NET-
WORKED CULTURE

VERSION:5

THE BAZ LIGHTYEAR NODE


EXCERPTS

As of Spring 2024 I spend most of my time building Tonk up to autonomous existence.

I care a lot about guiding technological progress such that it brings out the best in humanity. Computers promised to liberate our creative spirit, overcome loneliness and escape drudgery, so that we may cultivate love and beauty for all to share. Yet, I often find myself in exasperation at the state of the world and the web.

I suspect the next great vibe shift in computing is not augmenting human intelligence, but rather the schemes of human coordination. If you like, you could call this an interest in worldbuilding, transformative technology or cybernetics.

On those themes, I find myself repeatedly doing two things:

  1. Learning new material and sharing it forward in as clear and entertaining a way as possible.
  2. Doing my utmost to understand people's inner direction, and spotting opportunities to bring complementary souls together.

For some, this will strike a chord. Please reach out if so. Let's do something amazing together.


PREVIOUS MATERIAL

My formal academic training is in metaphysics, metaethics, logic and political theory. I have since picked up a solid foundation in computer science and finance.

In a former life, I was a dancer and actor. I recall that in one adolescent chapter I claimed an ambition to be a warrior poet (?)

For a while I was a product manager at Epic Games, working on foundational web infrastructure to cope with the emerging social problems of the web - particularly child safety in new media.

Thanks to my incredibly fortunate upbringing, I've been subliminally trained in memes and magic media and marketing by my father, the best man I know.


SOME STUFF I LIKE

Liberal theory and critical theory (Rawls, Hegel, Marx, Nussbaum etc.)

Also,

  • @veronika_iscool
  • @sluttycheff
  • @sockshousemeeting
  • @_tonypindc
  • Blue Eyed Samurai
  • Alasdair Gold

I am working to further develop my practice and understanding of:

  1. Community stewardship
  2. Media & cyberculture
  3. Game design
  4. Cryptography and distributed systems
  5. Rhetoric
  6. Technology history
  7. Ange Postecoglou's leadership style

A NOTE ON NOMENCLATURE

My meatspace name is Harry Kingdon. I'm not particularly precious about doxxing myself. I use "baz" for a few reasons:

  1. I enjoy privacy, and light separation of my work persona from my personal persona. I grew up in a particularly nasty age of the tabloid press and brutality towards celebrities. For the same reasons as I suspect @sluttycheff chooses to do so, I may get more precious about this separation in the future.
  2. I want to avoid the mid and defy the algorithms. Curating my interfaces to networked culture grants me a lot of autonomy in doing so. I recommend it!
  3. "Baz Lightyear" is a persona that expresses my current multiyear feeling of exploring into the bold unknown. Bowie did this with Ziggy Stardust. I may switch it up in the future much like he did with Aladdin Sane. I suspect I have a Dewey Finn phase coming on at some point.
  4. Tonk should be a headless brand in the medium term. I like the idea that I can pull an escape hatch at any time by leaving the "baz" persona behind. Satoshi did this very well.
  5. People struggle to believe this when I tell them, but it's always been my nickname ("Harry Kingdon" -> "Barry Smingdon" -> "Barry" -> "baz")

A NOTE ON STYLE

I'm aware that this site is quite earnest. I've found that being earnest can be a helpful way to overcome cynicism in my relationships.