Daveed Benjamin on Turning Noise into Knowledge, Collective Agency, and the Future of the Web

A chance Hacker Hall conversation at DWeb Camp — sparked by the words “Holochain” and “Nostr” — pulled host Liz Sweigart into conversation with technologist-activist Daveed Benjamin. Within hours, they were mapping constellations of human knowledge and scheming how to weave deeper context and connection into the fabric of the Internet. In this episode of Past the Profile, Daveed (co-author of The Metaweb: The Next Level of the Internet and catalyst behind the Meta-Layer Initiative) traces the path from local-energy advocate to architect of a web where everyone can link, label, and share context. He and Liz explore why our data should serve us, how “bridges” can replace one-way links, and what it takes to crowd-draft the next layer of the Internet before June 30, 2025. Highlights How seeing the Web’s “dots without lines” led Daveed to design two-way bridges that anyone, not just site owners, can draw between pages. Why he believes personal data, properly stewarded, will eclipse homes and cars as our most valuable asset. A primer on the Trivium (knowledge → understanding → wisdom) and why today’s Internet gets stuck at Step 1. The MetaLayer submission assistant (“Bridgit”) that turns germs of ideas or favorite links into formal proposals for the next-gen Web. An open invitation to mid-2025’s first white-paper sprint: drafting the “Desirable Properties of a MetaLayer" as suggested by Vint Cerf.