Nathan Schneider

Proud member! This is an awesome initiative

A month ago, I found myself in the unexpected position of founding an AI startup. Today, the Inference Co-op adopted its first real governance charter. We can't make AI good, but we can own our choices, and make them together. Want to join? https://inference.coop

It is happening, finally. My colleague and teacher Nabil Echchaibi and Fred Moten. Earlier at lunch Moten said that isn't the point of writing to know what to say when you talk with people. More from Moten live in Boulder tomorrow: magicmountaintalks.org/event/fred-m...

Yay Drivers Cooperative rideshare at the People's Festival today in Denver!

My mind keeps returning to this piece by @ntnsndr.in: nathanschneider.info/2026/08/ai-i.... In particular, the point about collaboration with at least one other human being as a baseline indicator that what you're doing has meaning.

Great piece in @dissentmag.bsky.social on the need for shared services among media co-ops, featuring our work at Start.coop to do just that: dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

The effort to turn Letterboxd community-owned is live! This is a powerful, creative opportunity to make Exit to Community a reality. Website: https://www.letterboxd4all.com/ Wefunder: https://wefunder.com/intrinsic.letterboxd GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/f75e3253d

Wild to me that Boulder's climate suit is at the Supreme Court. Here is an essay of mine right after the massive wildfire in question, and a more recent one about punishment. nathanschneider.info/tag/climate/

The little inference.coop experiment is now a month old, and so far: - A really warm, well-aligned first member meeting - Recovered from a couple hours' of late-night down time - Green, private, and public AI models added - Loomio & Matrix servers for members - Members stepping up to help build!

Then for @ntnsndr.in's panel at #4S on Wednesday, I'll be hosting a short session to critique a co-op protocol/living bylaws demo I 'built'. If you're attending this behemoth of a gathering/confrence, please come!

We are now about half way to the threshold at Inference.coop where I'll have to give up my benevolent dictatorship. Want to join the ethical-ish AI train and help unseat me from power?

@cocore.dev would it make sense for us to offer (and pay for) co/core inference for our members at inference.coop?

I keep coming back to this list I started on AI taboos: nathanschneider.info/2026/06/a-ca... What else should be on it?

Supplement The Occupiers with the following radical reads, all of which come with my highest recommendation for those looking to learn more about the movement (continued). #occupywallstreet

I am so in awe of what @drkalyncoghill.blacksky.team and the @blackskyweb.xyz team are building with the Acorn project: acorn.blacksky.community Open Social has been slow to building community scale tools, but no longer. This is a whole new level, and they've been using it themselves as they build.

15 years ago today, I was there with my notebook when a few 100 people hunkered down to Occupy Wall Street. A lot happened after, but what I remember best is meeting some of the bravest, most hopeful people in the world. We need more of that today. Here's what I saw: https://nathanschneider.info/b

Some years ago we described how we envisioned governable spaces for something as simple as a guitar. We borrowed heavily from @ntnsndr.in s book and applied to join at @metagov.bsky.social The article below frames governable spaces as feminist tech. @openguitar.org @sabinebarthold.bsky.social

Ivan Illich was born 100 years ago today. This is a picture I took in April of the door to the house where he once lived. There is no better place to start getting to know him than this Lost Prophets podcast: https://www.lostprophets.org/p/4-ivan-illich-ft-david-cayley Or his smile: https://vimeo.

Study with me and my friends!

Are you looking to deepen your thinking and practice in transforming media systems? Consider coming to grad school with me and my colleagues. Let me know if you have questions:) MA: https://www.colorado.edu/cmdi/mdst/ma PhD: https://www.colorado.edu/cmdi/mdst/phd

Yet another newsroom under worker control!

Oh goodness, people are hosting gatherings to celebrate Ivan Illich around the world! I just signed up to host. https://aschoolcalledhome.org/illich-at-100/

Against commune-ism in cooperatives: https://nathanschneider.info/2026/08/against-commune-ism-in-cooperatives/

Join a union, be a star

This is a fantastic approach to these kinds of events. If you’re ever near Boulder, go!

Thanks to @mwatsonfore.bsky.social and @boulderrl.bsky.social for a wonderful profile of our magicmountaintalks.org event series! boulderreportinglab.org/2026/08/20/i... Featuring @jeffsharlet.bsky.social more Don't miss tonight: GERTRUDE STEIN NO RECORDINGS 👩‍🎤

You might remember that I co-edited a book, Beautiful Solutions, that tells stories of solidarity economies around the world. Well, now it is A FREE, ONLINE TOOLBOX, thanks to the good folks at Beautiful Trouble: https://beautifultrouble.org/toolbox/bsol Use this, share this, teach with this. I hav

What is to be done with the perpetrators of climate change?: https://nathanschneider.info/2026/08/what-is-to-be-done-with-the-perpetrators-of-climate-change/

How do governments rewire science & the tech industry by threatening scholars? And how can we be more resilient? Writing for @ucs.org, I report on efforts by @thecoalition.bsky.social, @knightcolumbia.org, @acm.org, & @aoir.bsky.social to support researcher rights blog.ucs.org/guest-commen...

Next month it will be 15 years since Occupy Wall St took over Lower Manhattan and other bits of the world. I was anxious to revisit it, but I've really been appreciating this new podcast on the story: www.futurehindsight.com/occupy I also wrote a book on it:) nathanschneider.info/books/thank-...

This is fabulous real talk on organizing with (and around) social media. Own the hand-off. Take responsibility for governance.

🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣 ✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....

"If you can’t convince a single other human being that a project is worth investing time and energy in, that is a signal. And it is also a signal if you don’t bother trying." @ntnsndr.in nathanschneider.info/2026/08/ai-i...

“For most of the things that are actually valuable about life and work, we can more or less ignore #AI altogether.” Couldn’t agree more with @ntnsndr.in nathanschneider.info/2026/08/ai-i...

The Conflict Systems zine, on designing online communities with conflict in mind, is NOW OUT. The digital version is here: https://www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/2026/08/12/conflict-systems And there are still a few print copies available here! https://cloud.medlab.host/apps/forms/s/4Ys2HkNo23WB9pBn2c

MEDLab's new Conflict Systems zine drops Wednesday—all about the need for building habits and tools for conflict into online spaces. Celebrate the launch: https://luma.com/vqlxb7dy Request a print copy: https://cloud.medlab.host/apps/forms/s/4Ys2HkNo23WB9pBn2cX8kef7

I am in awe of the Tillamook creamery as a feat of co-op storytelling. Focused on the glory of the product but full of reminders that farmer ownership makes it all possible.

Loving this take in @flaminghydra.com. Working towards that coop future everyday

It feels like my most frequent political act these days is unsubscribing to catastrophist political-party email lists I never signed up for. The bummer of a perceived populist moment is that elites have no self-respect in how they communicate with us.

What comes after Luddism? In a special free issue of the mighty co-op Flaming Hydra, I probe the limits of centering resistence to big tech around the lore of the Luddites: https://flaminghydra.com/issue-617/#beyond-luddism

I love how my wife still asks for my so-so fritattas on Saturday mornings

Super proud to be writing about co-op history for a publication that is co-op future, because the future is past is future, and how we choose from the past is choosing the future

I think we're going to need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for climate denialism someday, and the reconciliation part is going to be very hard.

Amia Srinivasan in the house with Hermione Hoby at magicmountaintalks.org

"What are apps worth anymore?" An introduction to a couple of my recent experiments, and why they do and don't matter: https://nathanschneider.info/2026/07/what-are-apps-worth-anymore/

Just posted an addendum to my proposal for an academic AI co-op, with some thoughts that have come up from others in discussions, such as - Student voice from the start - Liability for model behavior - Permissioned access for researchers nathanschneider.info/2026/06/an-i...

For the past two years, my lab has been exploring how to create online spaces designed for a basic human activity: conflict. See what we've learned on August 12, when we release our new zine, Conflict Systems, at the Metagov Seminar: https://luma.com/vqlxb7dy