Every online space feels overcrowded, so why bother with a personal site?
The internet first struck me as a boundless medium for self-expression, but the experience has grown commoditized and platforms have become increasingly extractive. The deluge of AI-generated content makes sifting out signal harder than ever.
In this climate, sharing simple creative works can feel like a small act of defiance.
Instead of being a monthly active user statistic, I want to share my thoughts in a format I control.
Why Write?#
I write all day - work chats, notes, messages - but long-form writing is different. It’s a method of organizing and refining my thoughts. Reviewing my own words forces consideration of detail; the quality and completeness of my ideas become readily apparent.
Publishing on my site lets me present distilled thoughts in their entirety, not as clippings in the collage of someone’s social media feed. If I want to share information or my perspective, I can link to it rather than rehashing the same discussions in multiple venues. And the idea of publishing encourages me to hold myself to a higher standard.
Why a Blog?#
I try to minimize my online footprint to the extent possible. I’m interested in digital privacy and the ways in which our public information is harvested, resold, and used against our own best interests - and yet, I’m here with a site under my own name.
While my work in digital asset security encourages a low profile, a visible online presence allows me to help more people learn to keep their crypto safe. A lot of widely circulated security advice is nearly as dangerous as the people trying to separate you from your money.
That’s a compelling reason to speak up. But there’s another problem.
Despite all the time spent writing, I find it difficult to finalize and publish anything. I’m at the keyboard every single day creating walls of text in Slack, Discord, and Telegram, but when it comes to formalizing it, my fingers freeze up. The editorial over-analysis sets in: if I’m going to stamp my name on it, it had better be really good.
This is my approach to fixing that. This medium enables me to treat public writing as an ongoing communication process, not a graded essay.
What I’ll Cover#
My current focus is on digital privacy, distributed systems, blockchain security, organization, and local AI. I take a lot of notes as I learn and will share interesting findings as I go. I’ll also share how these topics intersect with my other interests, such as the importance of distributed systems in terms of my political and philosophical perspectives.
Encountering meaningful art and writing shared without the expectation of anything in return makes braving today’s internet worthwhile. With this digital message in a bottle, I aspire to make just such a contribution.