What if society does not have to be organised in the way it is now? In this episode of Oxford Brookes Unscripted, Associate Professor Neal Harris reflects on five years of the Alternative Societies Network, an interdisciplinary community exploring different ways of organising economies, workplaces, communities and political life. The network brings together researchers, practitioners and international speakers to explore co-operatives, mutual aid groups, universal basic income, degrowth, inclusive organisations and new approaches to care, democracy and work. Neal discusses how the network developed organically at Oxford Brookes, why real-world co-operatives often look very different from the theories written about them, and what researchers can learn by listening to the people involved. He also explores the value, and challenges, of interdisciplinary collaboration, and asks how artificial intelligence might reshape alternative forms of organisation in the years ahead. At the heart of the conversation is a hopeful idea: alternatives are not confined to textbooks. They already exist in communities and organisations around us.