Excited to announce an event that took some serious effort to put together (for those who helped, you know who you are.) You do not want to miss this one - religion & politics - what could go wrong?

Wednesday, Nov 5, 7 PM at Torch and Crown (SoHo) Tickets here

Faith gathers us into communities and sometimes pulls those communities apart. In a country where Christians, Jews, and Muslims all carry sacred fears about safety, belonging, and power, shared citizenship can feel fragile.

​This isn’t a feel-good interfaith night. It’s a candid conversation about immigration, identity, and how global conflict has shaken American communities, followed by small-group discussions that ask each of us to confront the limits of our own empathy.

​Join a rabbi, a priest, and an imam for a night about coexistence when none of us have neutral ground.

7 PM - “Doors” Open (we have the lower level)

7:15 PM A discussion on if society would be better off if billionaires exclusively invested in technology, or exclusively in philanthropy (OR should someone else decide for them…)
Moderator: Ed Manzi, Founder of Unmuted

9 PM Official event end, stay around on the top floor for more discussion.

Dear Friends (and Foes?),

Welcome to our first Unmuted blog. This will be the first of many articles written by founding members of Unmuted. It is our greatest hope that we can provoke thought, curiosity, amusement and of course, debate.

Nobody likes alarm clocks, but they exist to make our capitalist world go round - to make sure we catch our 8am train or to board that long awaited vacation flight. Nonetheless, we can all agree that alarm clocks are very annoying. More so, if you like alarm clocks, you might be a little… off. In fact, there is a 99.9% chance you are insane. Now, let’s all get together and hate the people who like alarm clocks. 

If you’re thinking, that’s a bit of an overreaction there, Olya. But isn’t this exactly how we treat one another nowadays - anyone who disagrees with us must be insane? The alarm clock analogy is hopefully an innocuous way of showing you the (not so civil) civil discourse in America today. We demonize, ostracize, and divide to conquer. In our quest to out-tweet and rage bait each other, we’ve turned public conversation into a blood sport Machiavelli would’ve admired, while algorithms profit. According to Pew Research, “81% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats (including those who lean to each party) say that too little attention is paid to important issues facing the country” and yet “majorities in both parties say that too much attention is given to disagreements between the parties”. We are so fixated on hating one another, we overlook solving the issues of our time. This my dear friends is the tragedy of our commons.

Unmuted member demographics predominantly range from Gen Z to Millennial - our members were not alive when we faced an extinction event not too long ago. This extinction event, which I’ll briefly summarize today, is precisely why we as a society must change course and relearn how to view our opponents as humans again, humans with alternative perspectives to be respected and considered. 

This of course is a simplistic (and one sided) account; nonetheless, it sends a shiver down your spine once you realize all that could’ve gone wrong and spiraled out of control during those two weeks. I highly recommend you read the brief recount Thirteen Days by Robert F. Kennedy for a deeper appreciation of the events. RFK concludes with his learnings:

“I believe our deliberations proved conclusively how important it is that the President have the recommendations and opinions of more than one individual, of more than one department, and of more than one point of view. Opinion, even fact itself, can best be judged by conflict, by debate.”

Both the Soviet Union and the United States of America chose communication over escalation. And today, we are alive because two men surrounded by competing voices chose to listen and engage in dialogue. I wonder what would happen if we experienced a similar scenario today…

So my dear friends, I leave you with this: It’s high time society has a wake-up call. No matter if we disagree on one topic or on 50, we must learn to hear, to consider, and to treat one another with respect. Today we face a new inflection point, only this time, it’s not nuclear war but algorithmic polarization and autonomous technology (more on this in a future post). The weapons are invisible but the risks are just as existential. For our society to overcome all that is statistically probable and improbable, there is but one starting point:

We must debate. 

The events I’ve got my eye on this week across the spectrum. A mayoral debate between comics, mobile voting, and two political halloween parties! Plus the marathon is Sunday.

🗓 Monday, October 27
• 6:00 PM Comics in Conversation: Mayoral Debate
(⚪ Debate, NYC Mayoral Election)
Where: The Bench
Who: Stand Up NY
What: I am SO curious how this actually plays out. Three comics representing Cuomo, Mamdani, and Sliwa will hash it out in a debate. Will it be funny? Will it be interesting? Will it be constructive? IDK! Let’s find out.

• 6:00 PM Criminalization of Solidarity (🟦 Very lib, Euro immigration)
Where: 900 Skylight Room, CUNY Graduate Center
Who: Center for Place, Culture, and Politics
What: Presentation by Seán Binder, one of 24 defendants arrested seven years ago on criminal charges of smuggling illegal migrants in Greece. This is one side of a very interesting tension - at what point does humanitarian work like helping refugees relocate become smuggling, if the country doesn’t want them there? Does this chill humanitarian efforts in general, even if it does cross a line?

🗓 Tuesday, October 28
• 6:00 PM – The Future of Civic Engagement
(⚪ Interview, Mobile Voting)
Where: Betaworks
Who: The Future Forum
What: Aaron Kinnari of Future Forum interviews Bradley Tusk, who runs Tusk Ventures (VC with focus on regulated industry). Tusk’s push in recent years has been mobile voting and will be a featured part of the talk. I personally think this would be such an unlock for voting participation, and area where I think many could benefit from learning more about the how.

• 6:00 PM – What Remains of International Law…
(🟦 Liberal Globalist , Foreign Policy)
Where: La Maison Française 16 Washington Mew
Who: NYU Arts & Sciences
What: Discussion of what has become of international law (my gut says the panel will be blaming Trump) and what can be done with what remains to combat poverty, war, and other development issues. A panel mix of government and academics from across the world.

🗓 Wednesday, October 29

• 6:00 PM – The Socialist Housing Plan for New York
(🟥 Libertarian, Housing)
Where: Village Underground
Who: Reason, Manhattan Institute
What: Showing of a documentary on rent control policies in history. I think it should be interesting, but my concern is will anyone show up who doesn’t already agree with this? This is a real discussion that should be had, but it needs to be had with people who weren’t already bought in on the potential downsides of rent control / rent freezing policies.

• 6:00 PM – Queer Politics, AIDS, and Religion
(🟦Liberal, LGBTQ and Religion)
Where: NYU Center for Religion and Media, 14A Washington Mews
Who: When We All Get To Heaven (a new podcast series
What: Podcast host Dr. Lynne Gerber tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, and how it faced the trials of the AIDS epidemic. Should be a good discussion on two subjects that are viewed on the same side, sexuality and religion.

🗓 Thursday, Oct 30
• 6:00 PM – Propaganda in the Age of AI
(⚪ Non-partisan, NYC Politics)
Where: Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), Queens
Who: MoMI
What: ​A discussion about how technology has always been used to build propaganda and narratives, and how Generative AI is being used today in the same light (propaganda broadly speaking, so not just in a negative light). There will also be a workshop using Generative AI to create narratives and art, plus a reception at the end!

• 6:30 PM – Scary Socialist Social
(🟦 Liberal, Halloween Party)
Where: Nostrand Avenue Pub
Who: Democratic Socialists of America
What: In the spirit of bipartisanship, I am presenting you two political themed Halloween parties. I have got to say, the liberals win on the naming convention here…the competition wasn’t exactly close (see below).

• 7 PM – MAGAWeen (🟥 Republican, Halloween Party)
Where: ReVision Lounge and Gallery
Who: New York Young Republicans
What: See what I mean? There has to be something better than this. In fact there is, and I found them. ChatGPT suggested Boo-publicans Bash, The Right to Fright, (f)Right Night, Night of the Living Red. Any of these are 10x better.

🗓 Friday, Oct 31
• 7:30 PM – Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (⚪ Non-partisan, Social)
Where: Greenwich Village
Who: The City of New York
What: It’s just a Halloween parade, but nothing political really going on the night of Halloween proper.

🗓 Saturday, Nov 1
• 9 AM – AI Frontiers Forum (⚪ Non-partisan, AI & China)
Where: Steinman Hall
Who: Chinese Association for Science & Technology of Greater NY
What: All day conference on AI technologies from Chinese leaders. I, for one, am very curious how this conference compares to the type of discussions at the plethora of American conferences on the same subject…

🗓 Sunday, Nov 2
NOTHING! It’s Marathon Day in NYC - go out and support your fellow NYers who are running the race this year.

Show up, think deeper, and as always, stay Unmuted!

The Unmuted Team