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 (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela).

• ✨ 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 (Abre numa nova janela)
Need more info? Check out this FAQ (Abre numa nova janela).

Happy holidays,

Shane.

The Cognitive Republic is: (Abre numa nova janela)

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

Cognitive Republic: Building Societies That Experiment, Learn, and Evolve. (Abre numa nova janela)

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 (Abre numa nova janela) in ‘The Unfinished Contract — Our Democracies Must Learn or Die (Abre numa nova janela)’ (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”’ (Abre numa nova janela) (3183 words, 8 Dec 25).

Currently, there are about >6100 subscribers to the Cognitive Republic (Abre numa nova janela). 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 (Abre numa nova janela) 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 (Abre numa nova janela) by Shane O'Mara (Abre numa nova janela)

In Praise of Walking: The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us (Abre numa nova janela) by Shane O'Mara (Abre numa nova janela)

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