Civil society is on a dangerous road. The idea that people of differing views can collaborate together, have an honest debate with civility and mutual respect, and then reach a compromise that lets people move forward seems like a fairy tale. Instead, people believe conspiracy theories, fake news, hide their ulterior motives, go along with group think, and act out of fear. Frustration and misunderstanding leads to violence. The cycle needs to end.

ThoughtWorld is built to encourage people to think, find compromises, collaborate with others, and be unafraid to pose new ideas, even bad ones. Without freedom to think, we will never be able to find the compromises that will begin to bridge the great divide that has formed in our public debate.

To share freely, without fear of reprisal or incrimination, people now need anonymity. With it, they can share how much they like or dislike ideas, find new trusted people they might not have been willing to listen to, and collaborate with those they don’t know when they agree about an idea.

Traditional polling is broken, but people still care deeply about what others think. They look to those they trust to help decide what to believe. ThoughtWorld helps understand what others think, and expands the group of people you are willing to listen to not by their good looks, popularity, or political affiliation, but by the content of their ideas.