Welcome!

'Red Smith was asked if turning out a daily column wasn’t quite a chore. ”Why, no,” dead-panned Red. “You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.”'

I’ve long spoken and written in public, often to the point where people ask me to stop. But enough other people ask me to continue, and so continue I do.

I’ve rotated through various experiments, from longform blogging to essay writing to witty aphorisms. Now I’m starting a new experiment — I’ll write daily[*] here on Substack, and will also crosspost to Twitter and Farcaster.

What’s my purpose? Variously: To share what I’m thinking; to share how I think; to share a way of thinking; to keep a personal notebook of thoughts; to send messages to my younger self.

What will I write about? A lot of tech, business, and investing, of course. But beyond, into history and philosophy — who are we, how did we get here, what are we doing, where are we going? And then back around to the societal impact of technology, which is the story of our time. I’ll also solicit questions on Twitter and Farcaster, so sharpen your styluses.

How will I write? Generally I won’t edit my copy, I won’t cite my sources, and I won’t try to be consistent. My motto is “strong views weakly held”, and you’ll see that on display here. Anything I say today I may disagree with tomorrow, in fact I frequently won’t even remember tomorrow. Ours is a moment of small, pinched, bitter minds hurling accusations of hypocrisy and inconsistency; I declare my freedom from all such criticism up front. I don’t even know what I think most of the time, why should you? Interpret all statements as questions and all declarations as explorations.

What’s my hope? To show you that we live in a more interesting world than you might think; that it’s more comprehensible than you might fear; and that more things are possible than you might imagine.

Finally, I have certain restrictions on what I can write about due to the regulated nature of my day job. Often, if I’m not writing about a topic you think I obviously should, that’s why.

[*] A goal, not a promise!