Aired Jul 1, 2026

If you visit the digital publishing platform Aemula, you might not be blown away at first glance. It looks familiar, clean, and intentionally simple. But that familiarity hides a quiet, structural revolution designed to flip the financial incentives of the outrage economy entirely upside down.

In this episode, we sit down with Don Templeman, the co-founder of Aemula, to dissect why traditional media and social networks are fundamentally trapped by audience capture, click-driven ad models, and fringe rhetoric. Drawing from his seven-year background in finance, Don explains a core reality of human nature: people will always exploit incentives to their absolute limit. Instead of fighting that fact, Aemula has built an open-source, community-governed system where gaming the algorithm actually results in a healthier, less polarized information landscape.

Whether you are a reader looking to escape the exhausting ad-driven outrage machine, or a writer wondering if your ideas can actually bridge deep ideological divides, this conversation pulls back the curtain on the math and mechanics required to move media from emotional reaction (System 1) to analytical reflection (System 2).

Don Templeman is the founder of Aemula, an open-source platform designed to foster collaboration and reveal consensus. A pioneer in digital architecture, he focuses on leveraging technology to de-polarize online spaces and improve civic discourse.

Links

Aemula (aemula.com)

What if Algorithms Rewarded Bridge-Building? (Substack)