Week 1: Protocols for Flourishing
A deeper dive into week 1 programming across AI, health, consciousness, governance, education, and human potential.
Tickets are still available. Apply now—once accepted, you’ll choose your week and purchase your ticket. Prices rise every Monday.
Read the month long programming lineup here→
Week 1 of Edge Esmeralda, Protocols for Flourishing, features six immersive programs exploring the systems and practices that shape human flourishing. The week spans:
Truth-seeking AI
Consciousness
Health and biotech
Policy and economic infrastructure
Protocol education
Transhumanist futures
Led by researchers, founders, and facilitators at the frontiers of their fields, these tracks offer opportunities to learn, build, and collaborate with thoughtful people shaping the future.
Below is an overview of each track: what to expect, who’s involved, and who it’s for.
Truth-Seeking AI
May 26–29 · Philosophical foundations for systems that support human flourishing
A four-day intensive hosted by Cosmos Institute exploring how AI systems can be designed to support truth-seeking, critical inquiry, and human autonomy. Participants will examine classical epistemology—from Socratic dialogue to Popperian falsifiability—and apply those ideas through a final-day hackathon.
Note: Some sessions will be working group–focused; most are open to all participants to observe or join.
Schedule:
Daily sessions from 10am–1pm, May 26–29
Hackathon on May 29 from 2–6pm
Who’s involved:
Brendan McCord (Cosmos Institute), Avantika Mehra (Cosmos Institute)
Who this is for:
Philosophers, engineers, researchers, and individuals interested in building AI systems that support human reasoning, critical thinking, and aligned decision-making
Consciousness Week
May 24–30 · Ancient maps, modern minds, and the science of enlightenment
A weeklong exploration of consciousness drawing from neuroscience, contemplative traditions, and collective intelligence theory. Through morning salons and evening immersions, participants will investigate frameworks of enlightenment, coordination, and awareness across disciplines and practices.
Schedule:
Morning salons from 10am–12pm, May 24–30
Afternoon talks & Discussions from 4-6pm
Evening sessions with guided mediations, breath work and other immersive experiences from 6-7pm
Who’s involved:
Mike Johnson (Symmetry Institute), Ryan Pripstein (Anagram), Janine Leger (Edge City), Riva Tez, Emmett Shear (ex-Twitch), Stephen Zerfas (Jhourney), Dor Konforty (Megananda), Brian Toomey (Harvard), Jeff Lieberman, Ginevra Davis (Palladium)
Who this is for:
Anyone interested in consciousness research, somatic practice, collective inquiry, or spiritual-scientific integration
Vital Futures
May 24–30 · Rewriting Health & Human Potential
A full-week immersion into the systems and tools shaping human health—from regenerative agriculture to diagnostics, metabolic care, and environmental toxins. Participants will explore both personal practices and systemic models for building healthy futures.
Schedule:
Daily sessions from 1–4pm, May 24–30
Optional self-tracking prompts offered throughout the week
Who’s involved:
Justin Mares (TrueMed), Ben Brummell (Full Circle), Julia Lipton (Awesome People Ventures), and others in biotech, health coaching, and systems design
Who this is for:
People reimagining health across wellness, biotech, diagnostics, and food systems, from the personal to the institutional level
Protocol Worlds
May 26–30 · Turning protocol theory into live, testable educational experiences
A weeklong design lab hosted in partnership with Summer of Protocols (sponsored by Ethereum Foundation), focused on prototyping new ways to teach and understand protocols—systems of rules, infrastructure, and coordination. Fellows will experiment with formats like mock classes, interactive demos, and modular tools to hone their courses, which they'll deliver at their home institutions in the coming academic year.
As part of Protocol Worlds, join the Memory Models Book Club to dive into archival practice, artificial memory, and long‑termism — sign up form here.
Note: Some daytime sessions are cohort-only, but multiple sessions will be open to all participants, including public workshops, salons, and a special collaboration with the Long Now Foundation. If you’re interested in joining the cohort, apply here.
Schedule:
Core working sessions daily from 9am–12:30pm, May 26–30
Public mock classes on Friday; open workshops and salons throughout the week
Evening salons on protocol theory, infrastructure design, and epistemics
Who’s involved:
Venkatesh Rao (Summer of Protocols), Tim Beiko (The Ethereum Foundation), Timber Schroff, Primavera De Filippi (Harvard Berkman Klein), Vaughn Tan (UCL), Kei Kreutler, Helena Rong, and others.
Who this is for:
Teachers, students, and individuals working on governance, coordination systems, smart contracts, or anyone trying to make complex ideas more accessible
Transhumanism Workshop
May 29 · Rethinking what it means to be human
Transhumanism is the belief that humanity can evolve past our current physical limitations, especially via science and technology.
It’s hopeful and seeks to improve the lowest common experience of all humans, extend lifespan, expand cognition, and enable deeper spiritual and emotional fulfillment.
This sounds excellent.
But sometimes technologies are met with opposition.
From Golden Rice, which aimed to prevent blindness in at-risk populations but was rejected on political grounds, to vaccination, once controversial and now foundational to public health, to in vitro fertilization, brain-computer interfaces, and even artificial intelligence, which raises urgent questions about identity, agency, and control —
This workshop invites founders, scientists, artists, and technologists to explore the cultural membrane between innovation and adoption.
You’re invited to give a 5–10 minute Lightning Talk on your technology of interest, then place it on two axes: transhumanist vs nostalgic and taboo vs accepted. We’ll discuss and explore how technologies move across this map — and how to help them get where they need to go.
One-time workshop: May 29, 2–5pm
Who this is for: Anyone curious about the philosophical and practical boundaries of human transformation via technology.
To participate: email kat@cradle.xyz
Join us
The ideas, people, and disciplines coming together this week are going to be something special—a convergence of real intelligence and beauty all pointed toward human flourishing.
If you’re curious, building, in transition, or just craving meaning and momentum in good company, you’ll want to be there.Get your ticket and come shape it with us.
Have questions? Need housing? Want to know if it’s the right fit? Reach out to info@edgeesmeralda.com—we’re happy to help.
— Edge Esmeralda Team ☀️