality TV show, and we’re paying the price.

Polarisation is eroding the institutional safeguards that once balanced power in modern democracies. As partisan lawmakers manipulate election rules and district boundaries, citizens are turning to new reforms, like Michigan’s model, to reclaim fairness and accountability.

Political parties are transforming judicial appointments into partisan weapons, actively eroding long-standing democratic safeguards. With courts becoming ideologically predictable and systems easily manipulated, basic democratic norms are increasingly at risk.

You believe in shared rules, but what happens when politicians ignore them? We are seeing a new crisis of democratic norms. Can our leaders save us? The shocking answer is NO. Find out why the defence of democracy must be taken off the politicians and given back the people!

We think of public goods as roads and bridges. But what if the most important public good today is information? This system is being compromised, and it's causing failures across our society. This is the pattern we must recognise.