Rosenstein to Discuss How Shifting Control to the Public Over the Systems That Define Our Existence Can Improve Life
“I’m thrilled to be part of Iceland Eclipse to envision how significantly better our existence could be if the public takes charge of the systems that mold our environment”— Justin Rosenstein
IMXP Immersive Experiences has announced that Justin Rosenstein, the co-founder of Asana and creator of the nonprofit One Project, will present a featured address at Iceland Eclipse on Thursday, August 13 at 4PM inside the AFTERGLOW Dome. Rosenstein’s talk, “Redesigning the Economy: How to Create the World We Want by Changing the Rules of the Game,” will explore how the structure of economic and technological frameworks influences the results society experiences—and how fresh approaches to democratic involvement can grant communities increased authority over the choices and assets that impact their daily lives. This keynote presentation, along with a 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 global communication and online coordination as Rosenstein, an early product leader at both Google and Facebook whose contributions include Google Drive, Gmail Chat, and Facebook’s “Like” button. A student of consciousness and systems design, he broke ground on innovative ways to leverage technology for feedback and resource management, later founding the nonprofit One Project to combine those skills in addressing one of today’s most pressing issues: who determines how a society’s resources are allocated. One Project creates and develops tools that enable people to influence economic decisions affecting their neighborhoods, while also advocating for stronger technology safeguards and AI governance. Recently, One Project launched a pioneering participatory budgeting trial with the City of Columbus, Ohio—a U.S. city of nearly one million residents—granting locals a direct say in how public funds are spent in their communities.
“The challenges we can’t seem to resolve, like the cost of living rising faster than wages, stem from a fundamental issue: an economy that incentivizes the wrong things,” said Justin Rosenstein, co-founder of Asana and founder of One Project. “I’m excited to join Iceland Eclipse to imagine how much better our lives could be by putting the public in charge of the systems that shape the world around us.”
This appearance aligns with Iceland Eclipse’s broader mission to host an event where music, science, technology, culture, and transformative ideas intersect—uniting technologists, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, and cultural leaders around topics that extend well beyond the typical festival experience.
“Justin embodies the exact type of perspective 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 build some of the technologies that fundamentally changed how billions of people communicate and organize, and he is now applying that same systems thinking to an even bigger challenge: how we redesign the rules themselves.”
Rosenstein’s participation will also inject questions about artificial intelligence directly into the Iceland Eclipse technology dialogue. One Project’s efforts consider not just what increasingly powerful AI systems can accomplish, but also how democratic safeguards on those systems can ensure that emerging technologies ultimately benefit the public.
“Iceland Eclipse is about witnessing something remarkable in the sky, but it is 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 evolving at an incredible pace, and Justin’s work pushes us to consider the foundational systems driving that change and could lead to entirely new ways of thinking about the future.”
Throughout the moderated discussion, Bhandari and Rosenstein will delve into whether large-scale public involvement can yield better collective choices, the appropriate balance between experts and communities, and Rosenstein’s vision for an AI-driven future where technology strengthens rather than diminishes democratic agency.
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
