As we bring Season 1 to a close, I can't help but be in awe of what's unfolding. Not because we built it, but because the signal is landing so deeply with the right people. When you start a project like this, there's no clear path towards fruition. There's nothing but a big vision, the fear that no one will get it and the daily slog to bring it to life and see what actually unfolds.
The initial traction on The Human Layer, in metrics and in messages people send us directly, proves the thesis of that big vision. We aren't there yet, by any means, but knowing the signal resonates with so many people validates all that's possible.
With over 275 downloads across just 5 episodes—and zero marketing budget—you've proven something profound: people are hungry for new models and media that nourishes rather than extracts.
The true mission of this project emerges with every deep conversation, every signal transmitted, every lesson integrated; an unlock that shows we're building the civilizational infrastructure we are all desperately seeking as the systems we've lived within crumble at our feet. Taylor and I are building a deep mycelial network of knowledge weaving through the soils of our society and seeking the nurturing connections of aligned builders that will grow the fruiting bodies our communities need.
Knowledge preservation systems that outlast individual creators
Community organizing models that demonstrate post-extractive collaboration
Economic experiments that prove gift economies can fund meaningful work
Relationship templates that show how humans can work together without violence
The signals created in these first few months of existence tapped into an emergent resonance in the collective-- extraction, centralization, power and late stage capitalism are poisoning us all. But our human layers also hold the antidote-- community, preservation, protection and regenerative systems are all being built and supported by the same emergent technology that threatens our daily lives. Quite the paradox to unpack.
Here's a recap of our first episodes:
From Token to Trust: How Aya is Reshaping Crypto's Global Impact -- Eric and Michael from AyaHQ remind us why we fell in love with distributed tech in the first place, not for the gambling and the extraction, but for its power to transcend borders and barriers when it serves real human needs.
When Money Flows, Builders Thrive -- Graven from Flow State reveals how streaming money could revolutionize the creator economy by replacing the exhausting grant-hustle cycle with continuous, relational funding that actually serves builders who create rather than those who self-promote best.
Hyperlocal Sovereignty: Building Antifragile Knowledge Commons -- Spencer (Clinamenic) offers a compelling vision for escaping digital "enshittification" through knowledge gardens—personal spaces that transform how we create, curate, and preserve ideas in an age of corporate platform decay.
Beyond AI's Blackbox: Building Technology That Serves Humanity -- Beth Rudden from Bast AI challenges everything we've accepted about artificial intelligence, proposing a radically different approach that prioritizes understanding over statistical brute force and community stewardship over corporate data extraction.
Overall, our exploration of post-capitalist frameworks resonated with those building alternatives to extraction. This reaches beyond proof of concept for our podcast and indicates a much deeper need to explore AND BUILD the solutions for a post-extraction society.
But beyond downloads, what emerged was unexpected: a living demonstration of knowledge as commons. Each conversation became a seed, planted in our Knowledge Garden, growing into essays, frameworks, and resources that belong to all of us.
While you've been listening, we've been building:
A Knowledge Garden that transforms ephemeral podcast wisdom into permanent, searchable insights
The Exhale community space—ready to become a sanctuary for neo-technologists ready to remember their humanity
Gift Economy Infrastructure that models positive-sum reciprocity over soulless transaction
This isn't just a podcast. It's a prototype for how media could work in service of communities rather than corporations. The Human Layer is the mother node for a post-extractive media mycelial network that creates civilizational infrastructure with living epistemological frameworks at the heart of its network.
So, what's next? Well, everything. Just check our 2025 Roadmap!
On the Books For July:
Connecting with Season 2 Sponsors
Sourcing our first Mythic Patron
Planting more seeds in our knowledge garden
Snagging a hot mic with FW3 and Nathan Schneider to explore emergent tech, local economies and more
R&D for Season 2 on Knowledge Architectures & Preserving Wisdom
What Season 2 Holds:
Deeper dives into knowledge architecture systems
Living experiments in post-extractive media
Living Epistemological Frameworks -- what they are and why they matter
Practical frameworks for building your own knowledge commons
Stories of organizations successfully preserving wisdom for future generations
We've self-funded everything so far, and we've reached the limit of what bootstrapped passion can sustain. To make Season 2 everything it could be, we need your patronage and partnership.
Three Ways to Join the Movement:
Become a Season 2 Sponsor ($5K): Co-create episodes, weave your mission into our narrative, and get first access to all Knowledge Architecture frameworks we develop. We're selecting just 3 sponsors who align with our vision of media as medicine.
🏛 Become a Mythic Patron ($25K/year): This isn't sponsorship—it's co-creating civilizational infrastructure. Quarterly strategy sessions, deep implementation support, and recognition as a founding patron of the knowledge commons movement.
đź’« Join The Gift Economy: Any amount that feels aligned helps us maintain independence while proving alternatives to advertising-based media. Every contribution strengthens the commons.
🤝 Share with a Friend: Money matters, but myths transcend. Help us grow the movement by spreading the word. Share an episode, introduce us to a kindred spirit, or invite someone into the mythic fabric we’re weaving. Every ripple matters.
Explore Sponsors, Patrons and THL's behind the scenes data here.
Participate in the Gift Economy here or collect this essay.
The Human Layer is more than content—it's a living laboratory for the future of knowledge sharing. We're the mother node in a mycelial network, demonstrating how communities can create, preserve, and share wisdom without extraction.
Your listening, sharing, and engaging has proven the model works. Now we're ready to holistically grow so we can empower more communities to create their own knowledge architecture systems and join this movement.
With love & solidarity, CStreet & Tayken
Creating The Human Layer has been an act of faith—faith that others feel the same urgency to build alternatives to surveillance capitalism's media model. Your response to Season 1 confirmed we're not alone in this vision.
As we prepare for Season 2, I'm reminded that the best technologies are indistinguishable from magic. What we're building together— knowledge as commons, wisdom as heritage, media as medicine— might just be the magic our times demand.
Thank you for being part of this emergence. Thank you for believing that another way is possible.
See you in the garden,
Crystal
Founder, The Human Layer
For me, THL began as an intuitive hunch—part philosophical wager, part act of defiance. A sense that beneath the noise, something more resonant was trying to break (perhaps even speak) through us. Like McKenna once said, “Nature is not mute, it is man who is deaf.” Season 1 reminded me: we’re not alone in learning to hear again.
What we’re building isn’t a brand or a platform, it’s a shared signal. A commons. A neo-ritual and return to deeper meaning in a world high on spectacle and starving for truth.
I believe clarity is a form of kindness—and that consciousness, when directed with care, can be our way out of the maze. So thank you—for showing up clear-eyed, curious, and courageous. For stepping into the discomfort of the real with us. For believing, like Thompson, that “when the going gets weird, the weird must turn pro.”
As we head into Season 2, I carry a deeper conviction that wisdom is not a relic, and media doesn’t have to be a weapon. Instead, it can be a ritual, a signal, and a shared awakening. Thank you for walking up with us. For staying curious when cynicism would be easier, and for showing up—awake, weird, and ready.
See you in the garden.
Tayken
Co-Producer, The Human Layer
P.S. Know an organization that loses critical wisdom when people leave? They might be perfect for our Knowledge Architecture Systems pilot program. Reply and let's explore.
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