so you've found your way to the cozy corner of the internet where curious humans gather to imagine and build better futures in multiplayer mode. whether you're just landing or coming back for a refresh, you're in exactly the right place.

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TL;DR

you'll hear us say it over and over again: the future belongs to those who think about it. Not the powerful, not the privileged — but any and everyone who dares to imagine it differently. that simple act of imagining a better future? It's the first step to realizing you can build it too. (and in our view, it's the most accessible unit of change there is.)

for more of the lore — deep dive into the why behind RADAR, what makes it home to so many weirdos, and the values that keep us in check.

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our 2025 focus

2025 is about bridging the gap between yearning and building. Through a series of experimental labs, we're developing tools and practices that help transform collective imagination into real momentum. Because sometimes the future feels so close we can taste it — we just need better ways to cross what feels impossible.

read up on all things 2025 here.

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feeling a bit lost?

if you're just starting:

join our Discord (check your acceptance email for the link!)

say hi in #welcome

find your way to contribute

popular entry points:

plant seeds in our Signal Garden

RADAR is a global community of curious humans thinking about and building better futures together, in multiplayer mode. here's the thing though: we're not exactly what you might expect. we're not traditional researchers or strategists or consultants (though you'll find plenty of those skills in our community). we're something different. 

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our north star 

the future belongs to those who think about it. not as a catchy slogan, but as a radical belief about who gets to shape tomorrow. our mission is to help bring about a world where more individuals, communities, and organizations see themselves as active citizens of the future. 

where the magic starts: our signal garden

at the heart of RADAR's work is our ever-growing Signal Garden - where our community of curious humans tracks how futures are emerging (or unraveling) in the world. it's not just a collection of hopeful signals; it's a clear-eyed practice of noticing what's actually happening, both the futures we want to nurture and the ones we need to prevent.

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through thousands of signals and countless connections, we:

track how change actually happens (and what blocks it)

spot where possibility gets stuck (and where it breaks through)

find unexpected patterns (both promising and concerning)

map futures we want to build (and ones we need to avoid)

build our collective intelligence about what's really going on

this practice of noticing and connecting isn't about toxic positivity or blind optimism. It's about understanding the full picture of how futures emerge - the good, the bad, and the complicated. this grounded understanding is what helps us build both the deep infrastructure and cultural transmission that makes RADAR unique.

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how signals birth better futures

stick with us, but our favorite metaphor for how this happens in RADAR is... collective digestion. (just check out this clip from one of 2024's campfire sessions, you'll see!)

it's a clever way of thinking about, well, thinking...in multiplayer mode.

so you've found your way to RADAR. maybe you've been lurking for a while, maybe that one friend finally convinced you to check us out, maybe you just stumbled into our corner of the internet and thought "huh, that looks interesting." however you got here, you're probably wondering if this is really your place.

let us share some of the ways people tend to find themselves at home here...

why people find us

our community tends to be home to folks who:

feel stuck between "everything is fine" and "nothing will ever change"

are tired of being the only ones who think differently in their circles

see possibilities in the cracks of what is

want to do more than just talk about better futures

are seeking a place to experiment and imagine without judgment

are somewhere between things, finding themselves, exploring what's next

get excited about connecting unexpected dots

want to contribute to something bigger than themselves

are simply curious about what becomes possible when we dream together

are tired of reports that sit static on shelves

got radicalized by that one friend who wouldn't stop sharing our stuff

just stumbled by and thought "this looks interesting"

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how people find home here

the future belongs to those who think about it — but how we think about it together matters just as much as what we imagine.

here are some of that values that guide us as we build better futures in multiplayer mode:

futures forward

we're here to imagine and build better tomorrows, which means:

actively exploring what "better" means (and for whom)

challenging ourselves to think beyond what feels possible today

being clear-eyed about both challenges and opportunities

remembering that small actions create real ripples

finding possibility in unusual places

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curiosity first

showing up with genuine wonder helps us discover what's possible:

asking questions before jumping to answers

staying open to surprising connections

sharing what catches our attention

making space for different perspectives

delighting in the wonderfully weird

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(originally published on Substack in January 2025 — "Welcome to 2025: On Building the Futures We've Been Yearning For")

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What We've Learned Together

As we come back together and step into 2025, we can’t help but feel like there's something electric in the air...a tension we know intimately after years of exploring what's possible. Through hundreds of signals discussions, dozens of community workshops, and cycle after cycle of collective imagination, we've tracked futures vibrating with potential:

New rhythms of connection when everything feels out of sync. Play breaking free from its designated corners. A protopian world where humans, machines, and more make magic together. Love reimagined as a radical public force.

These aren't just dreamy visions – they're futures we can touch. We've seen their early signals, mapped their emergence, even started building their foundations. The paths forward are clear enough to taste.

And yet.

The powers invested in keeping things small and separate seem to be digging in their heels. Not just maintaining barriers, but fortifying them. Building higher walls, deeper divisions, stronger stories about why change is impossible.

That tension, that deadlock, that frustration of potential energy is exactly why 2025 feels different. Because while our signals garden continues to bloom with evidence of better futures emerging, we keep bumping up against a pattern that transcends any individual future we're tracking: the gap between yearning and building.

From Meme to Theme: The Great Yearning

While "yearning" might have become 2024's favorite mood board aesthetic, we've been grappling with something much deeper. You can see it in our Field Guide's exploration of ghosts – those shadows of possibility that haunt the edges of futures unrealized. And increasingly, we're seeing it everywhere in our signals garden: people becoming acutely aware of the distance between what is and what could be, or maybe what should be. From workplace experiments revealing how arbitrary the 9-5 workday is, to mutual aid networks demonstrating how different our care systems could be, to the surge of interest in indigenous land practices as models for regenerative futures that feel leagues away from where we are and yet so close to home.

But as our newish member Lara recently pointed out, there's something funny about yearning. People tend to yearn from a place of impossibility – like they're staring across the English Channel with no way of getting to France. But hey, did you know you can get in a boat? Did you hear they built a tunnel?

This Great Yearning, as we've come to affectionately call it, isn't just some fleeting aesthetic or memetic moment. It's what happens when we can see better futures but struggle to grasp them. When we know change is possible but lack the tools to make it tangible.

A Subtle Shift in our How

It's in this gap between imagining and building that our work finds new focus in 2025. Not away from our foundation of collective signals gathering and community cultivation – these remain our bedrock. But building on top of them, using the patterns we're tracking to develop specific practices that help bridge the gap between yearning and building.

"But RADAR," you might be thinking, "aren't you the ones always going on about how the future belongs to those who think about it?" Exactly – and we still believe that with our whole hearts. When people push back – "No, the future belongs to those who act on it" – we say: yes, and. Because here's the truth: thought without agency is just yearning, but acting without imagination is just busywork.

We’ve always aimed for both; but this year, we’re experimenting with the balance.

In cycles past, we painted vivid pictures of better futures and invited people to help build them. But something interesting happened along the way. The most powerful moments weren't when people bought into our specific visions - they were when people discovered their own capacity to imagine and act. When they found tools and methods that made seemingly impossible changes feel within reach.

at the heart of RADAR's work is our ever-growing Signal Garden - where our community of curious humans tracks how futures are emerging (or unraveling) in the world. it's not just a collection of links; it's a living, breathing platform for collective discovery, sense making, and discussion about what's next.

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🔍 what makes a signal?

as we wrote in The Curious Human's Field Guide to the Future, a signal is "a clue that makes you stop and wonder." It can be anything — a news article, a research paper, a thread, a product launch, a work of art, a TikTok trend. the key is that it sparks your curiosity about how the world might be changing.

and as our Signal Bingo card reminds us, a good signal can take all sorts of shapes.

it might involve:

🆕 a new context for a familiar form

🤝 an unexpected collaboration

🌐 a local twists on a global trend

🔄 a new purpose for an old thing

🧩 a remix of a familiar idea

🙃 a subtle (or not-so-subtle) rebellion

🔀 a cultural fusion

🎭 a new rituals or tradition

🤔 an interesting juxtaposition

signals aren't just about novelty — they're clues that everyday life is shifting in ways that could point to larger changes on the horizon. a source doesn't have to be hot off the presses to be part of the story of a signal.

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👀 the art of looking closely

whether you're just landing or coming back for a refresh, here's your guide to navigating our cozy corner of the internet.

discord 101

first things first: this is a living, breathing community - not an inbox! we encourage you to:

customize your experience (use the 'browse' channel up top to toggle channels on/off)

dive in at your own pace (the rabbit hole will still be here tomorrow)

find your rhythm (some folks are here daily, others pop in when inspiration strikes)

keep an eye on 📣・announcements for the important stuff

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our main spaces

👋 community spaces: where the everyday magic happens:

⛲・water-cooler: your digital break room for memes, jokes, and casual chat

🪞・let's-get-meta: our rabbit hole for all things futures, research, and big thinking

🤝・promo-help-opps: share opportunities, ask for help, find collaborators

✨・only-vibes: pure inspiration, from visuals to music to podcasts to reads (and new this year, a channel for us to PLAY with multiplayer art direction!)

🥰・irl-chapters: find RADAR folks in your area

🌱 signal garden where we collectively track how futures are emerging (or unraveling):

organized by theme (aesthetics, technology, ideology, etc.)

share what catches your eye and makes you wonder

our local chapters are where RADAR's magic comes to life in cities around the world. from London to Bangalore, Singapore to Toronto, these community-led hubs help turn our digital connections into real-world impact.

current chapters

we currently have a handful of active chapters worldwide, with London being our most established hub. each chapter operates with significant autonomy while staying true to RADAR's core mission of making futures thinking more accessible and building better futures together.

find us in:

london [chapter lead: Jonny Almario @squid9826]

new york [chapter lead: Grace Mervin @earthling90]

toronto [chapter lead: Caitlin Keeley @caitwin_]

singapore [chapter lead: Agalia Tan @agaaalia_]

copenhagen [chapter lead: Gus Guerro @hrmeaner]

bangalore [in partnership with lagori collective]

we have seedlings of communities in many other markets, but are looking for chapter leads to help solidify their local magic! if that's you — reach out to Squid!

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Core Principles

the chapters that thrive tend to follow these guiding principles:

slow friendship over networking

focus on building genuine connections rather than transactional relationships

create spaces where people can be their whole selves

let community develop at its own natural pace

when we first laid out our vision for multiplayer futures in our [not-so-litepaper], we described RADAR as a living organism. two years later, that metaphor has proven to be more than just poetic - it's how we actually operate. like any living thing, we grow, adapt, and evolve - but our DNA stays constant. and at our core, we've always been about multiplayer futures.

💫 new here? our not-so-litepaper lays out the original thesis behind RADAR's approach to multiplayer futures. While we've evolved since then, it's a great starting point for understanding our DNA.

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on being more than a metaphor

when we say RADAR is a living organism, we mean it quite literally. we're:

constantly evolving based on what we learn together

growing through genuine relationships rather than strategic plans

adapting to changing conditions while staying true to our essence

thriving on diversity and unexpected connections

building resilience through distributed networks

learning and changing as a collective

this isn't just pretty language - it's how we actually operate. which brings us to...

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the three pillars of ownership

from day one, we've believed that having real stake changes how people participate. that's why we built RADAR around three interconnected forms of ownership:

social ownership

earned through participation and generosity

distributed leadership and decision-making

quick facts

ERC-20 token on Polygon blockchain

no monetary value

used for gratitude, sharing, and governance

completely gasless within Discord

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under the hood

we use tip.cc (a Discord tipping bot) to make everything smooth and simple. it:

creates an escrow wallet automatically

handles transactions without gas fees

keeps everything secure

makes sharing gratitude friction-free

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important security notes

never share personal details or seed phrases

tip.cc will never ask for your private information

only interact with the bot through standard commands

if something feels off, ask in #help

welcome to our living archive - a collection of documents, reports, and artifacts that tell the story of how RADAR has evolved. Each piece represents a moment where our community came together to imagine and build something new.

note: this archive is maintained by the RADAR community. have an idea for an addition or update? notice missing credits or context? reach out via DM or please let us know in #help.

the basics

wait, what is RADAR?

we're a global community of curious humans thinking about and building better futures together, in multiplayer mode. we're not traditional researchers or consultants (though you'll find those skills here!), but people creating infrastructure that helps transform collective imagination into real momentum. think of us as part signal-spotting collective, part cultural transmission lab – all working to make futures thinking feel less like reading a white paper and more like joining a movement. because while we believe the future belongs to those who think about it, the magic happens when we build together.

who's the we?

that's our whole community! from our core team (hi!) to our 400+ members across 10 local chapters to everyone who drops by to share signals. when we say "we," we mean everyone building better futures together.

so, futures...predictions?

nope! we're not here to predict the future – we're here to help more people participate in shaping it. we track signals of change and experiment with making better futures possible, but you won't find any crystal ball gazing here. except yes, we do love us that emoji.

what's the Signal Garden?

think of it as our collective intelligence hub. it's where we share and discuss "signals" – clues about how the future is emerging (or unraveling). not just news articles or trend reports, but anything that makes you stop and wonder about what's changing.

what's the difference between RADAR and other futures orgs?

a few things: we're fully community-owned, we work in multiplayer mode by default, and we focus on making futures thinking accessible to everyone, not just experts. plus, we're building real infrastructure to help possibility break through, not just writing reports.

do you actually get anything done?

oh, we build things! from our Field Guide (shipped to 22+ countries) to Tomorrow.Radio to our microgrants program. but we also believe that thoughtful conversation IS doing something – it's how we develop collective intelligence about what's possible and how to make it happen.

what's the endgame?

we're playing the infinite game! rather than trying to "win" at futures, we're building infrastructure that helps more people see themselves as shapers of tomorrow. success is when futures thinking becomes as natural as any other cultural practice.

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the philosophy

what's multiplayer mode?