New World in the Making

Techno-Colonialism: The Hidden Threat of AI | Tara Stevens

In this episode of New World in the Making, I talk with Tara Stevens, Executive Director of the Center for Tomorrow, about how AI is disrupting our societies and why the systems shaping our world are more fragile than they seem. Most of us don't realise how quickly AI is transforming work, economies, and power. Tara reveals the hidden powers of techno-colonialism: how AI concentration and data dependency are creating new forms of inequality and threatening sovereignty. And we also dive into the agency and power we have to build the new emergent world that takes all life into the equation. With over 15 years leading impact-driven innovation worth hundreds of millions, Tara proves systemic change is possible. We explore what it takes to ensure no one gets left behind in this transition. We talk about: * How AI is reshaping jobs, economies, and power, and who gets left behind * Techno-colonialism: what it is and why it threatens equity and sovereignty * Why grassroots movements and civic agency matter for ethical, inclusive AI * The skills future leaders need: systems thinking, agility, emotional intelligence * Practical steps to participate in systemic change and reimagine work * Why reimagining capitalism, UBI, and new governance models are essential This conversation matters because the choices we make today will dictate whether AI fuels greater inequality or becomes a tool for collective empowerment. If you're curious about building a future where technology works for all of us, not just Silicon Valley elites, this one's for you. → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com [https://newworldinthemaking.com/] → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page [https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page] → Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About the Center for Tomorrow The Center for Tomorrow is a global nonprofit building infrastructure for societal transformation in the age of AI. → Learn more: https://www.centerfortomorrow.com/ [https://www.centerfortomorrow.com/] → Connect with Tara: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarapjstevens [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarapjstevens]  ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.

From Chaos to Clarity: The 5 Forces Reshaping Our World | Become a Maker | Adriana Sánchez Uebelhoer

40+ Conversations. One Course. A New World in the Making. | Adriana Sánchez Uebelhoer This one is a little different. For the first time, I am not the one asking the questions. My colleague and collaborator Beatriz Paniego Béjar sits in the host seat, and I get to be the one reflecting. On a year of conversations. On what I've learned. On why we built what we built. And on what's coming next. New World in the Making is turning one. And after more than 40 conversations with people working at the edges of this transition, something became clear: the knowledge was there, but not everyone has the time or the bandwidth to sit with 40+ hours of dense, rich, sometimes unsettling conversations. So we asked ourselves, what if we distilled all of it into something people could actually move through together? That's how Become a Maker was born. An 8-week course structured around the 5 forces of change I kept hearing across every single conversation, no matter whether I was talking to an ocean engineer, an energy economist, a philosopher, or a spiritual thinker. They were all describing the same transition from different angles. The 5 forces we go through together: 1. Macro Systems and Geopolitics: money, debt, the fracturing dollar-based order, CBDCs, Bitcoin, and why the system we've always known is crumbling 2. Technology and AI: what it means when intelligence itself gets automated, who controls it, and what's emerging at the edges 3. Organizations: how we organize ourselves is changing, from steward ownership to teal organizations to entirely new social contracts 4. Nature and Regeneration: what it looks like to step back into alignment with natural systems and the logic of abundance 5. Consciousness and Self: where it all lands, in us, in how we show up, and in what we choose to build Each week includes daily content capsules you can navigate in a busy life, live sessions with some of the most listened-to guests from the podcast, and a community to go through all of it with together. Because this is a lot to hold alone. Special guests joining us inside the course include Jeff Booth, author of The Price of Tomorrow, Daniel Luca from Eden Block, Lisa Gill from Leadermorphosis, Ismael Dainehine from EverGive, and others who have shaped how I understand this moment. This isn't a five-step solution. It's a map. And it's for anyone who senses that something isn't adding up, who feels both scared and strangely alive in this moment, and who wants to move from confusion into clarity and from clarity into action. Become a Maker starts May 18th. Five spots available at a reduced price for anyone not in the right financial moment right now. → Sign up & find out about the course at: https://newworldinthemaking.com/courses → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page → Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions.Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.

Dining Together, Changing Together | Melina Dunham

In this episode of New World in the Making, I sit down with Melina, a first-generation Greek-American who grew up in San Francisco, studied human rights and international affairs, worked at the UN, and has spent the last five years calling Athens home.  Melina works at the intersection of philanthropy, systems change, and regenerative thinking. She's building Kali Polis Project, an urban climate lab in Greece connecting young people with local government. She's curating the Ministry of Regeneration track at the World Beautiful Business Forum in Athens this May. And she's founding Zymosi, which means fermentation in Greek, a venture built around slow, trust-building dinners that bring together changemakers who don't yet know each other. We talk about: * What climate citizenship actually means and why you don't need to be a climate scientist to practice it * The iceberg model, leverage points, and what systems change tools actually look like in practice * Scarcity versus abundance: and how shifting that mental model changes everything, from economics to relationships * The two-loop model and what it means to grieve an old system while building a new one * Doughnut Economics, regenerative finance, and what local governments are quietly already doing * What resilient systems actually require and why redundancy matters more than specialization * How geopolitical crises are, paradoxically, accelerating the shift toward localization and regeneration * The feminine in systems design and what matriarchal design principles have to offer * How to stay hopeful without being naive and what Melina does personally to keep going * And what a moment of glimmer looks like on a spring morning in Athens → Listen & subscribe: https://newworldinthemaking.com [https://newworldinthemaking.com/] → Read more on Substack: https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page [https://substack.com/@newworldinthemaking?utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-page] → Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00]   About the World Beautiful Business Forum  Taking place in Athens, May 7–10, 2025. Open to everyone.  → Look up the World Beautiful Business Forum for tickets and info: https://houseofbeautifulbusiness.com/world-beautiful-business-forum [https://houseofbeautifulbusiness.com/world-beautiful-business-forum]  About Zymosi  A gathering project by Melina based in Athens: curated dinners for climate changemakers who don't know each other yet. Built on trust, slow conversation, and the belief that fermentation takes time. → Look up Zymosi on Melina’s Substack: https://substack.com/@melinadunham [https://substack.com/@melinadunham]  → Look up Zymosi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zy.mosi/ [https://www.instagram.com/zy.mosi/]  → Reach out to Melina directly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melina-dunham/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/melina-dunham/]   About System Change Models: → Find your meaningful and bespoke way to help address the climate crisis, draw your own Climate Action Venn Diagram: https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/climatevenn [https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/climatevenn] → More about the Iceberg Model: https://ecochallenge.org/iceberg-model/ [https://ecochallenge.org/iceberg-model/]  → More about Leverage Points: https://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/ [https://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/]  ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.

Abundant Energy Everywhere, Anytime: Water and Air Make It Possible | Mônica Felício Fragoso

In this episode of New World in the Making, I sit down with Mônica Felício Fragoso, architect, urban planner, and co-founder of Shifted, a climate tech startup reimagining how the world stores electricity. Mônica spent 18 years in the automotive industry before making the leap into the startup world. And what she's building now reflects everything that experience taught her about systems, scale, and what it actually takes to change the physical world. Shifted's technology combines two of the most proven energy systems we already have, pumped hydro and compressed air, into one long-duration storage solution that uses no rare materials, no lithium, no cobalt. Just steel, water, and air. It's a radical simplification hiding a sophisticated answer to one of the hardest problems in the energy transition: what do we do when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing? We talk about: * How Shifted's hybrid pumped hydro and compressed air system actually works * Why long-duration storage is the missing piece of the renewable energy puzzle * What 18 years in automotive taught Mônica about designing systems that scale * The leap from corporate career to co-founding a deep tech startup * Why building with abundant materials matters for a truly global energy transition * The role of heat management in making compressed air storage efficient * What it means to design something for the public good, not just the market * The deeper question underneath all of it: what kind of world are we building? For anyone curious about the energy transition, long-duration storage, climate tech, systems design, and what it looks like when an architect decides to redesign the grid. → Listen & subscribe: https://bio.site/newworldinthemaking [https://bio.site/newworldinthemaking]→ Read more on Substack: https://newworld.substack.com [https://newworld.substack.com/]→ Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About Shifted  Shifted develops long-duration energy storage by combining pumped hydro and compressed air, a mineral-free, scalable alternative to lithium batteries designed to make renewable energy fully dispatchable.  → Connect with Mônica Felício Fragoso on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-felicio-fragoso/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-felicio-fragoso/]  → Learn more about Shifted: https://shifted-energy.com/ [https://shifted-energy.com/] → Shifted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shifted-energy-storage/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/shifted-energy-storage/]  ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.

Breaking Oil Dependence: The New Energy Order | Rayan Kassis

In this episode of New World in the Making, I talk with Rayan Kassis, CEO and co-founder of AED Energy, about the future of energy and what's actually changing right now. Rayan's company has developed thermal battery systems that store electricity as heat—delivering 6 to 32 hours of clean power at 10x cheaper than lithium batteries. They're deploying these systems in Nigeria, replacing diesel generators that burn millions of liters of fuel every year. This is about proving that renewables can work, at scale, 24/7. We question the systems we come from and explore what's emerging in this new energy landscape. We talk about: * How thermal batteries work and why they're so much cheaper * The real barriers to scaling renewables—regulation, financing, industrial resistance * Why decentralized energy changes everything for resilience and access * The current moment in the Middle East and what oil dependence really costs * How geopolitics and policy shape the energy transition * Energy storage as the key to 100% renewable systems * Leadership and human creativity in uncertain times This conversation brought things down to reality—showing what's possible when we start building instead of waiting. This is for anyone curious about energy transition, clean tech, decentralized systems, geopolitics, and how innovation is reshaping power—literally and politically. → Listen & subscribe: https://bio.site/newworldinthemaking [https://bio.site/newworldinthemaking]→ Read more on Substack: https://newworld.substack.com [https://newworld.substack.com/]→ Support & become an Active Maker: https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00 [https://buy.stripe.com/14A28qgJS86obz572U9oc00] About AED Energy Storage AED Energy develops ultra-low-cost thermal battery systems that enable 24/7 clean energy by storing electricity as heat. → Connect with Rayan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayankassis/→ Learn more about AED Energy: https://aed.energy/ ⚠️ Disclaimer All content shared in this episode is for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing discussed should be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. The views expressed by the guest are their own and do not necessarily reflect my personal views or positions. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research and form their own conclusions. Thank you for listening and for being part of the new world in the making.