In the finale of season 02 of New Creative Era, Josh and Yancey take stock of everything we've learned across 12 episodes exploring dark forests, private online communities, and the forces shaping culture online and beyond.

We trace the genealogy of the web — from Web2's gatekeeping revolution to the attention economy to the subscription era's rebundling — and arrive at the present moment, where people are retreating into private spaces to build something new.

We both share a list of what we hope for and fear from a dark forest era: sustainable creative ecosystems, the return of editorial vision, new organizational structures, and a more sincere internet — alongside the risks of digital country clubs, culture wars on steroids, rent-extracting platforms, and the same extractive patterns repeating themselves.

It's not nostalgic. It's a path forward.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

Back with part two of our special AMA episodes fielding questions from our NCE DFOS space. This episode covers everything from nationalism to Section 230 to open source software and everything in between. How far will the dark forest take us? Listen in as we debate and discuss IRL.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

This week Josh and Yancey sit down in the same room for the first time to answer questions from 250+ people who found their way down the rabbit hole into the New Creative Era DFOS (link here 🤫) after last week’s audio easter egg. In week one there have been more than 900 chats and an organic book club already started.

In this episode, we answer five questions from community members covering community governance, paywalled vs. free spaces, the real source of enshittification, and even how much it costs to run Metalabel.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

This season of New Creative Era, we’ve been exploring the idea of dark forests. This week we’re exploring one in reality. Together.

Listen in as Josh and Yancey give the first-ever tour of Dark Forest OS, a new Metalabel release that creates shared private internets.

If you listen closely, you just might hear the breadcrumbs to a new world.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

In this episode, Josh takes listeners through the concept of teleology: the idea that tools inevitably drift toward outcomes embedded in their design, regardless of intent. What does this say about platform technology, political organizing, and competing visions for the private internet?

Drawing on Benjamin Bratton’s “The Stack,” the conversation examines how cloud platforms are assuming functions once reserved for nation-states, pointing toward what some call “network states.” But whose network state?

There’s a sharp line between two visions: one built on social democracy with private cultural spaces flourishing on top, and another where gutted welfare states force people into resource-sharing enclaves surveilled by Palantir and organized through Urbit.

Are we heading towards one or the other? Or both?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

Are dark forests just retreat?

Adam Curtis documented how 1970s communes and EST taught people to pursue happiness within themselves rather than pursuing a better society. Are dark forests the same trap?

James C. Scott’s work on the “hidden transcript” offers a different frame. Private spaces aren’t just where people hide, they’re where shared understanding forms, where you say what can’t be said publicly.

Is dark foresting irresponsible or the product of our times? Listen in as we explore.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

Is curation actually about exclusion? In this episode, Josh and Yancey explore one of the most uncomfortable questions in creative communities: what it means to draw boundaries around who belongs and who doesn’t. Web2’s promise of open platforms and the death of gatekeeping hasn’t led to creative liberation — it’s produced attention economies driven by sensationalism and the collapse of shared values. What does a world where values are protected and explicitly shared look like?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

A key fact of dark forests: they don’t want to be seen. Dark forests are spaces hidden from public view where outside eyes are not welcome.

Why is this the case? And what can we observe about spaces like this?

In this week’s episode of New Creative Era, we connect the idea of “antimemetics” — ideas that are intentionally hard to share and see — with dark forests.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

This week on New Creative Era, Josh and Yancey explore the lifecycles of Dark Forest spaces. How do they start? How do they mature? How do they die? Do they die? Listen in to hear how our micro personal experiences and macro group dynamics collide.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com

This week on New Creative Era we dive deeper into the world of dark forests and the underlying philosophies and belief systems behind their existence.

How should we feel about dark forests? Are they places of threat or respite? Are they spaces of retreat or infrastructure for dissent? Are they inherently revolutionary and counter-hegemonic or are they potential tools for oppression, too?

Listen in as we touch on the many ideas and beliefs that shape dark forests and why we gather in them.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit metalabel.substack.com