Why we are leaving Substack

Last November, Jonathan Katz published a report in The Atlantic Monthly that sparked a contentious debate across the Substack community. Katz highlighted newsletters on the platform that prominently featured overt Nazi symbols and rhetoric and pointed out that the platform was not only allowing the publishers of these newsletters to earn money, Substack itself was profiting from them.

Following this report, nearly 250 Substack authors sent an open letter to the platform's leadership, urging the removal of these pro-Nazi newsletters, citing a violation of the platform’s guidelines against hate speech.

Substack's response to this letter was to uphold its hands-off moderation policy. Leadership, including co-founder Hamish McKenzie, asserted that they would not remove or de-monetize pro-Nazi content unless it directly incited violence. "I just want to make it clear," McKenzie wrote, "that we don't endorse Nazi ideology—we wish no one held those views. But some people do hold those and other extreme views . . . We believe that supporting individual rights and civil liberties while subjecting ideas to open discourse is the best way to strip bad ideas of their power. We are committed to upholding and protecting freedom of expression, even when it hurts.”

At The Futures Collaborative we believe deeply in free speech and recognize its importance in sustaining a vibrant and evolving democratic society. We also recognize that there are limits to free speech, especially when that speech conflicts with other fundamental values, among them an individual’s right to live in safety and pursue happiness. Substack recognizes these limits in its guidelines, which state that the platform “cannot be used to publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes.”All pro-Nazi content, we believe, incites violence. As Margaret Atwood explained in her essay on the controversy, "What does 'Nazi' mean, or signify? Many things, but among them is 'Kill all Jews' . . . If 'Nazi' does not mean this, what does it mean instead? I’d be eager to know. As it is, anyone displaying the insignia or claiming the name is in effect saying, 'Kill all Jews.’”

Despite Substack's recent decision to remove five pro-Nazi newsletters, many, including technology journalist Casey Newton, who commands a significant following of 170,000 subscribers to his newsletter Platformer, have noted that the platform has not made a firm commitment to consistently remove such material and decided to leave. Newton's departure underscores his concerns that Substack “seemed to be asking [writers]  to serve as permanent volunteer moderators; and that in the meantime all of the hate speech on the platform remains eligible for promotion in Notes, its weekly email digest, and other algorithmically ranked surfaces.”

In light of these concerns and our commitment to fostering an environment that invites inclusive and forward-thinking dialogue, we are migrating Learning Futures away from Substack. This decision stems from our belief that the platforms we use should be consistent with the ethical standards and values we strive to uphold.

We understand that this move may go unnoticed by Substack leadership and that some might argue we should continue to fight for change from within. However, Substack is a private company seeking profit, and we believe that a powerful form of dissent is to choose not to use its services when they are misaligned with our values.

We are working diligently to ensure a seamless transition so that our next issue reaches you without disruption. We are grateful for your support and patience during this change. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to express them in the comments or reach out directly to us at [email protected].

Signals from the future

While much of our time recently has been absorbed by the thinking through the events at Substack, our response, and the work of migrating to a new platform, we have continued to scan for signals from the future. Below are a few that caught our attention. We hope you will find them to be usefully provocative invitations to imagine the world in 2036 and re-imagine education today.

Climate Anxiety and Regenerative Education

A 2021 study published in The Lancet  reveals that approximately 70% of young people aged 16-25 are deeply concerned about climate change—a sentiment echoed by similar research. This widespread concern highlights the importance of initiatives like the Regenerative Agriculture Education Center at the Bakersfield College Delano Campus. The Center will help students explore sustainable practices in agriculture and energy, and provide them with practical, hands-on experience. This initiative will empower young people to take tangible actions to help build resilient communities.

As educators, we should ask ourselves how we might provide opportunities for students across all age groups to develop a sense of personal agency and control in the face of complex challenges.  What strategies and initiatives can we design to ensure that students not only understand the issues at hand but also feel capable and motivated to act in response to them?

Empathetic AI

A new study in Nature found that Google’s conversational AI system Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (AMIE) diagnosed heart and lung conditions more accurately than doctors on an online healthcare platform. More surprisingly, the chatbot ranked higher “in 24 of 26 criteria for conversation quality, including politeness, explaining the condition and treatment, coming across as honest, and expressing care and commitment.” Even though the chatbot is a long way from being used in clinical care, the study’s authors argue that it – and tools like it - could help expand access to high quality health care.

Generative AI Disclosure and Reflections

For this issue we drafted our statement about leaving Substack and then worked with GPT-4 to improve the draft’s clarity. We continue find that using GPT and Claude as our first readers creates a useful feedback loop, allowing us to refine our thinking and revise rapidly. We used the same process for the two signals of change. Then we worked on images, starting by using PromptGenius to help us develop the prompts, then experimenting with them in DALL-E-3 and StableDiffusionXL. We didn’t end up with a good image for empathetic AI, but we were satisfied with the graphic illustrating our decision to leave Substack.