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Elle -- This is just what I needed to read today. It's funny how that works. When I discover something on Substack I always go to the beginning and read the origin story. Even if the vision changes over time, that is okay. I like to know the original conditions.

I am a cautious consumer on Substack. My first career was in the National Security realm as a "modeler". I learned (and created) means to connect people and learned about what we all call algorithms means. I loved it when we were modeling the physical world but was uneasy when it was about modeling human behavior as that was hard on the soul. I eventually left that work. It was challenging, interesting, but in the end disturbing at times. Many years later, commercial social media emerged and I was a cautious observer. My history has taught me while people exclaim "it's up to us what it becomes" the truth is a bit murkier as algorithms are functions which we program to converge to a destination, frequently one we can even PRE-SELECT like a thermostat. That is the nature of the math behind them.

To read of a person with a bright outlook for Social Media and directing it for good sounds nice. I joined Substack as a balm for retirement and a hope to write a historical fiction novel I story boarded long ago. Having no experience writing for entertainment (patent applications and tech manuals don't count) I doubted where it might lead but seemed a healthy diversion.

What emerged on Substack was this wonderful reader-writer relationship, largely fulfilled in the comments. I have made many what I would consider friends. My writing continues to evolve and I just enjoy it. The onset of Substack Notes sent me into a bit of a tailspin. When you have something you believe (and perhaps fear), disruption is hard. A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a break from Substack and study the behavior of Notes and decide whether I can find a comfort zone. Yesterday I did what I know will be my next to last post for a while. I have been surveying stuff I might just enjoy reading and happened upon your writing. So that is my longish introduction and thank you for a first post that I just needed to see. Besides, one of the things I know to be true is our thoughts cannot evolve if we are unwilling to associate with different kinds of people. Substack opens me to the creative type and that is good for me.

I will likely just be a lurker for a while as my intent is to Unsubscribe to most things and observe the behavior of the algorithm and the feed it generates. Substack has guided that our SUBSCRIPTIONS are the driving function of the feed we will see. It follows, to a logical guy like me, that unsubscribing everything will drive the algorithm to the minimum output for my eyeballs. I am eager to observe it and see how much noise I get at minimum. In order to minimize other sources of noise, I am suspending posting for a bit as I now have a modest but steadily growing set of subscribers. I am sure my level of skepticism shows.

Sorry for the length, but your inaugural post was just right.

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I am glad you had your fever dream and kept on dreaming (or fevering?)

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Wow, this piece is amazing! I love this: "And I will give them all Friends-style titles because I feel like doing so." Reminds me of a line from one of my favourite Chinese wuxia novelists, Gu Long, when one of his characters was asked why he did something: "Because it makes me happy."

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