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Aemula Writer Spotlight - 8.7.25
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Importantly, you get all of this while directly supporting independent writers. Join in our mission of reversing polarization in media and cultivating a modern, human-centric media ecosystem by starting a subscription today!
Our paid subscriptions have been a year in the making. While traditional subscriptions are easy to implement, we are committed to building a new way for readers to support independent writers. Our core values of censorship resistance, platform neutrality, and peer-to-peer collaboration are critical to fixing the problems that plague our traditional media systems. As a result, we refuse to collect subscriptions through a centralized corporate bank account or ask our writers to route their subscription revenue through Stripe’s settlement accounts, since these methods would serve as a potential point of censorship.
Instead, Aemula subscriptions are recorded onchain, held in a communal subscription pool, and programmatically sent directly to writers as readers interact with their articles. This creates a transparent, secure, peer-to-peer subscription payment flow.
However, this process should all occur behind the scenes. We don’t want to burden our readers with the lengthy sign-up processes, complex Web3 transactions, and invasive data collection policies that are typically associated with onchain financial transactions. This is why we spent months building a streamlined user experience, allowing subscriptions to be paid in seconds using a credit or debit card.
We are excited to finally launch paid subscriptions to allow our community of readers to directly support the independent writers they read! If you don’t yet have an Aemula account, it is not too late to grab a 1-month free trial today to experience the platform yourself!
This week, we highlight the publications currently available to read on Aemula. We encourage you to explore their work, consider subscribing to them directly, and to subscribe to Aemula to support them and our growing writer community!
Never Close the Inquiry
Written by Nick Hagen, a former New York City lawyer turned full-time writer focused on building mutual understanding and communication across the political divide.
“If you are sincerely interested in understanding your ideological opponents; questioning your own positions; and building a bridge to allow for constructive, uplifting dialogue (and, perhaps, persuasion), then you might find an intellectual home here.”
Framechange
Founded by Eric Thompson, a former management consultant who researched and ran multiple publications focused on tech and business trends before co-founding 6pages, as well as “Writer-in-Residence” Dylan Hannes, an independent thought leadership consultant, and researcher Krysia Sikora, who is also a researcher for the DC-based think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy.
“It’s easy to tune out opposing voices. Often it can be out of fear. It may also be driven by an assumption that people who disagree with us have malicious intentions or are misinformed. Often neither are the case – people with different views have their own stories and their own sincere intentions.
We hope Framechange helps you broaden your knowledge, engage in more nuanced conversations, and evolve your thinking along the way.”
Taming Complexity
Written by Taylor Dotson, author of The Divide, associate professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and interdisciplinary researcher, Michael Bouchey, a research program specialist for the Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and Shunryu Garvey, a Zen Buddhist priest and political decision theorist.
“Taming Complexity brings to the forefront the essential social and political factors shaping if, when, and how disaster strikes. But it's not just doom and gloom. For every bad decision there could be a better one. For every mistake there can be a lesson learned. In exposing the social dimensions of error, we unearth precautions that drive organizational success.”
Travis Monteleone’s Substack
Written by Travis Monteleone, a UT-Austin graduate and PE investor writing about politics, polarization, and theology, with volunteer experience with depolarization organizations such as Braver Angels, the Forward Party, and the Burke-Paine Society.
“I have a specific interest in U.S. polarization and its causes. My interest in polarization has developed over the past several years through first-hand volunteer efforts with a few major depolarization organizations, including Braver Angels, the Forward Party, and the Burke-Paine Society.
Polarization is arguably the most existential threat of our lifetime, so most of my posts will involve some discussion of polarization-related topics.”
James Coan
Written by James Coan, the co-founder and executive director of More Like Us, an organization focused on correcting our dangerous political misperceptions of each other, at scale.
Read James Coan’s Writing on The Fulcrum
“In a country of over 330 million residents, scale is vital. People can “learn” about those in the other political party either face-to-face, or indirectly via the information environment. Yet opportunities for easily accessible face-to-face interactions have likely diminished, as the share of “landslide counties,” where one presidential candidate wins by 20 or more percentage points, has more than doubled since the 1970s. More Like US recognizes targeting the information environment provides an ability to reach people in locations that are less politically mixed, and those who may not have the opportunity, interest, or confidence to have successful conversations.”
Trust Apocalypse
Written by The Trust Foundation, a catalytic community of diverse stakeholders dedicated to combating the “trust apocalypse” on a mission to preserve communities and institutions worthy of the trust of our children and grandchildren.
“What is at stake is nothing less than the very fabric of society itself. Without trust, our ability to function as a cohesive community disintegrates, leading to increased polarization, conflict, and, ultimately, a breakdown of social cohesion.
If trust breaks down, so too does society.
The Trust Foundation is a catalytic community of diverse stakeholders dedicated to combating the “trust apocalypse.” Our mission is to preserve communities and institutions worthy of the trust of our children and grandchildren.”
Are you writing on Substack? You can easily set up automatic cross-posting with Aemula to:
Instantly increase your earnings
Expand your audience
Verifiably own your work
Plus, you will have opportunities to access community resources and grants to support the content you want to create!
Cross-posting comes with no costs, no obligations, and you can stop at any time.
Just send a quick email writers@aemula.com to get started!
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If you want to support any of the writers we spotlight in our Substack, we highly encourage you to subscribe to their individual publications. If you want to support independent journalism more broadly, we offer both paid and free subscriptions for you to stay informed!
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