Do I need LinkedIn?
I really do not like LinkedIn. I don't like how performative it is, how it's owned by Microsoft, and how absolutely infested with AI slop it's become. However, "everyone's on it" and I like being connected to people.
…Substrate
A living collection of notes, ideas, and reflections from Doug Belshaw.
Toggl and spreadsheets
I'm sure there's a way I could automate this, but I keep track of projects by copy/pasting the number of hours spent on projects from Toggl into a spreadsheet. The trouble is that this then needs formatting into something that the spreadsheet (in this case, Proton Sheets) can deal with.
…Building a world instead of an audience
I guess this is what I'm trying to do with Substrate - a digital garden ecosystem:
instead of “building an audience,” build a world. build a digital garden-ecosystem, that exists — first and primarily — for itself. a world that doesn’t need likes, traffic, subscribers, or clicks — in order to validate its existence.
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Using AI to write about the dangers of AI
We shouldn't unquestioningly believe "AI detectors" but nor should we be so naive to think that anyone's immune form the temptation of using AI to write very long documents.
It’s possible that AI was used to write parts of Pope Leo XIV’s latest encyclical about AI’s impact on humanity. An analysis by Linch Zhang posted on the forum LessWrong found certain paragraphs of Magnifica Humanitas to be between 40 percent and 100 percent written by AI, according to the popular AI detector Pangram.
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It's algorithms all the way down?
When reading this post I couldn't help but think about Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) which I think is the perfect fit for an organisation made up of humans and AI agents. I've written about VSM numerous times as part of my postgraduate studies into Systems Thinking.
…There's a Douglas Adams quotation for every occasion
From The Salmon of Doubt:
We are stuck with technology when all we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:
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The nervous system under capital
I like the idea of "activist neuroaesthetics" - of an aesthetic life being about process rather than product, and focused on the relations between us and our environment. The side benefit? Lowering our cortisol levels.
…Bucket Art
Although there's a whiff of NFT vibes here, I think titles.xyz could be much more viable/useful. Essentially, artists (or anyone) pre-trains an AI model in a virtual 'studio'. Others can then create art based on that model, and the original artist gets a cut of the money changing hands.
…Reflections on 'Myths We Live By: Metaphor as a Tool for Empowering Change'
I attended a workshop on May 1st, 2026 with Annalise Lewis of Manifesto which was so good I followed-up with her for some 1:1 coaching. What follows are my notes from that initial workshop, which I scribbled down in a notebook.
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