iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 24/09/2026

V excited to see what emerges next. If you'd like to be part of the conversation, please do reach out. Big thank you to my @darkmatterlabs.org colleagues @gurden.xyz @prtk.xyz and Nadim Choucair + to Caroline Paulick-Thiel, and to the whole PVC team for putting this together! 📡🌍

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 24/09/2026

3) There's so much there already! None of the systemic risks we face today came up on us unseen, and none have gone fully unaddressed. Our work lies as much in (re-)discovering the efforts and learnings of those before us as in charting new ways of connecting, coordinating and complementing them.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 24/09/2026

2) The value of clinics like these lies in the process: The way there is even often more interesting than the output: Conversations, surprises, jokes, reminders: a group slowly immersing itself in a complex topic and learning along the way. That can't be fast-forwarded (and, ofc, not prompted)

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 24/09/2026

1) Heat is multi-layered: it (almost) doesn't matter where you start - pull the thread long enough and you end up with all the big questions our cities are sitting with: housing, inequality, water, infrastructure, mobility, participation, polarisation, our collective capacity to imagine futures.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 24/09/2026

Enjoyed our @darkmatterlabs.org Heat Risk Clinic at Public Vitality Camp! We met at Teufelsberg (new all-time fav workshop spot) and explored the many interwoven themes of heat in Berlin – from collective to individual risk to what's possible from here. Bigger recap coming soon, first thoughts:

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 19/09/2026

How does Berlin turn existing capacities, lived experience and institutional action into shared long-term heat resilience, not isolated responses? V looking forward to our Berlin Heat Risk Clinic today, hosted by @darkmatterlabs.org as part of the Public Vitality Camp. luma.com/2qqjkex3

luma.com

Berlin Heat Risk Clinic · Luma

Berlin Heat Risk Clinic From fragmented signals to shared preparedness This session is part of the Public Vitality Camp 2026 and is convened by Dark Matter…

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 18/09/2026

Weird thing about today's crises - from fascim to planeraty collapse they are these slow-motion disasters: we can already foresee today what tomorrow will bring, it is catastrophic, there is even still a chance to prevent it -but we get bogged down and eventually give up even before disaster strikes

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 14/09/2026

Interesting parallel between the Rise of AI and the Rise of AfD (far right in Ger): The lamenting of the problem *is* the problem. Don't feed the troll, but make it realpolitk.

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Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is a very interesting new resource, The Register of British Slave-Traders. 'The Register focusses on the individuals who sought to profit from the enslavement of over 3 million African men, women, and children, whose identity was – for the most part – erased from the historical record.' 🗃️

britishslavetraders.org

The Register of British Slave-Traders

The Register of British Slave-traders compiles and presents information on all known slave-traders in Britain who invested in the trafficking of captive Africans from 1563 to 1807.

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026

If you showed up at Defcon and gave talk about how your autonomous malware did something unexpected and damaged someone else's computers, the first question from the audience would be "Why are you so shit at making secure sandboxes?" It wouldn't be "How are you so awesome at making hacking tools?"

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 23/04/2026

Ok, live coding an app *while using it* is wild.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 01/04/2026

When the music is to good to work to. 😩 Immanuel Wilkins' latest is SPIRITUAL..

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 19/03/2026

(Finally) starting to write / think again on Permutations – with a new series on democracy, magical realities, and charting a way beyond. This is part 1: Dead Birds Everywhere.

simonhoeher.substack.com

Dead Birds Everywhere

Pt. 1: Crisis as Exposure

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/01/2026

New show is up (it's been a while)! AM008 w/ Jack DeJohnnette, Eiko Ishibashi, Hand To Earth, Sumac, Mette Henriette, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, and more www.mixcloud.com/AgainstMetho...

mixcloud.com

Against Method 008 // 12-16-2025

AM008 w/ Jack DeJohnnette, Eiko Ishibashi, Hand To Earth, Sumac, Mette Henriette, Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi, and more

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/11/2025

Wrote this up in more depth + a few questions to sit with: open.substack.com/pub/simonhoe...

open.substack.com

This Democracy Is Yours, Too

Four quick thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s victory.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/11/2025

4. Beyond Analysis It’s hard to overestimate the psychological experience of self-efficacy the Mamdani’s campaign has had on people who had almost gotten used to hope- and helplessness. As Mamdani put it: This democracy is yours, too.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/11/2025

3. Building without debt Grand ideas only get diluted if on your way to power you build on alliances that bog you down. Build a movement that is coherent to begin with, and you have a much harder start but a much longer breath.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/11/2025

2. Back to Basics The most powerful response to today’s hyper-news cycles was the calm return to everyday basics: public transport, rent, childcare. Turns out the most extreme thing you can do in 2025 is vote for free buses and lower rent.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/11/2025

Four quick thoughts on Zohran Mamdani’s victory: 1. Leaders as catalysts: A healthy reminder of the first rule of politics: A charismatic, authentic human is necessary for any movement to take root. Good leaders aren't saviours, they are convenors who make visible what was already trying to emerge.

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Jonathan Peaceman @jonpeaceman.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Kurze Zusammenfassung für alle, denen das jetzt etwas viel wird: Die CDU Berlin vergibt willkürlich Gelder für Antisemitismus-Bekämpfung, u.a. an eine Immobilienfirma mit Geschäftsführer Max Mustermann oder auch an die Kollegin des haushaltspolitischen Sprechers im Parteivorstand Lichterfelde. 1/4

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 28/08/2025

New Probe: Just because we can choose, it does not mean there are no consequences to our choices. On world making, objectivity, and responsibility. A way forward for designing public institutions in an age of doubts. → open.substack.com/pub/simonhoe...

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 07/08/2025

New Post: The most sophisticated thing our organisations do isn’t solving complex problems. It’s making them look simple. The use of the many frameworks to grasp complexity is conversational: “Seek for simplicity but distrust it.” - Whitehead → open.substack.com/pub/simonhoe...

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 28/07/2025

It stabilises the cycle of trauma and enables it. It removes friction to generate legitimacy from the very harm it facilitated. No learning, never. 4/4

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 28/07/2025

This continuity is preventing any collective learning that would require pause, reflection, and or accountability. Instead we witness ubiquitous and shameless avoidance of any responsibility. 3/4

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 28/07/2025

Shamelessness is central to how trauma politics functions: There is no interim space for reflection or accountability here. The shift from complicity to concern happens without interruption. 2/4

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 28/07/2025

The ease with which major (German) media now seamlessly switch from enabling Gaza's destruction to reporting on it with “deep concern” is breathtaking in its shamelessness. This is no accident. This is trauma politics in action. And it is very coherent. 1/4

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 24/07/2025

We are witnessing a new form of politics. One that flipped the script of shame, decency, and virtue. It makes transgression a guiding principle for how we govern, and renders any response to it structurally inadequate. This is trauma politics.

open.substack.com

Trauma Politics

From Never Again to Ever Again

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 17/07/2025

Bonus: I added all the references to the many projects mentioned in my write up over here: simonhoeher.substack.com/p/governing-...

simonhoeher.substack.com

Governing Unthinkable Futures (Talk)

Video and recap from my talk at FutureDays Lisbon, May 2025

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 17/07/2025

My talk on ‘Unthinkable Futures’ from #FutureDays in Lisbon is online! If you like futures, glitches and parasites → www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTAq...

youtube.com

Simon Höher at Future Days 2025

YouTube video by Future Days

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 25/05/2025

Ant mills are odd: everyone follows the rules but the system is collectively stuck. Without intervention they spiral to death. What could this mean for democracies? What happens when rules designed to maintain a system cause its undoing? → New post up now: simonhoeher.substack.com/p/death-by-d...

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 04/05/2025

A few quick thoughts on Iberia’s recent blackout and what this means for how we govern through complexity. → open.substack.com/pub/simonhoe...

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 22/04/2025

My latest post is up: From interventions to intersections → how to move beyond the binary and back. open.substack.com/pub/simonhoe...

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 04/03/2025

PSA: 📣 Ende März bieten wir wieder unseren Kurs Öffentliche Innovation Neu Denken an: Grundlagen, Methoden und viel Praxis für systemisches Arbeiten. Mit tollen Speaker:innen, einer kleinen, feinen Kohorte und viel Einblicke in die Praxis. (Viel) mehr Infos → protocol.ghost.io/offentliche-...

protocol.ghost.io

Öffentliche Innovation Neu Denken

Entdecke neue Perspektiven! Lerne Veränderung systemisch zu gestalten – mit internationalen Expert:innen in einem kompakten Online-Kurs im März und April 2025. Jetzt anmelden! Warum dieser Ku...

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 26/02/2025

Is Foresight a problem!? 🔮 My first post is up! This one is about why we should stop imagining desirable / critical / indigenous futures – and start looking for glitches instead. → open.substack.com/pub/simonhoe...

open.substack.com

Unthinkable Futures

The New is Beyond Prediction

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Zentrum für Politische Schönheit @politicalbeauty.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Wir haben die Schikanen der Polizei Berlin der letzten Wochen nicht an die große Glocke gehängt: Weil wir keine Absicht dahinter vermuteten. Seit gestern wissen wir: Die Polizei hat systematisch ALLES daran gesetzt in den letzten 30 Tagen, den Adenauer SRP+ zu verhindern! Ein Thread zum SKANDAL! 🧵

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 10/02/2025

When faced with crises, we escape to the future: We dream up positive, desirable, even critical futures to strive for—or brace for darker ones. It's how we orient our choices, set our priorities, find something worth fighting for.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 05/02/2025

Ideas evolve, recombine – and sometimes, they’re worth picking up again. I’m starting Permutations: longer reads, slower thoughts on systems, democracy, design and justice. First post is up today! Next one drops tomorrow. If this sounds fun, have a look—or even subscribe: simonhoeher.substack.com

Starting to write on the internet in 2025.
There is value in permutation.
There is surplus is change.

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Digitalegesellschaft.de @digiges.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Wahlkampfversprechen bleiben (aus verschiedensten Gründen) oft einfach nur Versprechen und was im Koalitionsvertag steht, wird auch nicht immer umgesetzt. Beim Real-o-Maten könnt Ihr Eure Erwartungen an die Parteien damit vergleichen, wie die Sie tatsächlich abgestimmt haben.

real-o-mat.de

Real-O-Mat

Reality-Check statt Wahlversprechen. Positionier’ dich zu 20 politischen Forderungen und finde raus: Mit welcher Wahl wird’s auch real?

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re:publica @re-publica.com · 17/01/2025

Auch in diesem Jahr wird das #rp25 Programmteam bei der #CfP Auswertung von unseren Track Teams unterstützt. Wir stellen sie euch ab heute vor. Los geht’s mit unseren Expert*innen zum Themenschwerpunkt #Politik und #Gesellschaft 🔗 re-publica.com/de/news/die-...

In quadratischen Kacheln sind Fotos der diesjährigen Mitglieder des Track Teams zu sehen. Sie wechseln sich mit leeren Kacheln ab. In der Mitte steht übereinander "Politik und Gesellschaft". Die Kacheln sind um den Schriftzug platziert.

In quadratischen Kacheln sind Fotos der diesjährigen Mitglieder des Track Teams zu sehen. Sie wechseln sich mit leeren Kacheln ab.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

Perhaps that weirdness, that moment of seeing clearly, is where real democratic engagement begins. Weird is a start.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

But there's more to it: when you actually focus on a sitcom's laugh track, it becomes strange, unsettling. What if we applied that same conscious attention to our democratic disengagement?

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

The troubling thing about interpassivity is that it works. It creates a comfortable distance. Feeds on itself. Gets harder to escape the more we practice it.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

What forms does this democratic delegation take today? Mass protests that dissolve back into Monday morning routine they day after? The ritual of voting every few years - democracy's own laugh track?

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

Lately I've been thinking about 'delegated democracy' - watching others do what we know deep down is needed. Grassroots organizing in small towns. Human rights protests. Rescue missions in the Mediterranean.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

Marc Fisher describes this 'delegated enjoyment': sitcoms laugh for us, catastrophe films process apocalypse for us. We scroll through endless timelines of despair, letting others feel what we know we should.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 13/01/2025

A few thoughts on #Interpassivity - such a fascinating idea: we outsource our emotional and intellectual engagement to others, experiencing life through their proxy rather than direct involvement.

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Simon Höher @simonhoeher.com · 09/01/2025

The BridgingDictionary by the MIT's Center for Constructive Communication is very nice. And very duh. bridgingdictionary.org

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