VDAO Ep.3 Designing Antifragile Systems Regeneration, Nature & Decentralization with Rob Avis
Release Date: 11/24/2025
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In this episode of the VDAO x Greenpill Antifragile Network States mini-series, host Kris Miller talks with Rob Avis, a permaculture educator, systems thinker, and co-founder of Fifth World.
Rob shares his journey from industrial food and oil & gas to regenerative design, and explains how nature, decentralization, and appropriate technology can help humanity build antifragile food, energy, and water systems.
They explore regeneration, feedback loops, digital tools, beaver-built ecosystems, community resilience, and how to inspire the next generation of earth stewards.
A deeply optimistic, practical, and inspiring conversation for anyone building toward a resilient future.
๐ฑ greenpill.network
๐ fifthworld.io
vdao.org
https://x.com/JoinVDAO
https://x.com/rob_5thworld
https://x.com/greenpillnet
๐ Timestamps
00:00 โ Cold Start
01:15 โ Rob Avis joins the show
01:38 โ Childhood roots: seeing the Amazon rainforest destroyed
04:01 โ Cutting down forests in oil & gas the turning point
06:20 โ Traveling the world to study energy, food & water systems
08:04 โ Cheesecake factories, industrial food & system awareness
09:45 โ What antifragility really means
12:06 โ The three states: fragile, resilient, antifragile
13:43 โ Human body as an antifragile system
16:08 โ Ecosystems as antifragile, syntropic systems
18:18 โ Why โsustainabilityโ is not enough
20:07 โ Regeneration: leaving systems better than we found them
22:17 โ The beaver example; disturbance as healing
24:00 โ Humans as positive ecological disruptors
25:42 โ The โwoo-wooโ critique of regenerative movements
28:04 โ Pragmatic regen: examples from large-scale farmers
30:28 โ Using appropriate tools not dogma
32:51 โ Global regeneration examples (Saudi, India, China)
35:09 โ Land vs tech: bridging permaculture and crypto cultures
36:58 โ 10,000 years of โdeforest, plow, desertifyโ
39:24 โ How digital tools enable better ecological feedback
41:51 โ Tech vs nature: design the right balance
44:00 โ Vitalikโs techno-optimism & defensive accelerationism
45:19 โ Decentralization as a natural principle
47:01 โ From activist to humanist
49:00 โ Everything gardens โ humans included
51:18 โ The biggest challenge: changing mindsets
53:29 โ Fifth World: decentralized food, energy & water systems
55:48 โ Case study: regenerating a desert property into abundance
58:14 โ Why people crave reconnection with land & nature
59:57 โ How urban renters can start (the Apple Harvest story)
01:02:37 โ Community orchards & urban abundance
01:04:41 โ Inspiration vs fear: how to steer the canoe
01:06:48 โ Healing ourselves to heal ecosystems
01:09:09 โ Bridging crypto + nature: governance & invisible structures
01:11:33 โ A call for collaboration (real-world builders hackathon?)
01:13:22 โ Regeneration as enlightened self-interest
01:14:40 โ Final thoughts: do we want to be on the extinction list?