# Dark Matter Labs ## Overview **Website:** https://darkmatterlabs.org/ **Mission:** Building options for the next economies through Life-Ennobling Economies Dark Matter Labs views the interconnected crises of our time as symptoms of deeper, structural miscoding of our economic systems. They explore alternative pathways for organizing society and stewarding shared planetary commons through a radical reframing of our relationship to technology, money, land, and the other-than-human world. ## Core Approach: The Matrix System Dark Matter Labs organizes their work through a three-dimensional matrix representing the dynamic interplay of systemic goals, collaborations, and context-specific initiatives: ### Labs Focused on specific areas of the socio-economic system and everyday codes (norms, behaviors, institutional logic): - **Beyond The Rules Lab** - Multi-actor governance structures - **Capital Systems Lab** - Strategic ecosystem investments - **Beyond Labour Lab** - Vocations of creativity, purpose, and care - **Property & Beyond Lab** - Alternative ownership models - **Societal Decisions Lab** - Data-augmented decision making - **Sensing & Modeling Lab** - Material and energy flows ### Arcs (Directional Goals) - **Net Zero Cities** - Climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 - **Radicle Civics** - Fostering shifts in civic worldviews - **7Gen Cities** - Seven-generation thinking in urban planning - **Material 0 Cities** - Zero-waste urban systems - **Regen Nutrition** - Regenerative food systems - **Nature as Infrastructure** - Ecological infrastructure integration ### Studios (Connective Support) - **Civ Tech Studio** - Technological tools and knowledge development - **Conversational Design Studio** - Communication and engagement strategies - **Foresight & Futuring Studio** - Strategic planning and scenario development - **Org Dev Studio** - Infrastructure support for the entire ecosystem ## Key Paradigm Shifts ### Three Worldview Philosophies 1. **Rooted in recognition of the full web of life** - From violence, scarcity, and separation to thriving planetary community 2. **Grounded in non-bounded understanding of value** - From extractive profit-driven goals to entangled, intergenerational value systems 3. **Enabled by technological ecosystems of care** - From utilitarian 'othering' of technology to animistic interfaces of wisdom and care ### Six Structural Shifts ("Beyond" Framework) 1. **Beyond Property** - From control over 'objects' to reciprocal relationships with life 2. **Beyond Labour** - From humans as resources to vocations of creativity and care 3. **Beyond Extraction** - From extractive claims to infinite guardianship of commons 4. **Beyond Private Contracts** - From linear agreements to multi-party digital treaties 5. **Beyond Governance** - From centralized enforcement to stewardship institutions 6. **Beyond Monetary Capital** - From wealth accumulation to regenerative stewardship of life's capitals ## Core Capabilities & Domains ### Ontology & Epistemology - Fostering relational worldviews - Replacing profit as collective goal - Building political will - Phenomenological measures of success ### Money & Valuation Logic - Demonstrating entangled and long-term value - Decolonized, bioregional currency stewardship - Alternative non-fungible currency systems ### Financial Processes & Investment - Making investment case for entangled value - Bridging demand & supply - Structuring alternative capital & investments - Enabling strategic ecosystem investments ### Ownership, Law & Governance - Alternative theories of ownership - Multi-actor governance structures - Data-augmented decision making - Respect for other-than-human world and future generations ## Global Presence - **Netherlands** - Dark Matter Laboratories B.V. - **United Kingdom** - Dark Matter Laboratories Limited - **Canada** - Laboratoires de Matière sombre / Dark Matter Labs - **South Korea** - 주식회사 다크매터랩스코리아 / Dark Matter Labs Korea Co., Ltd - **Sweden** - Mörk Materia Laboratoriet AB / Dark Matter Labs Sweden ## Key Concepts **Life-Ennobling Economies:** Economic systems that prioritize the flourishing of all life rather than extraction and accumulation. **Economic Options:** Bold directional aspirations including city-scale tree canopies, community endowments, resilient bioregional food systems, and self-owning houses. **Entangled Value:** Recognition that financial capital is intertwined with living and social systems, requiring new forms of measurement and stewardship. **Thingification:** The problematic process of treating living beings and natural systems as disposable, exploitable objects. ## Contact & Social Media - LinkedIn, Medium, X (Twitter), Instagram - Contact available through website --- *Reference compiled from https://darkmatterlabs.org/ - Last updated: 2024*