We Should Own The Future

A vision for a future that works in our benefit.

I believe our governments, economies, and technologies should work for our benefit, and I explore that the way visionary thinkers always have: Through essay collections and print pamphlets. In the vein of my literary heroes, I call this work utopian.

Paid subscribers get every essay collection I publish online. Collectors get every series as collectable print pamphlets—about 4-6 each year. Join us to get the next one. 👇🏼

In 2026, I crowdfunded $80,000 to write my next book, We Should Own The Future. I’m currently writing it in public—paid subscribers get every chapter as I write them, and collectors get the print version along the way.

Here are the chapters so far:

We Should Own The Future

Introduction: A new vision for the future of our world

I will write this section at the end.

Part I. We Should Own The Government

Cities should benefit residents

• The Scottish island that bought itself

• Cadbury built a city for workers—then gave it to them

• Ebenezer Howard built a better city than the government

• San Francisco should be profitable—instead property owners are

• Disney World has more autonomy than any US city

• Cities should own their land—like Vienna and Amsterdam

• Singapore—where your home loses value and everyone’s better off

• Stop idolizing Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Próspera

• An indigenous nation just built a better city than California Forever

• Decentralize America: The case for cities that don’t need Washington

States should support citizens

• US states should have autonomy—like EU countries

• We should create more US states

States should join the federal governments of their choice à la carte

• Decouple federal government from nation-states

Part II. We Should Own The Economy

Economies should benefit workers and stakeholders

• Mondragon as the new City State

• The Cooperatist Manifesto that inspired Mondragon

• How Silicon Valley got rich

• Every company should be owned by employees

• Founders will get much richer by selling to employees

• Who should control AI?

Part III. We Should Own The Future

Coming soon.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting journalism that deeply researches the most important ideas of our time and how we can create a utopian future for us all. Your subscriptions, comments, and shares make all of it possible!

See you in the community,

Elle Griffin
Author, The Elysian