Welcome friend

We would like to invite you to join us in reclaiming time to rest, recharge, and indulge in cozy hopepunk conversations about building better futures by collectivising our basic needs.

Beside the fire was a dented kettle, exhaling steam.

“Don’t worry; I cleaned it,” Mosscap said hurriedly. “And the mug, too. There was rainwater in the fountains outside, and I used your filter for what’s in the kettle, so it should all be perfectly fine.”

“What—” Dex managed to say.

The robot looked back at them, nervous and hopeful. “Well, there was more than one book in the library.” It gestured to the blanket. “Please?”

Dex, wondering if perhaps they were still dreaming, took off their shoes and sat cross-legged on one side of the blanket. Mosscap sat opposite, mirroring Dex’s pose, smiling expectantly.

— Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild Built

The Panga Campfire

1 minute

Why a Campfire? #

Collectivist experiments have highlighted the value of cultivating decentralised networks large enough to support multiple self-governing groups yet small enough that everyone is connected to everyone else, either directly or via someone they trust.

Complementing the continued flourishing of existing networks, Panga is a project seeking to combine networked relationships with small-group self-governance to cultivate multiple place-based experiments in collectively meeting our daily needs. As part of this vision, we are invoking a metaphorical Campfire to gather around and immerse in hopepunk conversations about potential better futures.

Offering an asynchronous dose of hope, this Campfire is intended to help us recharge so that we can better sustain our efforts at engaging in our broader communities, weaving our networked connections, and experimenting with different forms of collectivist practices within small self-governing groups.

Along the way, we hope that the conversations that emerge around this Campfire can contribute to shaping the emerging direction of Panga - including the various ways we might experiment with how we support each other to meet our basic needs in ways that contribute to potential better futures for all.

The robot took that in as it played with the fire. “When I first volunteered to make contact, we all thought this was a very good question. We wanted to know if you’d done all right in the time since robots left your society. We knew you’d improved, certainly. You were on the brink of collapse when we left, and obviously that hadn’t happened. Your villages have a glow at night—we can see them, if we’re in the Borderlands. And the satellites, of course. Those wouldn’t stay up without your help. We knew you were still here. We knew things were better. I never saw it for myself, but I know the previous generations watched the rivers clear up. They saw the trees grow back. My kind witnessed the world heal itself, but we didn’t know how well you had healed. Nobody was sure what I’d find out here, least of all me. So, you see, it was a very sensible introductory question. What is it that you need?”

“You thought it might be something basic,” Dex said. “Like … we need food. Or living space. Better technology. Something like that.”

“Possibly, yes. But I’ve been nowhere with you where those needs aren’t provided for. And when people interpret my question beyond the things you require to stay alive and healthy, it gets…”

“Complicated?”

— Becky Chambers, A Prayer for the Crown Shy

How to find the Campfire#

The following offers some directions on how to find us. We are intentionally a little off the beaten path technologically, so please reach out if you're having difficulty.