Rosenstein to Discuss How Shifting Control to the Public Over the Systems That Define Our Existence Could Transform Society
I’m thrilled to be part of Iceland Eclipse to envision just how much better life could be if the public took charge of the systems that influence our world”— Justin Rosenstein
IMXP Immersive Experiences has revealed that Justin Rosenstein, the co-founder of Asana and the founder of the nonprofit One Project, will give a keynote address during Iceland Eclipse on Thursday, August 13 at 4PM inside the AFTERGLOW Dome. Rosenstein’s talk, titled “Redesigning the Economy: How to Create the World We Want by Changing the Rules of the Game,” will delve into how the structure of economic and technological frameworks dictates the results society ends up with — and how fresh approaches to democratic involvement can grant communities greater authority over the choices and assets that impact their daily lives. This keynote presentation and Q&A session will be led by UG Strategies founder and CEO, Parag Bhandari.
Few individuals have been as intimately involved in the design choices that transformed how the world interacts and organizes online as Rosenstein, a former early product leader at Google and Facebook whose innovations include Google Drive, Gmail Chat, and Facebook’s “Like” button. A student of consciousness and systems design, he helped break new ground in leveraging technology for feedback and resource management, before going on to establish the nonprofit One Project, merging those abilities to confront one of today’s most significant hurdles: who determines how a society’s resources are allocated. One Project creates and develops tools that enable people to influence economic decisions that affect their neighborhoods, while also promoting improved tech-based safeguards and AI governance. Recently, One Project initiated a groundbreaking participatory budgeting experiment with the City of Columbus, Ohio — a U.S. city with nearly one million residents — providing citizens a direct say in how public money is spent in their local areas.
“The problems we can’t seem to resolve, like the cost of living rising faster than salaries, stem from a fundamental issue: an economy that incentivizes the wrong things,” stated Justin Rosenstein, co-founder of Asana and founder of One Project. “I’m thrilled to be part of Iceland Eclipse to envision just how much better life could be if the public took charge of the systems that influence our world.”
This appearance aligns with Iceland Eclipse’s broader goal of hosting an event where music, science, technology, culture, and transformative concepts come together — uniting technologists, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, and cultural leaders around issues that reach well beyond the typical festival experience.
“Justin embodies precisely the kind of voice that Iceland Eclipse was designed to bring into the discussion,” said Parag Bhandari, founder and CEO of UG Strategies (UGS), who will moderate the keynote. “He helped create some of the technologies that fundamentally altered how billions of people communicate and coordinate, and now he’s using that same systems thinking to tackle an even larger challenge: how we reshape the rules themselves.”
Rosenstein’s appearance will also inject questions about artificial intelligence directly into the Iceland Eclipse technology dialogue. One Project’s efforts consider not merely what increasingly powerful AI systems are capable of, but how democratic safeguards around those systems can ensure that emerging technologies ultimately benefit the public.
“Iceland Eclipse is about witnessing something remarkable in the sky, but it’s equally about posing remarkable questions here on Earth,” said Mitch Morales, founder and CEO of IMXP Immersive Experiences. “Music, technology, science, and human consciousness are all advancing at an incredible pace, and Justin’s work pushes us to reflect on the foundational systems driving that change and could lead to completely new ways of thinking about what lies ahead.”
During the moderated discussion, Bhandari and Rosenstein will examine whether broad public involvement can result in better collective choices, the appropriate balance between experts and communities, and Rosenstein’s vision for an AI-driven future where technology strengthens rather than undermines democratic empowerment.
About Justin Rosenstein
Justin Rosenstein is a student of consciousness and systems design. He is the founder of One Project, a nonprofit building tools for democratic economic decision-making, and co-founder of the software company Asana. His co-inventions include Google Drive, Gmail Chat, and Facebook’s “Like” button. He is a founding advisor to the Center for Humane Technology and appears in the documentary The Social Dilemma.
Adam Krim
UG Strategies LLC
info@ugstrategies.com
