“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.” R. Buckminster Fuller
bad systems have bad results
Let’s be honest—the system’s broken — so we’re creating a new one. We design, prototype, and launch open-source tools for the next evolution of human civilization. Our mission? Build platforms that empower individuals and communities to connect, collaborate, and create lasting change.
No ads. No shady algorithms. No corporate fluff. Just transparent, decentralized solutions that work for people. The future is collaborative—and it starts here. Ready to help build it? Let’s get to work.
Tools for Transformation
We are a network engaging with a number of open-source teams across the globe in an effort to help a broader ecosystem emerge that provides for all of our need without proprietary code, secret algorithms, data mining and value extracting practices. Beyond assisting this emergence we are building our own set of tools to hasten the transformation of society in house.
Circles
Circles is where community-building meets action. It’s a space for Changemakers to matchmake, project collaborate, and govern democratically. Whether you’re looking to co-create, contribute, or organize, Circles gives you the tools to make it happen—without the nonsense of ads or ulterior motives. It’s grassroots change, backed by code and you get to have it your way.
The Altruistic Wallet
The Altruistic Wallet isn’t your average crypto wallet—it’s a decentralized powerhouse for contributing time, money, and resources to causes that matter. With secure self-controlled identities and peer-to-peer transactions, this platform makes giving back easy, transparent, and efficient. Investing in the common good has never been this straightforward or transparent.
A few words from our partners
Maybe it is time we stopped expecting someone else to solve our problems for us?
Honestly. It isn’t very likely the current system will be able to change course and steer us away from what is increasingly looking like a very dismal destination. War, corruption, profiteering, censorship, environmental destruction, human rights violations or a plethora of other predicaments all seem quite unavoidable. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, expecting different result while running the same experiment is the very definition of delusion.
Someone is going to have to step up if we are to do something about this sinking ship of ours. We might wait for a new captain to take the helm and command us with wisdom and dignity, but we might as well waiting for Godot. The simple truth is that current system cannot solve the problems it is creating without undoing itself, which it cannot do. If we are going to have any real, lasting and positive affirming change we are going to have to provide it ourselves. Step by step, from the bottom up.
At Social Systems Lab, we aim to prototype a new system that salvages what it can from the old while operating next to it. And we have a plan, step by step, from the bottom up. A plan that could actually work. A new Operating System that incentivises our species unique power of communication and cooperation. That leverages cutting edge technology allowing us to connect and to share and to actually address the challenges we face.
So, let go of the deck chairs and come work with us on the important stuff! We got water to pump and a hull to repair and a ship that needs stabilising before we can plot the course to wherever we want to go. And we should all have a say in that. It is time to step up. It is time to join your tribe.
Tell me more
You are probably wondering why you should hitch your cart behind our horse? Well, mainly because it’s not really our horse. It’s just as much your horse. In fact, it’s everyones horse.
Who is behind SSL?
Social Systems Lab International is a limited-profit company that the not-for-profit Social Systems Foundation fully owns. You can read more about the foundation here.
Social Systems Lab is currently entirely funded through the Social Systems Foundation and its donors. Our goal however is that we will be able to fund all of the lab’s projects with revenue brought in through the users of the products we design and launch. We want the lab to be part of the self-sustaining ecosystem of the commons we are designing, and ultimately for our users to set the direction and focus of our development.
Why should I join your project? I have my own.
That’s great. We love open-source projects and would be happy to support you in any way we can. But if there is any way your project might mesh with ours, we’d definitely be open to exploring that. The more of an ecosystem we can create together, the more it benefits us all.
Also, though we initiated Circles, the project that is closest to being launched, it is our hope and vision that a new generation of developers, designers and dreamers will take it on and make it their project. So down the line, our project might actually become your project… Just gonna put that out there.
Ok. But what's in it for me?
Arguably an important question. You don’t want to be wasting your energy and resources on a wild goose chase!
What’s in it for you are some pretty epic open-source tools that you will have helped design and/or test. Social apps that won’t spy on you, mine your data and sell it to the higher bidder, try to hijack your limbic system to keep your eyes on the screen, swiping away your time while your attention is translated to profits that profit you little if at all, or nudge you to act in ways that aren’t in your best interest.
Instead, if we are successful together, we’ll have an ecosystem of open-source and decentralised tools that benefit you, your community and the world, for generations to come. New ways to connect with people across the globe and have a real and lasting impact together. Stronger bonds and more self-sufficient and resilient communities, and more time spent doing things in the real world flowing with that sweet serotonin, less time spent obsessively scrolling and swiping, chasing the next dopamine hit while you grow less and less connected to the remaining humans in your life and increasingly anxious.
That’s what’s in it for you. For starters. Sound like the better option? Join the swarm!
Will anything I contribute here have any influence on the real world?
That is definitely what we are going for, but that is also not entirely up to us. What we can promise is that if you contribute code, designs, ideas or anything else that we think is valuable, we’ll include it in our toolkit. The influence the toolkit has on the real world will probably depend on how useful and accessible it is, which in turn will depend on the quality of the contribution. So, in brief, the more value you contribute, the more likely it will be to influence the world.
What is the the long term goal of SSL?
It really is to create at least a few of the building blocks for a new Operation System for human society. But to be more specific, we want to create open-source versions of pretty much all the dominant proprietary apps out there, and to make our versions as good as or preferably better than the for-profit competition. Open-source applications are very underfunded, mainly because there is not a lot of personal profit to be made from them, even if society profits immensely. What we are practically trying to do is create a positive spiral where the apps we build raise funds that can be used to build more and better apps that raise even more funds and so on, spreading out and funding the Commons through the Altruistic Wallet ecosystem.
The open-source space is chronically underfunded and is falling behind, if not in all areas then in many of the most important and influential ones. We want to change that in a meaningful way. Where this leads, in the end, will depend on what humans actually want when freed from limitations and manipulations, which is not for us to say. We believe in the basic decency of our species and feel that given half a chance, we could become pretty decent custodians of the planet that conceived of us. And there is only one way to find out if we are right.