Dear Reader,
It's been a year! I really enjoyed writing more and hoped you enjoy reading. This blog is still early and very much a work in progress so I hope you please do share your feedback for improvement in the comments below or the link here -- whatever is easier.
2024 stayed on brand for the past decade and stayed weird. Looking at the folly of our current times, an era that echoes elite failures like the sleepwalking into world war one, I wrote a review of Barbara Tuchman's magisterial treatment of folly.
Working to make sense of What is Actually Going On, I experimented with a series of weekly newsworthy event summaries — from the current and historically relevant years. I like the format as a means to look beyond the day to day spin cycle. Ultimately, I started a new job and got out of the habit of digging into the news. I hope to do a next iteration of that exploration of different perspectives on ongoing events.
Looking at important underlying trends beneath the psychodrama, I enjoyed sharing a bunch about the ongoing state capacity crisis, particularly acute in my home-state of California. State capacity if you're not familiar is basically a fancy way of saying governments ability to actually deliver on the promises it makes - i.e. to fix the potholes it says it will or implement the vision of our elected representatives.
Looking towards solutions, at the macro-scale I shared a daydream for a CAT-like alternative to the DOGE memes floating about the interwebs, along with an imaginative approach to basic civic functions like public comment and public education. And I documented a very bottom up case study of digital transformation with major multi-million dollar implications for my little hometown water utility, where I did a tour of duty through most of the year.
I shared shared several pieces on the climate crisis, including creative technological deployments that give me hope for us to win world war zero and the common sense opportunities for data analytics to improve how we manage basic resources like water. Looking deeply at the potential of data, I shared a short piece reflecting on data sophistry as a philosophical alternative to the much hyped term of data science. And looking more broadly at the third wave of the web, I shared a review of David Graeber's the Dawn of Everything and his vision for human agency in charting our future.
I wrote about the importance of community both locally in my hometown and then also the critical importance of common areas like public cafeterias in a polity. I also shared a series of three posts about the avalanche of (often intense!) information that can easily overwhelm our sense of perspective with outrage inducing news and wrestled with a couple of strategies to navigate that situation.
In many ways, that's my underlying motivation with this publication -- to think in public and dialogue via this amazing agora we call the internet. This little web based log of various writings, missives and links is still getting started. I'd be much obliged to your suggestions, ideas, and constructive feedback. Please share in the comments or if you don't feel like creating a paragraphy dot xyz account, click the link here:
How did you come across this blog? How likely would you be to recommend this writing to a friend?
What do you like most about Pioneering Spirit? Do you have a favorite piece?
What would you like to see more of? Less? What would you offer as suggestions for improving?
For those that are new to my writing or around here, you might enjoy poking around my personal site (bit.ly/patwater) to get a sense of the past things I've written, including a couple of indie published books. And for those not familiar, the tagline is an homage to the human spirit that can be found anywhere but seems to keep popping up in California, a frequent theme from our once and future governor, now citizen Jerry Brown.
The people of California have not lost their pioneering spirit or their capacity to meet life’s challenges. Even in the midst of this recession, Californians this year will produce almost two trillion dollars of new wealth as measured by our state’s domestic product. The innovations of Silicon Valley, the original thinking coming out of our colleges and universities, the skill of our farmers, the creative imagination of Hollywood, the Internet and the grit and determination of small businesses everywhere—all give hope for an even more abundant future. And so do our teachers, our nurses, our firefighters, our police and correctional officers, our engineers, and all manner of public servants who faithfully carry out our common undertakings.
Once upon a time I wrote an epic (in style) poem about that pioneering spirit and the willingness to aim for the new, the novel and the never done before is probably my favorite thing about my crazy, mixed up home state, this beautiful little dream in search of a reality we call California. Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
PA
