Benjamin Fried is a PhD student in the Cognitive & Information Sciences Department at UC Merced. His research draws on cultural evolution, political economy, and complex systems theory to examine how theoretical forms of economic organization and governance can sustain cooperation, allocate resources, and remain robust to inequality, conflict, and shocks. He is also interested in the creation, dissemination, and consumption of media, particularly propaganda, and how media ecosystems shape institutional stability and collective action. Benjamin holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Johns Hopkins University and an M.S. in the Physics of Complex Systems from IFISC.