📡 reporting from RADAR .008

our semi-regular discord digest

Read in Spanish here.

Welcome to 📡 reporting from RADAR. In this series, community curators surface the best of the best from the RADAR discord — from the cultural constellations we’re watching emerge to behind-the-scenes build updates as we embark on our journey to discover, incubate, and deliver better futures.

Wavelength is a space for updates, member articles, ponderings & wanderings, fun experiments and — of course — more signals. Subscribe below to keep up with our signature brain massaging magic, straight to your inbox. 🔮💜 

but first, an update

Before we jump into what we’re seeing in this week’s crystal ball, we have something big we wanted to share: Our first subscriber NFT is now available to mint (for free!) on Mirror. 

You can read more about what the NFT means for us, the RADAR community, and why you might want to mint one (we really think you should) here. It features some really excellent art by the one and only Domingo Beta, and is just the opening of a gateway for you to join us on our futures journey. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Signals Spotlight 

1_Cozy Gang

spotted in #aesthetics, #art, #ideology, #community-culture, #relationships

It’s November, and a chill is in the air (erm, sort of). We’re curling up and getting cozy, and not just in soft pants — just ask Jacquemus, who designed their new Parisian boutique to feel like the inside of a pillow. We may have thought cozy-core hit its peak during the pandemic-sweatsuit boom, but it looks like soft and comfy is here to stay. 

But in a world where hard pants are being forced out of storage by draconian RTO policies, it’s not zoom-dressing moving us to seek comfort. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s the ever-crumbling state of the world? From recession fears to electoral woes, it’s no wonder we’re seeing comfort pop up in everything from outerwear to play (we’re dying to give one of those huggable sculptures a squeeze).

We’re discussing nostalgia on the rise as we seek solace through familiarity. British families are turning to childhood favorites like Sunday roasts and fish & chips to boost spirits, while Gen Z is making us feel old by repopularizing early aughts tech — from point-and-shoot cameras to Tamagotchis. Even our vices (and our memes) are urging us to reflect on what felt like simpler times (although, personally, we would argue that there’s nothing more timeless than a café cubano).

🔮💭  Where are you finding comfort in hard times? How can we use these to find community, instead of retreating into the warmth of our individual cocoons? 

2_New Icons, New Idols

spotted in #ideology, #identity, #daily-signals, #health-and-wellness

Is the era of mass culture over? Nicheification has been a consistent theme of discussion in the discord (we talk about it a lot in A Future in Sync, too), and we’ve been diving into how that shows up in the people we choose to put on our pedestals. Per Ana Andjelic, we’ve moved onto the post-icon age. As @-VA_ put it in one of our threads, “the decentralization of cultural production and ownership [brings] us a wellspring of new voices becoming iconic to their context primarily”.

So where do the people we venerate come from, now? Well, it depends on the communities you’re part of. We discussed micro-scene queens and nimcels, recognizing that the people who rule one cultural group might be completely foreign to the next. And as the “moneyball-for-everything” mindset homogenizes mass cultural production and music streaming overwhelms discoverability, we look to these new curators and icons to guide us to choices that feel more unique, and more valuable.

As the Americanization of everything loosens its vice grip on culture, we see the emergence of new tastemakers born of communities both globally and locally. But communities creating (and borderline worshiping) their own icons doesn’t always end well. We talked about the negative trend lines for men and boys, and how the lack of positive role models combined with the loss of a hero archetype leads to an easier rise for fringe figures like Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson….and well, you know how that’s gone.

It’s all…a lot to handle: how do you find your people, and lift up the right ones? Some cope better than others. So yeah, if digging a hole makes you feel better, we say go for it.

🔮💭  How can we promote the rise of positive influences, and stop destructive ones in their tracks? How do you know if a curator is someone you can trust? And how might we encourage cross-pollination between communities to help us all stay grounded outside of our bubbles? 

3_Go Slowwwww

spotted in #food-drink, #fashion-beauty, #daily-signals, #politics, #social-media

As the chaos feels like it’s only ramping up, some of us are intentionally slowing down. In the world of fashion, we discussed brands like Story MFG, whose unique slow practices mean items in their new collection take “months and months to make and dye”. Eden Power Corp takes things even further, creating wearable and household objects out of mushrooms (expect 8-10 weeks for delivery). With companies like these, degrowth in fashion may be closer on the horizon.

Ideas of degrowth are taking hold elsewhere, too. We talked about the theory, which advocates for intentionally slowing the pace of economic expansionism for the good of both people and the planet. It’s a concept that has both advocates and detractors, and we were reminded that it’s not just theoretical — both Amsterdam and Barcelona are “embracing the doughnut,” a circular economic model that’s considered highly progressive. And cities aren’t the only hubs of slow growth -— rural areas also hold radical possibilities for the future.

We’re seeing individuals harness the methods and traditions of slower times, like the practice of caring for microbial cultures through fermentation. And online, the scroll is slowing — with a new wave of teens self-identifying as “young luddites” and disconnecting from technology entirely. Good or bad, we’re not sure. But it’s definitely a sign that something’s in the air. And in intention, at least, we’re here for it. 

🔮💭  Where do you find moments of slowness in everyday life? Is it possible to disconnect and still engage in daily life, or do you have to cut the cord entirely? And might a new value system be on the horizon — one that replaces sweatshops with… mushrooms?

The Best of The Rest

It’s time for an adventure, according to UK travelers. And you better bring back a souvenir, because everyone loves a cheesy fridge magnet. Vacation is extra important right now, as it turns out that toxic workplaces are in fact bad for your health (shocking, we know). Luckily, Gen Alpha’s dream jobs are still focused on helping people, so maybe they can avoid those places altogether. “Green-hushing” might be the next fashion-sustainability trend, platform ownership still sucks, and we’re all trying to figure out what to do if we have to leave Twitter.  

Pulse Check

As a community, our focus has shifted. Now that we’ve Done The Thing, publishing A Future In Sync and wrapping up our Futurethon, it’s time to consider where to from here. And for us, that looks like exploring the edges of our model as it stands, and co-creating innovative ways to unlock sustainability for RADAR into the future. 

So that’s our one big question for what we’re calling ‘Cycle 1.5’ — how do we become sustainable in everything we do?

From the flow of signals and the health of our digital garden, to the energy and wellbeing of our community and individual members, to (yes) financial sustainability for both contributors and the collective. And we’re exploring all of it: our bread and butter of research, incubate, and deliver; the foundational elements like product, editorial, and community; the nitty gritty by way of tokenization, labor, and compensation; and our mission to cultivate better futures for people, planet, and progress. 

We want to do things differently. And we’re looking for everyone to join us on this journey, from OGs to our newest members. So even if you’ve sat on the sidelines til now (or not even joined us yet!), now’s the time.

This edition of 📡 reporting from RADAR was curated by @oryzae, with infinite gratitude to everyone who inspired and/or contributed:

@keels223 @victoriafutures @emmanuellenaranjo @nikitanikitanikita @EHB @-VA_ @kleinkleinklein @aarenarchive @squid @petah @caitlin 

Not a part of RADAR just yet, but feeling the FOMO? join us here.