Last-minute gifting help: a Cognitive Republic membership ⏰

Hello Cognitive Republic subscriber

The holidays are here, and if you’re scrambling for a thoughtful gift, I’ve got the perfect solution.

Give the gift of a Cognitive Republic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) membership! It’s quick, impactful, and doesn’t require a trip to the store.

How do gift memberships work?

• ✨ Purchase a gift membership directly on our page here: Gift a Cognitive Republic membership (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

• ✨ The gift membership will begin immediately, on the day of purchase.

• ✨ An email will be sent to the recipient informing them about their new gift from you, and how to access it (no price tag listed, don’t worry).

• ✨ The gift membership does not auto-renew.

🎁 Gift a Cognitive Republic membership (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)
Need more info? Check out this FAQ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Happy holidays,

Shane.

The Cognitive Republic is: (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

a book-length project written online, in public, building to a full length text:

Cognitive Republic: Building Societies That Experiment, Learn, and Evolve. (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

Animating the Cognitive Republic is the idea that nothing is inevitable – nothing – no outcome is predetermined regarding our political futures. We can choose the world we want to live in.

Here’s a quick reminder regarding the last few posts:

I discussed the malaise afflicting our democracies (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in ‘The Unfinished Contract — Our Democracies Must Learn or Die (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)’ (1771 words, published on 26/11/2025, and I also described the chapters to come)

Next I discussed ‘The conventional response to our democratic malaise (interlude):- tl,dr: “let’s do some incremental tinkering”’ (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (3183 words, 8 Dec 25).

Currently, there are about >6100 subscribers to the Cognitive Republic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). The open rates for each piece, delivered approximately every two weeks, are hovering close to 50% (way above average).

Cognitive Republic - 2026

I will detail what a cognitive republic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is, and how it might function, developing the theme that liberal democracies must reinvent themselves as learning systems (deepening ‘the unfinished contract’, above.

Posts will average typically between 1000 and 3000 words, delivered approximately fortnightly, with a pause in August (because, well, you know…).

My rough plan for the coming year is that about half of the posts will be outside the paywall. The other posts will be paywalled; the paywall also goes up on older posts as well.

Alternative Presents - Books!

If you’re interested in gifting a book, why not gift (in all formats - HB, PB, Kindle, Audio):

Talking Heads: The New Science of How Conversation Shapes Our Worlds (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by Shane O'Mara (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

In Praise of Walking: The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by Shane O'Mara (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

(Öffnet in neuem Fenster)

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