100 articles later...

A retrospective, and a vision for the future

A brief retrospective

November 4th. My first real post on this platform. It's been quite a journey since. Over 1000 of you have joined my email list and 26 of you are supporting me financially, helping me continue to create content. I cannot say enough how grateful I am for the support everyone has given me. I am flattered by how many people care about what I have to say.

It took me a little longer than I had intended to reach 100 posts on substack. The last year has been a period of significant transitions and growth in my life. It's been nice to have a place to get my thoughts out and it's been far nicer to have people share them, respond to them, and care about them.

The Future

Looking back, I've covered a huge number of topics. As I look forward, I’m excited to continue developing my thoughts further on those as well as publishing my thoughts on a variety of new topics. I've focused mostly on political theory and some philosophical musings alongside my thoughts on current events. As I move forward, I want to expand into a series of new areas as well. I will call these five areas Tactics, Aesthetics, Pure Philosophy, Paid posts (we'll get to this one), and Data posts.

Tactics

A number of months ago, I posted one of my most popular pieces ever: A Primer on (Alternative) Institutions. In that piece, I began expounding my thesis that alternative institutions are critical to salvaging a healthy society from the sludge of our current one. The need for these alternative institutions have only become more pressing as our governments and bureaucracies continue to demonstrate they are incapable of adequately responding to, well, anything (beyond symbolic dissent against the regime). I intend to lay out a far more in-depth, "tactical" explanation of how to build robust alternative institutions resilient against Blue Empire attacks, how to use those alternative institutions to engage in hostile takeovers of already-existing institutions, and how to unite alternative institutions into parallel societies. These will be extremely pragmatic posts. The philosophy and political thought will take a back seat. Yes, we must understand how Power operates, but academics will not be the source of any future revolution (even ignoring their physiognomy). Due to some life experiences, I feel I am qualified to share these thoughts, and I intend to make these posts as helpful as possible to generating actual on-the-ground change.

Aesthetics

I've always found art history, architecture, and literature to be fascinating. I would like to discuss a number of these things in the future. Now, don't worry, this isn't going to become a literature and art blog. It's just something I will throw in every once in a while to spice things up. I could give you a whole speech about how "Beauty is key to any meaningful political or philosophical idea blah blah blah" but we all know this is bullsh*t. I want to write these pieces because they interest me. I'm not going to do pure formal critiques of art pieces or post "Brutalism Bad;" I'm going to discuss topics that intersect with politics, philosophy, and ideas we already discuss. Just from a new perspective. I hope it's something you all will enjoy.

Pure Philosophy

Beyond political philosophy and my apparent obsession with map/territory relations (I did a google search of "Map" and "World" on my site and...well...wew), I have always been fascinated by "pure" philosophy. Metaphysics, epistemology, theology (yeah I know, its not properly philosophy - leave me alone), etc. I would like to discuss some of these topics in the future. Similar to the Aesthetics posts, these will be every once in a while. They will likely not be clearly connected to any political or current event topic. But you may get a better idea of my thought processes and how I approach problems. Perhaps you'll find something interesting in the pieces.

Paid posts

Before I begin, understand that going forward the vast majority of my content (~80-90%) will be free for all. My philosophy regarding paywalls has always been that the only posts worthy of being put behind a paywall are posts that require me to spend actual money on to produce. If I'm just musing or if I am discussing topics from books or articles I got in uni or that are otherwise free to acquire, there is no reason for a paywall. I support open debate and I like talking to all of you. With that said, there are some topics that I do wish to begin discussing that require monetary expenditure. The first piece behind a paywall will likely appear in 6-8 weeks, perhaps longer. I currently have over 30 free posts planned for the future and by the time I work through that list, another 30 will have popped up. There will be lots of content for everyone, whether you are willing to pay or not.

Data

I am a research analyst by trade and an economist and statistician by study. However much I dunk on economics as a pseudoscience, I want to start doing more data-heavy pieces. (Again, so long as these don't require any payment for data or software - and they shouldn't - these will be free for all). These data-heavy pieces will be on various think-tank favorites: health care, inflation, housing, university, etc. As well as some issues that think-tanks prefer not to touch: for example, surveying the literature on diversity + trust and drawing out defensible conclusions may be a controversial practice but it is a topic that interests me and it's on the docket for the future. As I compile data for various topics over time, there will come moments when I realize I have enough for a proper post. These data-heavy posts will be rare. If there is any topic that people want examined, so long as it is something I have time for and that I find sufficiently interesting, I am happy to consider it.

Some Bigger Projects

Beyond the new kinds of posts, I intend to develop some series (potentially turn them into books) on bigger topics such as Liberalism, Political Economy, and Meta-Ethics. These series would be systematic works, and each post would be akin to a chapter within it. I've had myriad posts on Liberalism and Political Economy, but I haven't systematized and formally laid out my thoughts. These series will be about that.

Bright Horizons

Once again, I am extremely grateful to you all for letting me take this journey with you all. Your support is incredible. I know that we look out and the world seems like a horrifying place. But do not give up. Apathy is an understandable response, but it is still the incorrect one. There can be no despair. There is only the work that must be done. I look forward to continuing this adventure with you all. Much love.

---