In an age where political discourse happens through screens and algorithms, a neuroscience startup decided to try something radically analog: actual conversation.
Matter Neuroscience installed two refurbished payphones in January, connecting San Francisco's Mission District with downtown Abilene, Texas. The cities weren't chosen randomly. San Francisco overwhelmingly voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, while roughly 60 percent of Abilene supported Donald Trump, making them among the country's most politically divided cities with populations over 100,000.
The mechanics are beautifully simple. A red phone outside Black Serum Tattoo in San Francisco reads "Call a Republican." When someone picks it up, a blue phone 1,500 miles away in Abilene automatically rings, inviting passersby to "Call a Democrat." The phones—purchased for $300 each on Facebook Marketplace and retrofitted with cellular modems—only connect to each other.
Matter Neuroscience, which raised $26 million to study happiness through neuroscience, designed the experiment around a basic premise: positive human connection lowers cortisol and boosts feel-good neurotransmitters, regardless of political identity.
The five recorded conversations released so far suggest the theory holds. Despite being explicitly asked about their political identities, many callers resist labels entirely. When one San Francisco caller identified as "pretty liberal" and asked an Abilene woman if she was Republican, the response came with a laugh: "I've become more Independent as I get older."
"Do you see the world as crazy as I do?" the San Francisco caller asked.
"Yes, I do," came the reply. "It's getting worse every day."
Then they both started laughing.
The topics range from cybertrucks and annoying coworkers to classic novels and local construction projects. But mostly, callers talk about the weather and traffic—the undeniably human small talk that transcends zip codes.
"I could feel the happiness in their voices, and that made me happy too," one person wrote after watching a recording where two strangers dissolved into giggles.
Co-founder Ben Goldhirsh sees it as proof that given the chance, people naturally seek connection. "Our thesis is that humans are pretty awesome and—if given the opportunity—will really look to find common ground because biologically that actually gives us a lot more happiness," he said.
The phones may only be up for a few weeks, but the company has hinted at expansion plans. When asked about installing more phones in different cities, Matter Neuroscience responded with a teasing emoji: "We are working on what's next."