đď¸ LongForm
Want to reduce the noice and just focus on things with a little more meat - the this category is for you. Like so much on this site we have a ‘WIP’ as i take some out - and put some in - but safe for at least starting in 2026.
People: Will
I got my skills very early in life and never looked back. A lot of people in my line of work are ex-military, but I was trained and worked as a civilian all of my life. It's funny when I was at school all the advice I got was about getting a âgoodâ job with a âreputable companyâ. What they meant was âlargeâ.
What's Next
"A masterful demonstration of symmetrical opposites."
Three Stories
These three stories provide context to the People First Newsletter that was published on Tuesday April 21st
Mining Coin Through Your Bodies Activity
đ Microsoft Files Patent For New Cryptocurrency and Mining System
Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. A cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify whether or not the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.
And
a brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing an advertisement or using certain internet services, can be used in the mining process."
What could possibly go wrong? The answer - as always - it depends.
Investing In The Student Body
Back in 2015 Purdue announced that it was going to invest in its students. I mean really invest.
Through its research foundation, the school plans to create ISA funds that its students can tap to pay for tuition, room and board. In return, students would pay a percentage of their earnings after graduation for a set number of years, replenishing the fund for future investments.
đŹ WaPo
There was a lot of huh hah in the media at the time about people selling themselves into servitude. Education is a right and and and âŚ
and yet 5 years later âŚ
One Man Voluntarily Enters Indentured Servitude
It’s just that this isn’t how he sees it. (The story of the man who sold fractional shares in himself.)
It’s not the same, but it reminded me a little of this idea from 2005 - essentially fractional advertising on a single page to fund Alex Tewâs education. (I am going to say it worked. Ever heard of Calm? Alex co-founded the company and he is now co-CEO. Calm is rocking!
Anyway - back to Alex (the other one) - and isn’t it odd that they are both called Alex?
‘$ALEX’ holders are promised a share of ‘any money’ he makes in the next three years! (He’ll pay out up to a total of $100,000 over three yearsâthe rest is (his) to keep). $ALEX holders can vote on some of his life decisions!
That second one smacks a little of đď¸đ Luke Rheinhartâs Diceman
⌠but essentially what Alex is doing is convincing people with money to give it to him - and in return, he will give them more back within 3 years. Why is that any different to those same people buying stock in a company?
The world has been dallying with these ideas for a long time. There is push back from some quarters that caution needs to be applied because this could return us to millions of people working in âindentured servitudeâ - and certainly by Investopediaâs definition that is exactly what Alex has just signed up for.
I think they are wrong. Sure, we need to tread carefully and not blindly sell all our rights (Lessons learned from musicians of the 60s?) - but surely none of it can be worse than the alternative?
Nobody Should Adopt Social Distancing.
Now 'Physical Distancing', That's Different. Definitely Do That.
You Can't Make This Up
Trump retweeted a post calling for Dr. Fauci to be fired after the nationâs top infectious disease specialist said more could have been done to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The White House, meanwhile, denied that Trump is considering firing Dr. Fauci, calling Trumpâs own retweet â that said âTime to #FireFauciâ â just âridiculousâ âmedia chatter.â
Trump, meanwhile, spent the weekend calling people close to him and asking them, âWhat do you think of Fauci?â
Louis Daguerre and Daguerreotypes
I asked a question about this image in this newsletter.
More to come, but to recognize here that it was a stretch ... First Person ... People First!
People First!
People First!
Why would it be any different?
Why People First? Itâs a question that I am often asked. Why not? If not people, then what should be first?
The questions being asked by mainstream media are primarily about how markets and business will recover - few ask how people will recover.
đŹ John Philpin
We Live In A Viral World.
There's A Perfect Storm On The Horizon
Garbage Language
We need to stop it.
âWeâre waiting on specs for the San Francisco installation. Can you parallel-path two versions?â
Good grief ... I think Molly Young is channelling me.
... at the very bottom, customer service. Which, by the way, has been rechristened âcustomer supportâ or âcustomer experienceâ at most companies â as though the word service might remind the college graduates recruited for these roles that they will in fact spend their days pacifying irritable consumers over phone, chat, text, and email.Â
As you know - Language is one of the People First pillars.
I have no reason to write more on this article - it only becomes a block to you reading it yourself.
đ§ Data Is Being Used To Screw Us
This popped into a thread that I am part of ...
A thread that caused 'Friend of People First' - Adrian Gropper to write;
A talk that argues that most of the big data is being used to screw us and mentions data trusts as a possible solution. Data trusts are an immature concept but worth considering because it's one approach to decentralizing governance. Until we figure out data governance principles that are transparent and contextual to specific communities we should limit data aggregation by default and focus on personal agents and other fiduciaries.
Adrian Gropper
It is interesting because on that very same day I received these words from another 'Friend of People First' and occasional colleague Daniel Szuc after he received my newsletter declaring Data is Energy.
Energy is energy.
Daniel Szuc and Josephine Wong
Climate is a result of energy misused.
Environment is the outcome.
What are the impacts on our environment today, inside people and in the outside environment people live in?
What contributes to the health or toxicity of the environment?
Data, understood deeply, should be used to contribute to the healthy environment ... yet ... how is it being used today?
The answer, of course, is exactly what Adrian expressed above.
It is being used to screw us.
Ian Grigg On Identity
I think that is the opportunity and in five years time we'll know whether we got the mega-corporations holding my identity or whether we managed to take it back.
Ian Grigg - October 2015.
The five years are just about up and I think if the 'megacorps' have not won - they are about to. Is it too late?
Three years ago he wrote: Identity is an edge protocol, and not a nodal protocol. (pdf)
Fuck You. Pay Me.
Imagine, turning around to a lawyer, an accountant, a doctor and telling them that they weren't going to be paid.
Dear Lawyer
I listened to your advice - but I am not going to use it - so I donât owe you.
Wrote no one ever.
So why does that happen to designers, creators, writers et al?
Thinking Allowed
This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. Itâs a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.- More about People First
- Other People First Posts
(not just from the âother domainâ ⌠all of them.)
Technology?
O.M.G. Technology!
We live in the thrall of technology. âShiny Thingsâ, that deliver 'squirrelâ interruptions into our daily lives. Nothing wrong with that, with all the usual caveats that we read about. BUT âŚ
â OMG - Technology ⌠all
Owned
Managed and
Governed
Not by you - but by the very companies that 'sold' you the âbill of goodsâ to begin with. â
John Philpin
Reflections on Reflections
I have been reflecting on the pillars of People First. Each pillar has at least one reflection that throws new light on something we might have thought we understood, but on reflection we might conclude that 'common wisdom' should be questioned.
Reflections of any subject aren't exactly true to the original. Sometimes distorted. Occasionally murky. Always the opposite of what we perceive as reality. Yet they are valid representations of reality.
Always revealing differences. Often adding new facets. To know the reflection is to understand the subject.
This is a living post and will be updated as reflections are added to the canon.
| Pillar | Reflection |
| Identity | ID - Entity |
| Data | Data? Data Is Energy! |
| Technology | Technology? OMG - Technology |
Identity
To know the reflection is to understand the subject.