AI · thinking
What do I think about AI?
Staying on the edge of AI as a philosophical question. Great readings, doomsday planning, ethics, and arguing about it together.
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Part 1 · The rules
Small on purpose.
I'm never going to be big. I'd rather be good company.I'm never planning on being big, so I'd love to be intentional. This list is for people who actually read it. Three rules:
90%
Open what I send.
I'll send rarely. When I do, I'd like it opened. Nine out of ten is the bar.
6/yr
Click six things a year.
Open at least six links in a year and you stay. The little card in the corner is counting, and it works on this page. Every live link you open punches a hole.
$?
Name your own exit fee.
Fall below the bar and your seat goes to someone who wants it. On the way out, you owe the fee you named on the way in. Stay and you never pay a cent.
Your sealed bid · exit feeSEALED
$25A fair price for leaving a party early.
How much would it bother you to be dropped? Your bid gets sealed into the contract at the bottom.
Part 2 · What I'm writing about
Four rooms. Back two.
Each room gets a working link and a one-minute demo with me in the corner.These are the four things I want to make and write about in public. Step into any of them. Then spend your two chips on the ones you'd actually show up for. My hours go where the chips land.
12Two chips left.
AI · building
Building with AI
NagaBell, the family hub I built for my kids: games you unlock by learning, typing, a spelling-bee coach, and a bank that teaches compound interest. Soon, open source.
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Fiction · middle grade
Nobody's Guess
The middle-grade novel I'm writing. Near-future Michigan vs. Ohio, and an AI called HAWK that predicts everything.
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Writing · timeless
Worth Re-
What's still worth rereading, rewatching and relistening in a world that forgets in a day. Plus the classic book reviews and musings.
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The fine print
How the list works.
Is this leaving Substack?
Yes. Most of what I make lives on its own sites anyway, and Substack can't enforce the rules above. The new list is a plain email list that I run myself. This post goes out on Substack one last time. Sign at the bottom and you move with me. If you don't sign, no hard feelings and no fee. You never agreed to one.
How do you count opens and clicks?
Every email you get has links made just for you, and opening one counts as a click. Opens are fuzzier, because some mail apps report every email as opened and others hide it. So clicks are the rule I'll actually hold you to. Opens are the spirit of it.
Can I forward it?
Sure. Just know that clicks on your links count as yours. If you want a friend in, send them this page. A seat costs a signature.
What happens to my exit fee?
Probably nothing, because you'll stay. If you're dropped, I'll send you a note with your bid and a way to pay it. Paying is on your honor. Whatever comes in buys books, and I'll tell the list which ones.
Someday
The handwritten note club.
Long term, here's where I think this goes: a few people, and a real letter in the mail, written with a pen. No links to count. Nothing to forward.
FIRST
CLASS
To: you · From: Cary, NC
CLASS
Dear reader,
If you got this, you were one of the few who stayed.
— A.
Part 3 · Sign
The contract.
One signature and you're on the new list. Here's what you're agreeing to.
Member · Season 3
You
SIGNED
&
SEALED
&
SEALED