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+Document: WM-057                                                 P. Webb
+Category: Life                                                2024.09.16
+
+                         A personal renaissance
+
+Abstract
+
+   Nah, imma do my own thing.
+
+Body
+
+   I tire of platforms. So of course, I'm building a platform.
+
+   I think a major reason why dystopian games like Cyberpunk 2077, Deus
+   Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, and even the Watch Dogs
+   series fascinates me so is because in these games, I am not a mere
+   bystander. In these fantasies, I have the power to fight back against
+   injustice. I can literally "stick it to the man" and in my own way,
+   save the world. In other words, I can be the change I wish to see in
+   these worlds AND have immediate effect for the betterment of most, if
+   not all.
+
+   When I power down my PS5 however, reality beckons and I see red orbs
+   indicating activity from online friends and acquaintances on
+   platforms where I'm pigeonholed into the same box as everyone else;
+   my expression and originality welcome as long as they fit into neat
+   compartments designated by the platform. I do not particularly enjoy
+   using these platforms as much as I enjoy communicating with humans
+   who also feel the way I do. The term "necessary evil" gets thrown
+   around a lot…why must evil be necessary? I don't have the stomach for
+   such a rabbit hole, I'll let others investigate that topic further.
+
+   Twitter is a cesspool. You hear that? A lot of grumbles in agreement,
+   reverberating across the internet. No one is happy about it and even
+   though many (most?) of the accounts we follow have since fled to
+   Mastodon and Bluesky, they aren't replacements. I haven't posted
+   gameplay clips to my gaming Twitter in a year but I keep the account
+   because the amazing illustrators, game developers, and composers I
+   follow there are very much active and will not move elsewhere.
+
+   Remember Myspace? Pepperidge Farms remembers. I'm sure you do too (if
+   you're younger than a millennial, get rekt). I was a teen when it was
+   THE online place to be. Everyone I knew, even "cool" kids and jocks
+   understood enough about HTML and CSS to customize their profiles.
+   People gatekept themes sites so peers wouldn't have a better‑looking
+   profile. It was a point of pride when you could de‑obfuscate CSS to
+   replicate something or even customize it more to make some effect
+   your own. Anecdotally, it seemed like the collective intelligence of
+   the internet was higher when we had to use our minds more. We should
+   get back to that. We COULD get back to that.
+
+   Much has been said about how advertising ruined the web experience
+   (by giving birth to the data brokerage economy) and while that's
+   true, isn't it super fucking sad that Silicon Valley is spending all
+   of its money and attention on ~~massive if/then/else factories~~
+   LLMs? Trick question, they got us into this mess, why fix it?
+
+   This is where I tell you I'm saving the world with my platform. I
+   mean, it could happen, right? My lil' social network could upend
+   everything and I'll have VCs groveling at my feet. My TED Talk will
+   feature me in muted hacker‑wear (hoodie and jeans) and I'll
+   pseudo‑humbly recount my beginnings and half‑smile while the slide
+   behind me shows $1 billion in quarterly revenue.
+
+   No, this is me being the change I wish to see in the world.
+
+   I wish other people would build things I want to use so I can spend
+   my free time playing Fortnite and watching shows. I mean, I do do
+   those things but it's kinda like someone who learned what kerning is
+   and then notices terrible kerning on every street corner. I know too
+   much. I took the old "should designers code" meme seriously and did
+   just that. Building is my verb it's what I *do*.
+
+   The last post on this blog was literally eight months ago. I felt
+   compelled to publish today for some reason. The funny thing is, the
+   last time I posted about socii (the social network/platform I'm
+   building) was several years ago[1]. I took a detour and did a lot of
+   work for the Handshake blockchain in that time but quit due to
+   ideological differences[2]. It turns out, perverse incentives are
+   rampant everywhere and the only way to win is not to play.
+
+   Quitting Handshake made me re‑evaluate my life in whole. Where I am
+   not fulfilled, I'm making changes. I'm reclaiming my space on the
+   web, starting with my homepage. There's no reason why it cannot also
+   be the testing ground for the personal OS concept[3] I published
+   years ago. Music I intended to publish 15 years ago will finally
+   release (they were trapped in Acid Pro 6, I bought a basic Windows PC
+   to free them). Sci‑fi novels scribbled in notebooks will be
+   scrutinized by the world. I don't care. I've been hoarding ideas and
+   concepts for far too long. Not enough characters to share 'em? Who
+   cares, I have a blog.
+
+   This post is rambly but again, who cares? I am constantly inspired by
+   others so the least I can do is put myself out there more.
+
+   Okay, socii[4] (click the logo to hear the pronounciation: "sew‑key")
+   is a paid service. Not expensive, but not cheap either. Social
+   networking with advanced anti‑harassment tools and customization like
+   you wouldn't believe (I mentioned Myspace for a reason). Small groups
+   because large groups invoke trolls. The UI of Big Social becoming
+   mere feature/theme toggles. True data ownership. I could go on but
+   I'd rather get back to building. 2025.01.01 is the launch date.
+   Newsletter signup is on the site if you're interested.
+
+   All this to say, I think I'm gonna enjoy having my homepage be the
+   source of truth for all the things I do online. And, I have an
+   intense interest in making Big Social suffer. If I can get my
+   favorite creators on socii too, I'm happy.
+
+   🕸
+
+References
+
+   [1] </WM-049>
+   [2] <https://archive.is/vpZCG>
+   [3] </WM-042>
+   [4] <https://socii.network>