Welcome

Why I'm going to try writing again

Apr 18, 2023

Welcome to my Substack. This is an experiment. I’m hoping to use this as a place to share my thoughts and artwork related to AI and quantum computing and other technologies. I believe that art is a way to engage with technology and help shape its future. Art can change the world.

So… why Substack?

Years ago I did a blog. It was a lot of fun. But a blog is a hungry beast and a lot of work to maintain. Plus, it feels, sadly, like the days of blogging are over. Maybe not really, but a blog is a little island to itself, alone in the vast sea of the Internet. Maybe Substack will provide a bit more community and support.

More recently I did a couple of longer essays on Medium (Little AI in 2018, and Tabula Rasa in 2019). Although the process of writing them seemed very difficult, I was really happy with the result and, in retrospect, actually enjoyed the process.

Since then I’ve tried to do shorter, more frequent, writing as part of my posting to Instagram. But Instagram is a place of scrolling and short attention spans. So there’s a tension in keeping my writing short enough so that, maybe, people will read it. But that limits what I say.

So… Substack. Maybe this will be a place where I keep things less formal than my longer essays, but still longer than what I post on Instagram. Is there such a thing as “long-form Instagramming?”

This is an experiment. But it’s good to try new things. And I’ll try not to overthink it too much. That should make it easier and more fun.

Substack and Subscriptions

My intent is not to charge for access to this Substack. So I hope people will subscribe, read my posts, and share their thoughts. If someone wants to pay to support my writing - that’s wonderful, thank you. But free subscribers get the same content as everyone else. Who knows - maybe one day that will change — and if it does I’ll let everyone know.