We are a network of people interested in a better way to be and in the forgotten understanding of risk as both danger and opportunity.
risk: Latin resicum for cliff | Arabic rizq for God’s provision for creation
Today, risk is mostly used to describe unlikely, impactful and negative events in the future, but the word used to denote positive events too. Yes, our lives are at risk from pandemics, wars and ecological breakdown. But in a time of upheaval, our environment turns flexible and fluid and much new good could come from this, if we can let our imagination run wild. As Karla Mallette writes: “risk is a story we tell ourselves about the future”.
Project Nøya is the place to which we retreat to imagine and build that future.
Nøya: constructed from the Greek nó(os) which means 'mind' and øya which means 'the island' in Norwegian
We are a network of artists, scholars and technologists that tinker with the ideas and practices that will last.
Look around. Pollution, loneliness, violence and injustice are rampant. We don’t feel that existing institutions allow us to ask the questions we really have. It’s as if we have no place to turn to to really try to live our lives as fully and earnestly as we think we could. What would it look like to really try, to really be here?
It is time to readily accept the risk that was imposed on our generation and see what we can make of it. We want to address the crises we face and develop tools that help us and our children navigate them. Community, cognition and computations should be generative and adaptive, rather than destructive and inert. The institutions we build, the humans we raise and the AIs we unleash should be resilient and creative.
We’re global, non-partisan and welcome anyone with any background who has a serious interest in asking better questions about our future. We are building communities, technologies, institutions, insights and technologies that support all forms of life. Join us.