Keywords
And now for something completely different
In the very first post here, I mentioned the intent of working in public – writing about current projects. I’m about to kick off something I should have done a year or more ago, but, y’know, the second best time is today.
Many labels, one community
I’ve read a small pile of books and a larger pile of articles about certain types of people. In the pandemic era when the world learned to use Zoom, I discovered many of these folks in different communities, gathering and connecting under banners of various concepts and keywords. In retrospect, that was the lesson: attracting the right kind of people is more important than the organizing topic.
And the labels. Oh, the labels. Generalist, neo-generalist, polymath, multipotentialite, and – well, more. Some of these are generating a buzz in the last few years. I have a reading list that spans books, articles, posts and academic papers, but that’s for another time.
I’m a utilitarian when it comes to the labels: if one works for you, embrace it. If not, pass it by and move along. I have opinions, but the label is less important than the people. I won’t argue that they all mean the same thing, but for my purposes, they describe the same population of interesting people, and it turns out I’m not the only one with too many interests.
We met in groups about understanding ourselves, about specific disciplines (sensemaking, futures, systems thinking), or about bigger challenges (exiting the pandemic, sustainable development, the metacrisis). Whatever the organizing concept, the setting always tantalized with the possibility of doing something with these people that never quite happened. It’s time to scratch that itch.
I plan to introduce the concept to a close group of friends and potential alpha testers in a couple of weeks. I promise it’s not as vague as this post. If it makes sense to you so far, I’d like to invite you to attend. Just reply to this email, and I’ll send you the information.
Inspiration
Ross Dawson’s Humans + AI Explorers and Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s Ness Labs Community reminded me that meeting interesting people is more important than the topic that brings us together.
Discovery
Inside the race to archive the US government’s websites - In 2025, the memory hole is a delete function.
TBR
The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next – Looking beyond the specific events – Fire Weather, Fire on the Mountain – to consider how we’ve changed things.
The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action – Creativity as something you do, not something you are.
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service – Michael Lewis, say no more.