April 9, 2026 from 6pm to 9pm

This course redefines the internet not as a collection of tools, but as a living metabolism — a digital ecology that we inhabit rather than use. By moving beyond the concept of the user, we examine how platforms function as habitats with invisible rules and incentives that quietly govern human perception and social organization. We treat the digital landscape as an active environment where communication systems shape behavior, creating an atmospheric pressure that dictates how we think, move, and relate to one another online.

To understand these complex networks, we look toward the biological world, specifically using mycorrhizal networks as a functional model for digital operations. We analyze how these subterranean fungal systems distribute resources, transmit signals, and maintain balance across interdependent nodes to gain insight into how trust and attention circulate through the web. By viewing digital space through this lens of symbiosis and parasitism, we can better identify whether a platform’s design supports mutual health or leans toward extractive collapse.

Finally, we analyze concrete design patterns as ecological events, framing algorithmic amplification as propagation and burnout as habitat depletion. We investigate how the introduction of AI acts as a significant climate shift, increasing signal volume and accelerating feedback loops in ways that challenge our ability to orient ourselves. Participants will leave with a new idea of digital stewardship, learning to audit networked environments based on their long-term sustainability and their capacity to foster a resilient information ecosystem.