Objective
Practicing Safe Sects was a weekly fireside chat series that took place in Topia and explored the role of computer modeling in fostering peaceful intergroup relations. Moderated by Brian Swichkow of One Inc, the series featured recurring dialogue with Justin Lane, PhD (PhD) and LeRon Shults, PhD PhD (PhD. PhD.) of CulturePulse, whose research spans cognitive anthropology, artificial intelligence, and cybernetic modeling of belief systems. Using tools such as multi-agent AI and cultural simulation, the conversations addressed how shared cognitive mechanisms—those that enable group cohesion—can also perpetuate stereotyping, polarization, and social conflict.
Lane is the author of the book Understanding Religion Through Artificial Intelligence: Bonding and Belief, and has a Doctorate in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology from the University of Oxford. During his doctoral research, he pioneered an approach to studying human social systems called Cultural Cybernetics and developed the idea of Multi-Agent AI (MAAI). Shults is a professor at the Institute for Global Development and Planning at the University of Agder, a research professor at the Center for Modeling Social Systems at NORCE, and has published 18 books and over 130 articles and book chapters on topics such as computer simulation, multi-agent artificial intelligence, ethics, and philosophy of science. Together, they founded Culture Pulse.
Although Practicing Safe Sects is no longer actively hosted, it became a staple of the community within the One Inc community during and after the COVID-19 pandemic . Themes from the series continue in memos such as cultural cybernetics and modeling belief at scale.
Subjective
Practicing Safe Sects was always a delight to host, even if the late PST schedule meant I was occasionally running on fumes. The conversations were never dull—we moved fluidly from religious rhetoric to emergent AI ethics, from the metaverse to Middle Earth. Hosting Justin and LeRon felt like convening a secular sermon, one where code and cognition played equal roles. The sessions weren’t just intellectual stimulation—they were an anchor during a time of global disorientation. For a few hours each week, we practiced what it meant to think together, safely and with curiosity.
Contexts
#former-gathering
#justin-lane
#leron-shults