Welcome to New Possibilities

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About Us

Founded in 2023, we're on a mission to bring creative minds, innovators and psychological researchers together to answer them.

We are undergoing an explosion of technological possibility. From new devices and interfaces to new narratives and environments, the technologies we interact with are transforming our psychological experiences and our engagement with the world.

But where is this innovation taking us? Possibility without intention is just chaos.

As these technologies increasingly shape our mental and emotional states, we must step back and think about what we really want from them.

What psychological goals should they aspire to? What values, technical characteristics, and aesthetic qualities support these goals?

These foundational questions about the purpose of technology demand a broader perspective. That’s why we are bringing creative minds, innovators and psychological researchers together to answer them.

Who We Are

We are Andrew Trousdale, Bryan Wolff, Kristoffer Tjalve and Jake Dow-Smith. Our work is made possible with private funding from John Metzner.

Ongoing Partners & Special Thanks

With thanks to ongoing partners, advisers and collaborators; Marcia Santoni, Xinran Yuan, Marc Vermeeren, Nathan Matthews, Weekend Type.

Website design + build by Jake Dow-Smith

Computing Shrines

Computing Shrines

“We already feel a latent connection to those in our communities even if we don't know them: regulars at the cafe, those who love the same park bench, our neighbors we pass on the street.That bond activates with a surprising strength when we learn something intimate about them.”
Spencer Chang

Experiment Computing Shrines

Spencer Chang is a Creative Technologist

“I think being together is pretty core to our purpose as humans”
by Spencer Chang

Interview Spencer Chang is a Creati...

Inventing Rituals for the Digital World

This essay explores the concept of rituals in online spaces, suggesting that it's time to intentionally create and implement rituals that can benefit our online relationships and experiences, rather than waiting for them to emerge organically.
Inventing Rituals for the Digital World

Reference Inventing Rituals for the...

Religion and place attachment

This paper looks at religion playing an important role in place attachment and argues that there is an active socializing component to religious place attachment in addition to the experiential one.
Religion and place attachment

Reference Religion and place attach...

Self-Disclosure

This paper looks at Self-disclosure in the digital age and how the act of revealing information about the self to others plays that has always played an integral role in interpersonal experiences and relationships.
Self-Disclosure

Reference Self-Disclosure

Shared Attention

This paper looks at religion playing an important role in place attachment and argues that there is an active socializing component to religious place attachment in addition to the experiential one.
Shared Attention

Reference Shared Attention

Shared understanding and social connection

In this paper, emerging work that uses neuroimaging and social network analysis is integrated with theories that explore the links between shared reality and social connection.
Shared understanding and social connection

Reference Shared understanding and ...

Technology-mediated experiences and social context

This paper starts from the notion that meaningful and/or enjoyable experiences (i.e., wellbeing) are a major outcome of technology use, and investigates how these experiences are further shaped by social context, such as potential spectators.
Technology-mediated experiences and social context

Reference Technology-mediated exper...

The Disappearance of Rituals

"Rituals are to time what a home is to space: they render time habitable."In this book, Byung-Chul Han provides a genealogy of the disappearance of ritual as a means of diagnosing the pathologies of the present, without giving in to nostalgia.
The Disappearance of Rituals

Reference The Disappearance of Ritu...

The Third Thing

An essay on "the third thing:" external objects, practices, or experiences that can bring two people together and create a sense of shared joy or intimacy.
The Third Thing

Reference The Third Thing

Andrew Trousdale is a Researcher and Designer

Andrew Trousdale is a Researcher and Designer

Interview Andrew Trousdale is a Res...

Bryan Wolff is a Writer and Creative Director

Bryan Wolff is a Writer and Creative Director

Interview Bryan Wolff is a Writer a...

Jake Dow-Smith is a Designer

Jake Dow-Smith is a Designer

“My design approach is to challenge metrics-driven design that has become common, encouraging people to slow down.”

Interview Jake Dow-Smith is a Desig...

Muji Rainbow

"If you put Muji Rainbow in the machine and play it, a small rainbow will emerge along with a seven-minute silence – or the barely audible sound of the player’s own working."
Muji Rainbow

Reference Muji Rainbow

1000 Stones

"Skip stones across peaceful waters, and let every stone's skip remind you that small efforts lead to meaningful progress."
1000 Stones

Reference 1000 Stones

Tone Lab

Softening the learning curve for making music with synthesizers.
Tone Lab

Reference Tone Lab

Matcha Computing

Matcha Computing

"This is for you if you love constantly collecting little bits of inspiration/ capturing memories"
Matcha Computing

Reference Matcha Computing

Flight Simulator

Flight Simulator

An ode to airplane mode
Flight Simulator

Reference Flight Simulator

Yayagram

"Yaya" means "Granny" in Castillian. "Gram" comes from "Telegram".
Yayagram

Reference Yayagram

Breathing Box

"I wanted something that didn’t receive notifications or show me content, a specific object for this task.1 So I built this device from scratch." - Tom MacWright
Breathing Box

Reference Breathing Box

Kristoffer Tjalve is a Researcher and Community Organizer

Kristoffer Tjalve is a Researcher and Community Organizer

Interview Kristoffer Tjalve is a Re...

Reframe

Experiment Reframe

The Territoriet Sound Machine

The Territoriet Sound Machine

The Territoriet Sound Machine is inspired by the Italian futurist artist Luigi Russolo's intonarumori — lever-operated machines designed to pop, sough, shriek, and shock.
The Territoriet Sound Machine

Reference The Territoriet Sound Mac...

How can a shared place of passage be put into play?
Up

Nick Srnicek is a Writer and Educator

Nick Srnicek is a Writer and Educator

“While I appreciate contemporary technology in many ways, I do think it’s important to have periods of distance from it.”

Interview Nick Srnicek is a Writer ...

Worker As Futurist are the Writers

Worker As Futurist are the Writers

Interview Worker As Futurist are th...

SOMI-1

What is the sound of your movements?
SOMI-1

Reference SOMI-1

Slowly

What if social media was like pen pals?
Slowly

Reference Slowly

Dean Kissick is a Writer

Dean Kissick is a Writer

“Of course it's not all good. There's ugliness to it, there's banality to it, but there's something about it.”

Interview Dean Kissick is a Writer

Miriam Simun is an Artist

Miriam Simun is an Artist

“I love well written books. I love touching their pages, I love the sounds well-put together words make in my head”

Interview Miriam Simun is an Artist

Slow Games

"Slow Games are physical video games with a very low frequency of interaction: one move a day."
Slow Games

Reference Slow Games

Are.na

On Are.na you don’t follow people as you do on social media, instead you follow their curiosities.
Are.na

Reference Are.na

USB Club

Carry what matters.
USB Club

Reference USB Club

Gather

Think of Gather more like a scrapbook, field guide, or a marked-up poetry collection than a polished art coffee table book.
Gather

Reference Gather

Onigilin

Shaped like a rice ball so it is easy to carry around.
Onigilin

Reference Onigilin

Notte

The concept of a private diary emerged in Europe between the late 13th and 15th centuries, when people began recording their personal thoughts. How can it evolve to fit modern life?
Notte

Reference Notte

Photo by Pieter Kers

Charge your phone when you close your eyes.
Recharge

Reference Recharge

Photo by Pieter Kers

Regenerative Design Field Kit

Regenerative Design Field Kit

What is this for?
Regenerative Design Field Kit

Reference Regenerative Design Field...

Designing Calm Technology

A foundational paper laying out principles for tools that meet their purpose without overwhelming users or presenting tradeoffs to other important dimensions of life.
Designing Calm Technology

Reference Designing Calm Technology

Ping Practice

Experiment Ping Practice

An Acausal Connecting Principle

A theory of meaningful coincidences where “internal, psychological events are linked to external world events by meaningful coincidences rather than causal chains.”
An Acausal Connecting Principle

Reference An Acausal Connecting Pri...

Thought as a System

In Thought as a System, best-selling author David Bohm takes as his subject the role of thought and knowledge at every level of human affairs, from our private reflections on personal identity to our collective efforts to fashion a tolerable civilization. Elaborating upon principles of the relationship between mind and matter first put forward in Wholeness and the Implicate Order, Professor Bohm rejects the notion that our thinking processes neutrally report on what is 'out there' in an objective world."...if you have found the words which express the way you are actually thinking, the body will be affected."
Thought as a System

Reference Thought as a System

The Extended Mind

Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? This original paper that later became a book explores “The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain.”
The Extended Mind

Reference The Extended Mind

When We Are No More

Abby Smith Rumsey explores human memory from pre-history to the present to shed light on the grand challenge facing our world--the abundance of information and scarcity of human attention.
When We Are No More

Reference When We Are No More

The Reflective Practitioner

This seminal work by M.I.T. social scientist Schön looks from a professional point of view at the benefits of 'reflection-in-action' and how it works.
The Reflective Practitioner

Reference The Reflective Practition...

Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends

Building on Pennebaker, White and Epston explore how the expression of inner states in writing gives us perspective and ultimately creative agency.
Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends

Reference Narrative Means to Therap...

Expressive Writing

This paper presents a broad overview of the expressive writing paradigm; looking at the effects on health and well-being of individuals writing about their experiences.
Expressive Writing

Reference Expressive Writing

A Catalogue of Simple Pleasures

"Conversation that flows like a river"
A Catalogue of Simple Pleasures

Reference A Catalogue of Simple Ple...

Sentiment Cocoon

Sentiment Cocoon

"Ultimately, the aim is to foster the notion of public spaces as the social centres of our cities."
Sentiment Cocoon

Reference Sentiment Cocoon

Flutterby

Activities in one place create subtle indications in another place
Flutterby

Reference Flutterby

HappyHere

Press to transform feelings and thoughts into light
HappyHere

Reference HappyHere

Good Night Lamp

Good Night Lamp

"Use the Good Night Lamp to tell a loved one ‘now’s a good time for a chat’, ‘I’m thinking of you’ or ‘call me when you get home’."
Good Night Lamp

Reference Good Night Lamp

Light Touch

These lamps are used in pairs to enable send and receive.
Light Touch

Reference Light Touch

Grief Garden

Add your memorial in the wild meadow
Grief Garden

Reference Grief Garden

Wish Tree

Instructions: "Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper. Fold it and tie it around a branch of a Wish Tree. Ask your friends to do the same. Keep wishing. Until the branches are covered with wishes."
Wish Tree

Reference Wish Tree

In Our Own Words

In Our Own Words

What's a moment you remember that is important to you?
In Our Own Words

Reference In Our Own Words

Hive Mind

Two performers engage the audience in an on-stage discussion in which no words are spoken.
Hive Mind

Reference Hive Mind

Deep Time

The sediment is up to 12,000 years old and mainly consists of organic material excavated from the bottom of the sea like snow.
Deep Time

Reference Deep Time

Galatical Compass

Galatical Compass

Where is the middle of the Milky Way?
Galatical Compass

Reference Galatical Compass

Quantum Parallelograph

Quantum Parallelograph

The project builds on the pioneering work of Professor David Deutsch at Oxford University and earlier theories by Professor Hugh Everett, who proposed that infinite versions of ourselves exist across multiple universes.
Quantum Parallelograph

Reference Quantum Parallelograph

Chromasonic Immersion

Chromasonic Immersion

Invites you into a liminal state, heightening awareness and presence.
Chromasonic Immersion

Reference Chromasonic Immersion

Firefly Petunia

Firefly Petunia

Organic light from living plants
Firefly Petunia

Reference Firefly Petunia

Live Streams Canto de las abuelas

Live Streams Canto de las abuelas

"Rocks, for many indigenous communities, are the grandmothers, since they preserve in their harsh silences the prudent voice of the times" - Leonel Vásquez
Live Streams Canto de las abuelas

Reference Live Streams Canto de las...

The Deep Listener

The Deep Listener

Move your body through the park to alter the sounds you hear
The Deep Listener

Reference The Deep Listener

Circa

"What if the Sun was your clock, and the Moon was your calendar?"
Circa

Reference Circa

Tree

Transform yourself into a tree, with your arms as branches and your body as the trunk.
Tree

Very Slow Movie Player

Very Slow Movie Player

Can a film be consumed at the speed of reading a book?
Very Slow Movie Player

Reference Very Slow Movie Player

Camulet

It's like a digital disposable.
Camulet

Reference Camulet

Oblique Strategies (Dice)

Oblique Strategies (Dice)

Boot Boyz Biz's "Oblique Strategies" project is a reinterpretation of Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's original 1975 conceptual art cards.
Oblique Strategies (Dice)

Reference Oblique Strategies (Dice)

Open Source Rotary Cellphone

Open Source Rotary Cellphone

"The point isn't to be anachronistic. It's to show that it's possible to have a perfectly usable phone that goes as far from having a touchscreen as I can imagine, and which in some ways may actually be more functional" - Justine Haupt
Open Source Rotary Cellphone

Reference Open Source Rotary Cellph...

Walkcast

When was the last time you looked at your neighborhood with new eyes?
Walkcast

Reference Walkcast

Daylight Computer DC-1

Daylight Computer DC-1

Technology that adapts to human nature—offering a calmer, more natural, and healthier computing experience instead of deeper digital immersion.
Daylight Computer DC-1

Reference Daylight Computer DC-1

Starfield

How to experience the vastness of the universe?
Starfield

Reference Starfield

Dreamachine

This contemporary iteration draws inspiration from the original Dreamachine, invented in 1959 by artist Brion Gysin.
Dreamachine

Reference Dreamachine

The Abramovic Method

The Abramovic Method

“I always believed that the function of art is the function of the bridge. To bridge different people from different social backgrounds. Different religious beliefs. Different races. But it is also about communication between physical world and spiritual world. Or simply between two human beings.”- Marina Abramovic
The Abramovic Method

Reference The Abramovic Method

Somebody

The most advanced part of Somebody isn’t in the phone; it’s in the users who have the courage to deliver a message to a stranger.
Somebody

Reference Somebody

Durr

Durr is a shivering bracelet investigating our perception of 5 minutes.
Durr

Everything

Everything requires no player input, it will play automatically if left unattended.
Everything

Reference Everything

Memory Seed

Smell is a powerful trigger for memory, often evoking past experiences more vividly than sound or sight.
Memory Seed

Reference Memory Seed

Community Memory

Community Memory

Community Memory terminal at the Computer History Museum.
Community Memory

Reference Community Memory

Cyclemarks

Cyclemarks helps you remember what you want to revisit.
Cyclemarks

Reference Cyclemarks

Light Phone

Designed to be used as little as possible.
Light Phone

Reference Light Phone

Song of the Ambassadors

Song of the Ambassadors

The neuroscience experiments are performed by a team of scientists from UCSD, who record and analyze brainwaves, heart rate and subjective feedback of subjects in the audience.
Song of the Ambassadors

Reference Song of the Ambassadors

Peacemaker

How can we develop communal empathy?
Peacemaker

Reference Peacemaker

Mutual Wave Machine

Mutual Wave Machine

What happens in our brains when we interact face-to-face with another person?
Mutual Wave Machine

Reference Mutual Wave Machine

Taeyoon Choi is an Artist and Writer

Taeyoon Choi is an Artist and Writer

“I love how we still have just ten fingers. Twelve fingers would dramatically improve our typing speed.”

Interview Taeyoon Choi is an Artist...

Ambient Machine

Ambient Machine

By toggling its switches, users can combine and adjust layers of white noise, natural ambiences, and rhythmic patterns, tailoring the soundscape to their mood and environment.
Ambient Machine

Reference Ambient Machine

Photo: Kris Graves

Breathing Pavillion

Breathing Pavilion comprised a 30-foot circle of 20 nine-foot two-tone illuminated inflatable columns. These columns slowly modulated in brightness to illustrate a deep breathing technique designed to bring calm. Visitors were invited to breathe in time with the changing light and attune themselves to a shared rhythm of respite.
Breathing Pavillion

Reference Breathing Pavillion

Photo: Kris Graves

Hugh Francis is a Founder and Coder

Hugh Francis is a Founder and Coder

“And the sensations of going between hot and cold like that are another one of those very important moments that force me to be nothing but present.”

Interview Hugh Francis is a Founder...

Technology is the active human interface

“Technology is the active human interface with the material world. But the word is consistently misused to mean only the enormously complex & specialised technologies of the past few decades.”
Ursula Le Guin

Reference Technology is the active ...

We become what we behold

“We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”
Marshall McLuhan

Reference We become what we behold

Daniel O'Sullivan is an Associate Professor

Daniel O'Sullivan is an Associate Professor

“Having a tool for noticing when I am lost in, often dreadful, thought and then waking up is a great release from unnecessary suffering.”

Interview Daniel O'Sullivan is...

Helen Hester is a Writer and Educator

Helen Hester is a Writer and Educator

“There have been precious, but fleeting, moments in my life when routines have emerged and congealed, only to change beneath my feet as soon as I’ve recognised them.”

Interview Helen Hester is a Writer ...

Keyboard of Empowerment

Keyboard of Empowerment

Above the QWERTY layout is a row of orange keys that let you add stronger, more expressive words to your sentences.
Keyboard of Empowerment

Reference Keyboard of Empowerment

Salome Asega is an Artist, Researcher & Director

Salome Asega is an Artist, Researcher & Director

“From clothing to accessories to shoes to hair, I find empowerment in these human-made creations”

Interview Salome Asega is an Artist...

Rhizome 7×7 2024

Rhizome 7×7 2024

“Although 7X7 has been engaging with issues around AI for over a decade, we decided this year that we had an opportunity, and maybe even a responsibility, to make it more central to the conference than ever.”
Xinran Yuan, co-curator and producer

Partnership Rhizome 7×7 2024

Social Server

Experiment Social Server

Xiaowei R. Wang is a Writer and Artist

Xiaowei R. Wang is a Writer and Artist

“After I put my hand on the transmitter antennae and pointed towards his radio, he picked up the broadcast”

Interview Xiaowei R. Wang is a Writ...

Philip Maughan is a Writer

Philip Maughan is a Writer

“I believe that humans are capable of running efficient systems where strict protocols enable maximum safety, trust, comfort, and service to passengers, patients, guests.”

Interview Philip Maughan is a Write...

Wendi Yan is an Artist

Wendi Yan is an Artist

“Through making an imaginary world, the world transforms me”

Interview Wendi Yan is an Artist

Pedro Sanches is a Designer

Pedro Sanches is a Designer

“But I also love the functionality. When you don’t even notice it.”

Interview Pedro Sanches is a Design...

Blueprint

A Living Machine

“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

News A Living Machine

Emil Grip (Limbo Accra) is a Spatial Designer

Emil Grip (Limbo Accra) is a Spatial Designer

“The chair symbolizes a fundamental difference between humans and all other life forms”

Interview Emil Grip (Limbo Accra) i...

Elie Andersen is a Communicatior

Elie Andersen is a Communicatior

“I feel dignified by most of the tools available to me in my modern urban life”

Interview Elie Andersen is a Commun...

Jack Self is an Architect

Jack Self is an Architect

“I quit smoking, almost three years ago, and I did it in spite of my better judgment”

Interview Jack Self is an Architect

Kate Ray is a Programmer to Chef

Kate Ray is a Programmer to Chef

“I’m a slow cook, though I wouldn’t call it inefficiency”

Interview Kate Ray is a Programmer ...

Xin Liu is an Artist and Engineer

Xin Liu is an Artist and Engineer

“The ability to do what I’m doing right now is deeply rooted in the mobility I have between countries and cities.”

Interview Xin Liu is an Artist and ...

Mat Dryhurst is a Technology Artist

Mat Dryhurst is a Technology Artist

“Cultural systems and protocols compound and are larger than any one individual”

Interview Mat Dryhurst is a Technol...

Tony Lashley is a Founder

Tony Lashley is a Founder

“The act of reading to me is about stepping away from dopamine”

Interview Tony Lashley is a Founder

Omar Rizwan is a Programmer

Omar Rizwan is a Programmer

“I think that a big contributor to human fulfillment is the feeling of mastery, that you’re getting a grasp of your environment”

Interview Omar Rizwan is a Programm...

Elvia Wilk is a Writer and Editor

Elvia Wilk is a Writer and Editor

“I inherited a lot of ideas about discipline that don't apply to me or my body”

Interview Elvia Wilk is a Writer an...

Simon Denny is an Artist

Simon Denny is an Artist

“I seldom actively cherish the slow or hard way of doing anything, except when building relationships”

Interview Simon Denny is an Artist

Sharing intention

This paper examines the unique human capacity for and benefits of people cooperating toward shared goals.
Sharing intention

Reference Sharing intention

A Feminist Server

A set of criteria and rallying cry for situated technology "run for and by a community that cares enough for her in order to make her exist."
A Feminist Server

Reference A Feminist Server

A community and concept that advocates for technology that operates at human scale, emphasizing local community control, autonomy, and sustainability.
Permacomputing

Reference Permacomputing

Reclaiming Conversation

Sherry Turkle explores how digital technologies undermine fulfillment by displacing face-to-face interaction.
Reclaiming Conversation

Reference Reclaiming Conversation

New Dependencies

Essay about the capacity for action in both digital and physical environments when reusing and adapting infrastructures and materials.
New Dependencies

Reference New Dependencies

Jae Yeon Kim is a 3D artist

Jae Yeon Kim is a 3D artist

“This is such an important practice for me; turning off my phone and doing nothing.”

Interview Jae Yeon Kim is a 3D arti...

Mindy Seu is a Designer and Technologist

Mindy Seu is a Designer and Technologist

“I realized, though, that I could lean into emergence”

Interview Mindy Seu is a Designer a...

Audrey Tang is Cyber Ambassador-at-Large

Audrey Tang is Cyber Ambassador-at-Large

“I cherish the slow path of elegance over quick fixes”

Interview Audrey Tang is Cyber Amba...

Inquisitiveness

Page Inquisitiveness

Page Self-Control