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The other day I published a Substack newsletter titled 'Degrees of Truth and the Endless Argument.' The piece gets into the muddying of public discourse by the powers that be. It treats truth like a conversation and asks how that conversation could be improved. My goal for the piece was to talk about our framework for understanding reality without using the world epistemology and I achieved this goal.
My writing lately has felt like a balancing act between what I really think and what people want to hear. My opinions have always been controversial. Corporate social media has been suppressing my posts for a couple of years. Public discourse is looking more and more like an ideological minefield. Saying the wrong thing anywhere can attract the ire of an online swarm.
A more general question I've been wrestling with is what exactly do people need to read at this time? My most important message is probably that we live in a dystopia controlled by an unaccountable regime but could live in a paradise if we started to do things differently. Yet the message people most need to hear could be something else entirely. Maybe something encouraging pro-social behavior in the face of endlessly divisive rhetoric.
One subject I'm always drawn to write about is consciousness. This is unfortunate as my writings on consciousness have never been popular. To be fair, these writings are kind of boring. So I try to content myself with weaving the subject into material with greater appeal.
Today I sent off a new article for the next issue of International Paneling. The piece was about dipping your toes into crypto. It mostly got into asset custody and the benefits of decentralization. I'm happy with the writing and hope it's well-received.
Progress on the next scifi novel remains stalled in the envisioning phase. I haven't really had time lately to give this project the attention it requires. One of these days I'll make it a priority. The story I want to tell will solidify in my mind and I'll write it all down. Once I actually start typing, I usually just keep going until a work is complete.
When contemplating fiction, I'm always on the lookout for inspiration. Inspiring characters are everywhere. They're in real life, history, and other fiction. I don't copy the inspiring characters I encounter in their entirety. But I do copy some of their qualities, traits, and mannerisms in the fictional people I invent.
When I really let my mind go wild, I imagine writing something like the show Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, but with less absurdity and more drama. Maybe more petty rivalry too because petty rivalry can be hilarious. And also less detective-ness, because detective novels aren't really my thing.
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