I just started a newsletter, and it's all your fault!
I just started a newsletter, and it's all your fault!
but it's OK, really.
Welcome to my trove of news, commentary, analysis and curated reading lists about (mostly) digital issues that matter for everybody. My goal is to help parents, teachers and EVERYBODY ELSE to understand, in the quickest and simplest way possible, why and how “distant” issues like these directly affect their lives, and what they may do about it:
Why a newsletter, you ask? Easy! My blog called Stop (to think, that is)! has been online since 2006, and I have no intention to end it. In 2023, however:
on one hand, I have to accept that almost nobody uses RSS feeds, or click to read the end of a story on another page or app (this would be the “your fault” part, but it’s OK, really!)
on the other hand, I am sick and tired of search engines and social media that shadowban every independent voice that doesn't pay them day and night…
If a newsletter is the only way left to be sure that at least all my self-declared "followers" do receive everything I write and can read it in the smoothest possible way, so be it.
How is THIS newsletter different?
If I'm not mistaken, this newsletter may be different from most others out there in at least two aspects. First, it will be almost the opposite of "niche" content. Sure, almost every guide for "content creators" recommends to find a unique niche and get good at it. And there is, indeed, great need for lots of good "niche content" of all kinds.
Fact is, there are already enough “niche authors” around (including myself, see below!), but far from enough who help the largest possible audience to connect all the dots that it's necessary to see in a complex society. Which is really bad because, at least at the general comprehension level, what would be enough for insects is pitifully inadequate for humans alive today.
Second, albeit I'd really need, and hope, to make as much money as possible with and through this newsletter, I commit to move everything I publish here, after a few weeks, to a permanent, never paywalled location on my already existing blog. Because if things aren’t good these days it’s also because toxic content is always free of charge, while too much good stuff is only accessible to the lucky few with money to spare for reading. In other words I dare say that paying for this newsletter will also be a good turn.
In exchange for that good turn, however, paying and Founder subscribers will get access to reserved online chats or videoconference, in which we may discuss all the issues in the newsletter and, why not, even think of some solutions. Details on this will follow soon.
What you will find here
Two-bullet answer: More or less weekly news and food for thought, in the simplest possible format, about:
the many intersections of (mostly, not always) digital technologies with common sense, purpose, and reality in general
how your human rights and quality of life depend every year more on how software in all its forms, including robots, cryptcurrencies and AI, is used around you
Some high-level themes I plan to cover (for an actual list of the first dozen issues, see below) are:
the fact that cyberspace never existed, and metaverse never will. Not as separate places for sure. There is only one reality, and we all share it.
the real "startups"and "innovation" that we would need, instead of those we do our worst to deserve
the risks of attributing too many problems to Artificial "Intelligence", instead of Human ignorance or apathy
the unstoppable, tech-accelerated unraveling of work and money
how youth, parenting, relationships... should cope with all of the above
because it's ALL interconnected, and if we keep asking wrong or partial questions, the answers won't matter.
Each issue will also include a short list of other articles, video or podcasts, by me and others, that in my humble opinion everybody should know.
Who is this for, again?
Hopefully, all parents, teachers and other “policymakers” of every kind, from journalists to politicians! In other words, everybody who is not a specialist and has just no time to sift thousands of words every day, but still needs to notice, and understand, the things that matter the most, in a world that should urgently make better use of technology.
Who am I, anyway?
Work-wise, I play at least two, more or less complementary personas every day. One is an aspiring polymath, who has already written over one million words and spoken at several events worldwide on the topics above, and is looking for sustainable ways to really engage with his readers. Others have described me, among other things, as a "rare thinker and doer", "at the forefront of policy issues in the social application of technology".
The other Marco is a freelance author with more than 15 years' experience, available to write blog posts, business cases, tutorial, documentation and more about several technologies, including but not limited to: Linux and Free/Open Source Software, Artificial Intelligence, Edge and Cloud Computing, Data Centers, FPGAs and Microelectronics.
TEMPORARY titles of the "first" (more or less) thirteen posts:
The TEMPORARY titles of the "first" thirteen issues of the newsletter are listed below. TEMPORARY and "first" mean that, while I am going to publish all those issues, their exact title and content may vary, as well as their order. This said, here's the list:
Metaverse is like prepping: none of them works as advertised, eventually
There is little as obsolete as what we call innovation these days
What 5G, 6G and driverless vehicles REALLY have in common
The real advantages of the right kind of nuclear power
Climate Change, or (digitally-enabled) REAL, urgent change?
Those who erase religion are digitally lead to reinvent it
Communication is always toxic, if it's fast
Why and how the UN should take over Amazon
Wanted: a reform of (digital) money that is not a scam
From packaging to file formats, real progress comes from LESS, not more "choice"
Self-restricting communication: every year more emoticons, more video, less and less words
No, you don't need a job. Not what our forefathers called "job", that is
The sorely overdue detox of parenting