Progress Reimagined

We usually try to fix a divided world from the outside: better policies, better institutions, better systems. Educator and leadership coach Lena Papadopoulos asks a different question. What if the biggest barrier to change is the systems that live within us?

In this episode of our School of Radical Imagination series, Lena explains shadow work: the process of reconnecting with the parts of ourselves we learned to push down in order to belong. We talk about why people cling to hate, why she sees binary thinking as a trauma response, how the ego protects us from seeing the harm we cause, and how a pattern inside one person can repeat all the way up to conflict between countries.

Lena Papadopoulos is an award-winning educator and leadership coach who works at the intersection of personal and collective liberation. She hosts the podcast Leadership That Liberates.

Her course, Tending to the Roots of Conflict in a Divided World, starts October 6 at the School of Radical Imagination. Applications close September 30, and spots are limited. Use code PROGRESSREIMAGINED10 for 10% off (new students only).

Course: https://www.radicalimagination.school/courses/tending-to-the-roots-of-conflict-in-a-divided-world
Lena's website: https://www.lenapapadopoulos.com/
Lena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-papadopoulos/
Leadership That Liberates: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-that-liberates/id1809241430

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

Most of us have already picked a side on AI. It'll replace us or free us. It's overhyped or inevitable. Oumaima Talouka says that's exactly the mistake: treating AI as all or nothing.

Oumaima Talouka is an AI strategy advisor, a leadership coach, and founder of The Human × Tech. She built her career across engineering, product and Responsible AI at Microsoft, and is Regional Director for MENA and Francophonie at The AI Collective. She teaches AI literacy at the School of Radical Imagination.

We talk about what AI literacy actually means, the failure modes hiding under the word "hallucination," the skills we quietly give away when we delegate, whether the layoff story holds up, and why it matters where AI gets built.

Part of the School of Radical Imagination Special Edition.

Take her course: use PROGRESSREIMAGINED10 for 10% off (new students only).
Connect with Oumaima: [link]

Chapters
00:00 Five people, five answers
02:14 The all or nothing trap
03:02 Growing up in Morocco, and computer science as leverage
06:22 What AI literacy actually means
09:10 Choosing where you keep the friction
16:07 Is AI really taking jobs?
20:20 Sustainability, and checking claims on both sides
24:16 Using the right model for the task
28:04 Why it matters where AI gets built
31:55 One sentence for the skeptic, one for the enthusiast
33:32 Inside her course
34:11 Her vision, and one thing to try today

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

Imagination is directly tied to your mental wellbeing, and most of us stopped using it on purpose years ago. Dr. Sheila Pontis has spent over two decades studying imagination, wellbeing, and design at University College London, Princeton, and MIT, and her argument is that imagination isn't a gift reserved for children and artists, it's a cognitive skill every adult still has and can train. 

Sheila now leads the Everyone Imagines initiative and teaches at the School of Radical Imagination. In this episode, she explains why the quality of what you imagine shapes your emotions and wellbeing, why researchers describe this moment as a crisis of imagination, why she doesn't think AI is imaginative at all, just a tool that reflects whatever imagination you bring to the prompt, and how a few minutes of daily practice can rebuild the skill. For anyone who feels stuck searching, scrolling, and asking AI for answers that never quite land, this conversation is for you.

Learn more about the School of Radical Imagination: https://www.radicalimagination.school/ 

*Applications open Sept 1. There's a discount code near the end of this episode. (New student only)

Follow Progress Reimagined for more conversations like this one.

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

Besan Abu-Joudeh has advised governments, built her own organization, and sat inside some of the most prestigious rooms in the world, including Wharton, Accenture, and A.T. Kearney. Now she's built the School of Radical Imagination, a live, cohort-based school with no institution behind it. It's her third venture, after co-founding BuildPalestine in 2016.

In this episode, we talk about the moment everything shifted, why she built a live, cohort-based school instead of recording another online course, and what she believes people get wrong about imagination, impact, and education in the age of AI. For anyone who's watched every video and asked AI every question and still feels stuck, this one's for you.

Learn more about the School of Radical Imagination: https://www.radicalimagination.school/ 

*Applications open Sept 1. There's a discount code near the end of this episode. (New student only)

Follow Progress Reimagined for more conversations like this one.

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

Anxious about the state of the world? You're not alone. Host Kathleen Chu makes the case that empathy isn't a weakness but a starting point. Drawing on Octavia Butler, adrienne maree brown, and Eckhart Tolle to explore how to stay hopeful and imagine a better future. Three practices that help: quieting the input, turning inward, and turning outward.

Books (affiliate links)

A New Earth — Eckhart Tolle  

Emergent Strategy — adrienne maree brown   

Parable of the Sower — Octavia E. Butler  
 

Communities & organizations

School of Radical Imagination  —  live cohort classes on imagining liberatory futures

Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll)  —  global network reimagining the economy around wellbeing 

Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL)  —  Kate Raworth's framework for an economy within social & planetary limits
 

Practices mentioned

Tara Brach — talks & guided meditations

Boho Beautiful — guided meditations

Progress Reimagined Substack

A Book for Turbulent Times: Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth  —  the companion essay referenced in the episode 

Research cited

APA 2024 mental health poll  —  70% of U.S. adults anxious about current events (April 2024)
 

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

We trusted the people in the spotlight to have all the answers. We handed them our data, our attention, our cities, our public squares — and assumed the market would sort out whatever followed. It didn't.

This episode asks what blind faith in technology actually cost us — and what it would take to build something better. From a WeWork launch party in Tokyo to the Rohingya crisis. From an Uber driver in Istanbul with no seat at the table, to the Vatican calling for AI to be disarmed. From Silicon Valley's 278 billion dollar tax gap to Europe's first serious push for digital sovereignty.

We dive into the story of extreme capitalism without oversight, and the people already voting with their feet. 

In this episode:

• The WeWork warehouse and the end of the tech god era
• How social media went from the Arab Spring to genocide in Myanmar
• The Uber driver generating value for a platform worth hundreds of billions
• Silicon Valley's 278 billion dollar tax gap
• Why people are already voting with their feet
• Alternatives already being built — Mastodon, Proton, and beyond

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

In Spirited Away, Chihiro's parents stumble upon an empty town, find fresh steaming food, and just... eat. One comfortable choice at a time. Until it's too late. I think that scene describes something happening in our world right now.

This episode explores what we are quietly trading away — our attention, our capacity to think deeply, and our tolerance for anything difficult or slow. Drawing on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and a 2025 MIT Media Lab study on AI and cognitive decline, I ask the question that sits at the heart of Progress Reimagined: what does real progress actually look like when comfort becomes the trap? 

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

Season 2 of Progress Reimagined is here. This season features conversations with thinkers reimagining our economy, technology, and planet, plus solo episodes where I sit with a book and an idea worth exploring. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and find me on Substack for written reflections and book recommendations. https://substack.com/@progressreimagined/posts

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

Discover a refreshing digital experience that is free from attention manipulation and platform lock-in while helping you connect with others.

In a digital landscape dominated by profit-driven tech giants that monetize attention and exploit user data, Mastodon's Andy Piper presents a liberating alternative. This episode explores how the Fediverse, with Mastodon at its center, is creating a more open, user-controlled social media ecosystem. Discover how decentralized networks let you own your digital presence, connect across platforms, and escape the engagement-maximizing algorithms designed to keep you scrolling.

Join Andy, Head of Communications at Mastodon and formerly with Twitter (now X) and IBM, as he explains why distributed, community-owned social networks offer more resilience, control, and authentic connection than closed corporate platforms like Facebook and X. Learn how the Fediverse empowers users to take back control of their attention and data while fostering diverse communities with localized moderation. This conversation offers essential insights for anyone tired of being the product in surveillance capitalism and ready to reimagine their social media experience.

Key Insights
-How the Fediverse lets you communicate across platforms instead of being locked in walled gardens
-Why data portability matters: Move your account without losing followers
-How decentralized networks create resilience against manipulation and single points of failure
-Why community-specific moderation creates safer, more inclusive spaces than global rules
-How current platforms manipulate attention through algorithms and content insertion
-Why the "everything app" approach serves corporate interests, not users
-How interoperability and open standards foster collaboration and innovation
-The importance of consciously choosing where you spend your digital attention
-Why resilient, distributed infrastructure matters for our digital future
-How nonprofit models can create sustainable alternatives to surveillance capitalism

Connect with Andy Piper and Mastodon
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Website: https://andypiper.co.uk
Mastodon website: https://joinmastodon.org
Mastodon blog: https://blog.joinmastodon.org
FediForum Event (June 5-7, 2025): https://fediforum.org/

Recommended Reading
"The Internet Con" by Cory Doctorow
"Chokepoint Capitalism" by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow  
 

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.

In a digital world dominated by algorithms designed to maximize engagement rather than serve users, Davide Eynard presents a refreshing alternative. This episode explores how "thinking small" with purpose-built AI can transform our social media experience. Discover BYOTA (Build Your Own Timeline Algorithm), a project that lets you create personalized social media timelines without sharing your data. Join Davide, machine learning engineer and researcher at Mozilla.ai, as he explains why smaller, specialized AI running locally on your device can often outperform massive models for specific tasks. Learn how the "think small" philosophy and open source approach offer more privacy, control, and meaningful experiences than corporate algorithms designed to keep you scrolling. This conversation offers essential insights for anyone interested in taking back control of their digital experience or exploring how purpose-built AI can serve individual needs rather than corporate metrics.
            
Connect with Davide Eynard and Mozilla.ai
Mozilla.ai website: https://mozilla.ai
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mozilla-ai
X: @MozillaAI https://x.com/MozillaAI
Mastodon: @[email protected]
BlueSky: @mozilla.ai https://bsky.app/profile/mozilla.ai
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mozilla.ai1

BYOTA Project  
Blog post: https://blog.mozilla.ai/build-your-own-timeline-algorithm-a-blueprint-2/ 
Live demo: https://huggingface.co/spaces/mozilla-ai/byota
GitHub repo: https://github.com/mozilla-ai/byota
Mastodon thread about BYOTA: https://fosstodon.org/@mala/113967540546211928
More on Mozilla.ai Blueprints: https://mozilla.ai/blueprints
Davide’s talk at FOSDEM: https://fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event/fosdem-2025-5601-build-your-own-timeline-algorithm/

Why open-source matters:
Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac3ZZ7WUuZM

Progress Reimagined

What does real progress actually look like?

Progress Reimagined explores innovative ideas, technologies and economic models that put humanity and our planet first.  

Through solo reflections and conversations with thinkers, innovators and changemakers, we examine the ideas shaping our world and the ones that could reshape it for the better. 

Subscribe to Progress Reimagined
https://substack.com/@progressreimagined
https://www.youtube.com/@ProgressReimagined
https://www.instagram.com/progress_reimagined/

Host: 
Kathleen Chu
progressreimagined at proton.me

❤️ Thank you for listening! If you know anyone who would benefit from today's episode, please share it and help spread the word.

© 2026 Progress Reimagined. All rights reserved.