The Exploring Agent - FL#10
The Vision and Journey Behind The Frontier Letter
Welcome to the 4 new crew members who have joined the frontier expedition since the last letter! If you haven’t subscribed, join the 43 curious explorers in our adventure to understand the frontier of innovation.
As I sit at my dining room table, with dancing snowflakes outside at my back, something unexpected manifests – a spontaneous setting that perfectly mirrors the essence of The Frontier Letter. My power and WiFi have surrendered to the whims of nature, leaving me with nothing but the warm glow of a candle and the trusty Bluetooth keyboard my fiancée lent me so I could write this on my phone. In its plain beauty, this moment is an apt metaphor for what I aim to achieve with The Frontier Letter.
The Frontier Letter is a newsletter where we voluntarily travel into the unknown in the space of innovative technology and ideas in an attempt to demystify a problem or situation so that we can ideate a potential solution to the scenario that presents itself so that people are more prepared to deal with complex and changing times, reducing an overwhelming and potentially threatening and chaotic future.
This is the 10th frontier letter, and I wouldn't want anything more than to spend it talking about what we're doing here.
What Am I Doing - The Exploring Agent
Beginnings
The Frontier Letter has evolved over the last 2 years. I started by writing on this newsletter as 'TheCryptoFrontier,' moved to TikTok and YouTube, and came full circle back to writing newsletters on Substack.
I developed a modest following on TikTok and YouTube with the CryptoFrontier, where I intended to create a channel that dove into the depths of crypto and blockchain and provided both honest and accessible content so that people could stay up-to-date and have a trustworthy source of information in crypto.
I pivoted and started long-form videos on YouTube, where I provided details of specific projects.
I stepped back and analyzed what I was doing; the results were promising; people seemed to like my content, but it was only partially what I was trying to do.
I sat back and thought through what ideas I wanted to think about, how I tried to think about them, and, in doing so, what I would be solving for people.
Revelation
I recently finished reading Jordan Peterson's Maps of Meaning, which will take many more reads to comprehend the depth of what he is talking about in the book. Peterson's work combines classic psychoanalysis with psychology, social, and historical analysis to reveal how myths convey morality and create meaning in our lives. The book is known for its thought-provoking exploration of human belief systems and the meaning derived from them.
Through the book, JBP details an intriguing analysis - the fictional stories of cultures and societies always have a similar character structure and similar actions by those characters. As a new civilization arises, they learn something new about humanity and implement that new behavior into their stories. Humans emulate the behavior told in fictional stories, which is, to some extent, how we achieve things on such a vast scale. He maps these characters across time, and there is one who is always the most important: The revolutionary hero (which we need the masses to return to). This is ancient Bablonia's Marduk, Egyptian Horus, Asia's Buddha, the West's Christ, and in modern fiction: Harry Potter, Catnus Everdegne, and Darrow O'Lykos. The revolutionary hero is depicted as an essential symbol of transformation, embodying the potential for significant change and adopting new ways of being.
Our ability to tell fictional stories is a big part of what sets us apart from other humans (of the 'Homo' genus) - when they were around - it gave us the ability to have a shared story that motivates and drives all of us to achieve similar goals. This is well depicted in Yuval Noah Harari's 'Sapiens,' a book depicting a sweeping narrative of human evolution spanning approximately two and a half million years.
Back to Maps of Meaning, Jordan Peterson saw a trend in these characters. Of them, the revolutionary hero accepted the anomaly and manifested a better future. Even if it meant their necessity to travel to the underworld, suffer immensely, learn from it, and integrate the knowledge into culture.
He states (bolding is my doing):
"Anomalies manifest themselves on the border between chaos and order, so to speak, and have a threatening and promising aspect. The promising aspect dominates when the contact is voluntary. when the exploring agent is up—to-date-when the individual has explored all previous anomalies, released the "information" they contained, and built a strong personality and steady "world" from that information. The threatening aspect dominates, when the contact is involuntary, when the exploring agent is not up to-date-when the individual has run away from evidence of his previous errors, failed to extract the information lurking behind his mistakes, weakened his personality, and destabilized his world."
Things are changing quickly, and I want to think about those things preemptively to find ways to make the world a wonderful place from emergent chaos and do it publicly so that everyone can do it, too, in an attempt to integrate tremendous and beautiful ideas into culture.
I love technology, especially new technology. While there is a threatening aspect (i.e., AI), we can manifest a commensurate captivating aspect if we explore the anomaly before it becomes too overwhelming.
Our future is full of beautiful potential. While a future of horror, evil, and destruction is always a looming possibility, and maybe more so these days, I think we can create an optimistic and paradisal future, but I know that is reliant on individuals doing something about it - and that's why the Frontier Letter was born.
Where We're Going
I want to make people's lives easier by thinking about complex things that are incoming on the frontier of innovation and demystifying them so that people can be prepared for what's coming rather than fearing and becoming worried and anxious. The threatening aspect dominates when the contact is involuntary, so I say, let's make it as voluntary as possible.
Frontier Media's vision is to make the world less threatened and more hopeful about the future. Our mission is to create and produce meaningful content that inspires, enlightens, and empowers people to drive positive change for themselves and their communities. We will do this by first making a top 10 tech newsletter on Substack, then a top 100 podcast on Spotify, adding multiple assets beyond innovative tech and ideas to build a more well-rounded picture of the world, and finalize by implementing solutions to help people adapt to the frontier of change.
I'm here to think through technology, innovation, and rapid change on the frontier of our understanding and try to make sense of the anomaly and the respective actions required from the information received.
With each Frontier Letter, you can expect a thorough analysis of a problem or situation, typically followed by a proposed potential solution to the problem and solutions being built.
Not Boring's The Experimentation Layer properly embodies how I expect to propagate ideas and solutions on the Frontier Letter. Even if the solution I propose is 90% off the mark or I'm directly wrong about 90% of the time, I hope the creativity of an ideated solution sparks other ideas in your mind.
I think this is a beautiful aspect of the human experience: someone propagates an idea and may miss the mark by 40%, but then someone takes that and makes the idea/product better by 10% more, and among iterations, we eventually have a clean and working solution! I am excited to use this newsletter as the first place the rock is pushed, where maybe a solution is not very close to its final attempt, but I get the boulder started up the hill, where someone could come and run away with it!
Over these two years, I have spread myself thin in an attempt to do what I have yet to put into words until recently. I am focused on this newsletter indefinitely, and I plan to deliver high-quality content, each letter resembling an individual work of art.
One of the most exciting aspects is discovering a like-minded community that enjoys thinking through similar ideas and technology so we can learn and get better from each other!
That's where you come in!
If you’re excited by what’s to come and what we’re doing - subscribe to get all Frontier Letters direct to your inbox!
Who This is For
I am an information forager exploring the frontier of ideas of technology. By foraging, I am here to serve you by making sense of the frontier of technology and ideas so that you don't fail or become overwhelmed when things change.
Imagine that we are travelers in unknown forest territory. We set up camp after becoming familiar and comfortable with a broad region within the forest. Our campfire is going, and our tents are ready for us to rest. The looming threat of the unknown sits outside the parameter of trees around us, but we don't have to worry about that for now - we are in the known. I will forage, find, and assess what is beyond those trees and suggest how to approach them. This is a metaphor for the idea landscape that I will traverse. I enjoy getting my hands dirty and attempting to communicate complex topics simply, and this is for anyone who would like to hear what is beyond those trees and/or would like to contribute to the discussion of how we should approach what has been discovered.
If you are excited by new ideas and technology like I am, then you can be an active community member and participate in discussions about these newsletters and the topics relevant at the forefront of innovation. I include community thoughts throughout my pieces. Two of the best places to do this is on Reddit, where we can discuss anonymously in public so everyone can speak their minds. Here is our Reddit page - feel free to join to discuss. The other is my X (Twitter), where I test new ideas and am always willing to discuss whatever.
I will try my best to get it right, but I think I will only sometimes, especially given the nature of what we're thinking through. Hearing your thoughts will help me amalgamate the collective psyche on a specific issue, providing me with a well-rounded perspective.
A critical aspect of the Frontier Letter that sets us apart is the way we plan to operate - I am constantly reminded of and always aim and persevere to reflect the values and principles that I believe are the recipe for lifelong success - both for individuals and entities.
Principles and Values
In the modern day, a "Media Company" seems to be synonymous with untrustworthiness, ideology, and propaganda.
Unfortunately, some of the large papers and media companies that once had a level of respect and credibility never necessitated the need for more media companies and made the market mostly irrelevant to enter; it now seems that the need for a content-delivering authentic community of principled individuals is more necessary than ever.
Of course, bias will exist so long as humans are involved, but the influence should stop at the human level and not be corrupted by special interest groups with large pockets or social interest groups manipulating weak individuals.
I can't promise you some human bias won't slip through because, well, some bias is embedded deep in the basement of the unconscious mind. However, I promise we will take a principled approach that will allow us to remain authentic and honest so long as these are followed.
I have included all of our values on the About page at the bottom. All 12 are listed there in detail - If we ever slip, please call us on it!
In the quiet that follows a power outage, where familiar comforts fade, we're reminded of the intrinsic human capacity to adapt, to think critically, and to overcome. In these moments of unexpected stillness and darkness, I'm reminded of the Frontier Letter's purpose – not just to confront the anomalies that life presents us but to navigate them with thoughtful analysis and creative solutions. I am excited for our 2024 together and hope to tear through the uncertainty of the future with you.
If this resonates, please subscribe and share - our journey is just getting started.
Lux In Tenebris, explorers. I'll see you in the next one!
Dom
I like the approach! That's a useful way to frame what you are doing. Looking forward to seeing how the newsletter evolves.