Okay, by now we’re all aware that this platform has undergone at least a little enshitification. This isn’t to suggest said enshitification doesn’t occur along some kind of dynamic spectrum. Of course it does (arguably substack remains one of the ‘better’ online places to co-inhabit). Nor is this to suggest that I’m in some mode of binary thinking. Thankfully I’m not. At least not often(?). But I have gotten to the point where, for me, entirely personally, being on this platform doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

I’ve met a bunch of brilliant people here. For this I’m truly grateful. I’ve read a bunch of fantastic content. For this I am truly grateful. But again, on the whole, relative to how I most want to live my life (how I most want to ‘spend’ my time), it’s time to move on (I have been trending towards a more digitally minimalistic life for quite some time, so this isn’t something at all new. I’ve never had most social media accounts. And the one I did have*—Twitter—was deleted looong ago. This is not to say I am anti digital technology or anything like that. It’s rather a move towards a little less noise and more deliberate interaction with said techno-sphere).

*I do still have LinkedIn… How long will it last? I can’t say for sure. But its days feel well and truly numbered.

Now, if you’re looking for some truly rigorous critical perspective that articulates my why, you ain’t gonna get it. Not today. That’d kinda defeat the purpose of what I’m attempting in this brief bon voyage.

What I’d like to do, as the thing that really matters, is say thank you to all who have ever supported me here. It genuinely means so much. Especially given the dynamics of our wild worlding process where it feels near impossible to qualitatively interact with anything online.

I’ve been amidst a multi year process of un-making and remaking, disorienting and reorienting, unravelling and transforming (a necessary and healthy part of being alive, I’ve come to learn). I’m now in a context where I’m ready, at various levels, to more clearly enact this reorientation.

This means I can live with a bit more freedom, a bit more focus, plenty of playfulness, and a heck of a lot less screen time (outside of specific activities that require screens).

For those interested, my life is very much focused on those I love. Everything I’m doing is in large part about deeply caring for those inter/intra-creative fields of compossibility and ensuring I have as much open time with these beautiful souls as possible.

As a general rule, I’m aiming to deepen my relationship to reality*, in whatever ways that is possible.

*I shan’t attempt to explicate exactly what I mean here. But, if it’s truly piqued your interest, perhaps we can find the time to share space and engage in this process together.

From a work standpoint, I’m focused yet pretty diversified (this works really well for me).

I’m currently leading applied AI ethics work for the federal government. I see a lot of potential here and hope to continue experiencing direct, indirect and systemic impacts resulting (in part) from my contributions. This builds on 15 years of sociotechnical ethics and frankly feels more important than ever (for what I hope are overwhelmingly obvious reasons, especially if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written).

I’m going to begin philosophical counselling. Exactly how this plays out remains a mystery. But over the summer I’m going to prepare to start this formally, thanks to the work I’ve been doing with Philosophical Health International. I’d like to say a special thanks to Dr. Luis de Miranda for his guidance and support over the past 12 months.

I’ll continue to be deeply involved in, and committed to, the arts. This will play out diversely, but primarily through Nightfall (the artist collective I co-own) and the always evolving project Esther and I are co-leading (we’re genuinely enlivened by this work and see a lot of potential that we hope to try and crealise) at the intersection of eco philosophy and nature photography.

I really hope this plays a bigger role in our future. There’s something truly enlivening about the creative act.

I will be attempting to find time for deeper writing activities. But I am in no rush. I’ve struggled to do that here, which is one of many reasons I tend to post what I consider brief musings rather than rigorous essays (I also love the spoken word, the pathways we can explore when journeying together in real-time dialogue. So finding ways to do more of that feels important to me).

And I’ll be spending as much time as possible doing this living thing (whatever that means given life’s evolving constraints). Weird, I know. But the basics (in no particular order / value hierarchy)… music events, slow mornings, late nights, bush walks, beach swims, gardening, experimenting in the kitchen, (sooooo much!) daddy daughter time (for the parents out there, you know that there is no prose that can do justice to the meaningfulness of this wonderful and sometimes deeply challenging existential responsibility), comedy, community support and events of various kinds, really taking time to be with that which requires attention (within, between and beyond me), falling ever more deeply in love with my life partner and our life together, plus so much more.

Alright, that’s certainly enough.

I always sign off by saying, “with love as always”. I hope you get that I really mean it.

So, with love as always my fellow earthians. Here’s to you, us, and all life process on this stunningly beautiful planet we call home.

P.S. Please don’t hesitate to connect with me more directly if you’d like to stay in touch.

P.P.S. Whether this is truly final or simply a significant hiatus is something that will play out over time. As you know, prediction is hard, especially about the future! So I will align to the colloquialism, “never say never!” if only as a hedge ;)

P.P.P.S Here’s the latest project Esther and I published. We still have a few in the backlog and have plenty more planned.

There’s plenty more where that came from. You can view the rest of the project (it was too big… substack wouldn’t let me post it all…) here (or await our website which will launch soon).