What’s all this, then?

This is my Substack. To which you should

I’m mainly going to write here about two unfolding phenomena:

1. The recent, often unexpected appearance of a lot of good stuff, viz:

   1. Huge amounts of high-quality filmed entertainment from a company that started as a DVD-by-mail service.

   2. Fast, cheap, rugged, reliable, global satellite internet connectivity from a startup rocket company.

   3. Cheap, scalable, on-demand computing infrastructure from an e-tailer.

   4. A cheap, comprehensive US incorporation service, used to date by over 45,000 companies across ~140 countries, from a payment services provider.

2. The accelerating disruption of many of the 20th century’s most successful companies.

You’re thinking that I think these two phenomena are closely linked, and you’re damn right I do.

I think a bunch of geeks, concentrated in but not exclusive to a couple small patches of real estate on the West Coast of the US have over the course of the 21st century given the company a major upgrade. Companies that have installed the upgrade rack up impressive accomplishments like the ones above, and are tough rivals. Those that haven’t, which include most of the Industrial Era’s incumbents, are doing about as well as the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian kingdoms of the 4th century BCE did when Alexander the Great came to town.

I call this upgrade to the company The Geek Way. I wrote a book about it:

I’m mainly going to use this venue to talk about the geek way: to expand on ideas in the book, discuss the ongoing clashes between geek and non-geek companies (TL;DR always bet on geek), and provide guidance to those who want to geek geekier.

I’m also going to write about other topics that interest (nay, fascinate) me. AI, our (improving!) relationship with the planet we all live on, progress and how to get more of it, and who knows what else.

Is there a call to action?

Yes: click this button:

And also join the conversation about the geek way as it unfolds here. I’d love to hear what you think.

(To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.)