RadicalxChange is a foundation led by economist Glen Weyl, built on the discussion that grew around Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society (2018). The book pointed out flaws in existing markets and political systems, and proposed radical ways of restructuring property, voting, immigration, antitrust, and data ownership.

The conversation has since branched out to other disciplines and sectors, such as the Arts, open source funding, and more. Broadly, there have emerged four working group ‘tracks’:

• Activism and Government;
• Arts and Communications;
• Entrepreneurship and Technology;
• Ideas and Research,

covering themes such as economy, politics, space, collective action, and identity.

Why RxC Singapore?

RadicalxChange Singapore is the first RxC chapter we know of in Asia. Like the other chapters, it is autonomous from the Foundation but works collaboratively to contribute resources and discourse to the community.

Controversial ideas can serve as a good catalyst for conversation. Radical Markets brought up plenty of those, and we already know of many communities in Singapore who critically engage with with economic and social policies. These include people in the blockchain and wider technology space, in finance, economics, design, law, academia, and even environmentalism.

Chapter structure and governance:

Regular meetups

Face-to-face meetups are a great way for chapter members to share what they’re working on, and get to know each other better. These meetups will likely involve a combination of structured activities (lightning talks, workshops) and unstructured time.

RxC Singapore Labs

We expect many chapter members will already be working on their own projects, or looking for a team to join. RxC Singapore Labs is an informal “accelerator” program run by volunteer project managers, developers, and designers. As is convention in open source projects, we will use Github (https://github.com/RadxChangeSG/) as a collaboration platform.

Hackathons and community events

We look forward to supporting local events like hackathons and meetups, be it as experts or as participants. We are currently in discussion with Yale-NUS College Singapore to support a blockchain hackathon in early Mar 2019.

Decentralised and democratic structure

RxC Singapore is a collective of interested individuals and groups, driven by a spirit of experimentation and collaboration. The question of chapter governance is very much an open one, and presents an opportunity to experiment with methods like quadratic voting. Who should join:

We welcome economists, hackers, political scientists, artists, environmentalists, mathematicians, lawyers, sociologists, engineers, historians, designers, and anyone interested in building better economic and political systems. Upcoming activities:

• 28 Feb 2019: RadxChange SG Inaugural Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/RadicalxChange-Singapore/events/258792396/). We’ll play COST monopoly, go through the basic premises of Radical Markets and the larger spirit of the movement, and then discuss overall chapter goals and activities.

Community Ownership Self-assessed Tax (COST) Monopoly. Courtesy of Felix Schleef (https://twitter.com/FelixSchleef/status/1084120300512518146)

• 22–24 Mar 2019: RadicalxChange Detroit Conference. Join us as a community organiser/participant to qualify for the Community Scholarship! (More information at: https://radicalxchange.org/about/#scholarship-information)

• Future meetups:

  • design thinking workshops;
  • hands-on coding and maker workshops;
  • guest lectures and lightning talks by chapter members and partners; etc.

Get in touch!

Our role here is merely to start the ball rolling. We’ll be reaching out to relevant projects and communities in the coming weeks. Join us at radxchangesg@gmail.com or https://twitter.com/radxchangesg.

• Swarnima is a student in her final year at Yale-NUS College. She worked at ConsenSys as a software engineer and wants to continue her work developing dApps, particularly in working on security and identity protocols. She envisions RadicalxChange Singapore as a space for formulating and following through on turning ideas into action, for the real benefit of the institutions and communities we wish to support. Her work in data wrangling has also fostered a keen interest in using data to visualise and explain phenomena. Swarnima avidly follows and writes on climate change, geopolitics, literacy and research justice, modern slavery, and community organisation.

• Rachel is an independent UX designer who also solves problems related to data analytics at Sparkline, a Singapore-based digital analytics consultancy. She is passionate about the ways in which user-centered applications of decentralized technologies can drive tangible solutions that improve the world we live in. Rachel previously studied and worked in France and Austria, managing projects spanning international climate advocacy, humanitarian aid and social entrepreneurship.

• Ying Tong is a Research Scientist at the Ethereum Foundation, who has worked on scalability solutions like plasma and SNARK-based sidechains. She is excited about the potential for equitable self-organised communities on decentralised systems like the blockchain, and hopes RadicalxChange Singapore will be a space to discuss and experiment with unconventional modes of organisation. Ying Tong is also interested in Physics, sustainability, philosophy, literature and art, and hopes to explore interdisciplinary interests with this chapter and its partners.

Special thanks to: Glen Weyl and Joshua Shane for their support in getting us started.