S31 Labs Manifesto

“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them…”

--- Genesis 11:5

We live in a time when connecting with others is easy. We text. We call. We comment, share, and like. We express ourselves with photos, videos, emojis, and memes. We stream our everyday life to people from all over the world.

We live in a time when connecting with others is hard. We disconnect due to cultural differences. We disconnect due to classes. We disconnect as political systems attack each other. We disconnect when big data feeds us differently and day-to-day work turns us into machines.

Just like a language is who speaks it, the power of connection is who uses it. As modern technology opens up new ways of connection, whether we get to understand each other better or create bigger gaps is not a question about the ever-changing world but the never-changing human nature. The tower of Babel was built with the power of connection but destroyed when such a connection fell apart.

Server31’s mission is to reveal the power of connection while reminding our kind of the danger of disconnection. We do so by running social and economical experiments with people who ultimately believe in the goodness of mankind. We operate in virtual test fields where we can safely fall and rise up again until we eventually find sustainable ways to be applied to the real world.

If liberty and equality are inherently paradoxical, we choose fraternity, we choose empathy, we choose love.

Our projects:
Fractopus
Copus
Babel Universe