Hello there.

I figured I should send out a second post laying out what I expect to do here, beyond my initial amazement that I’m actually doing this.

What Is Grey Literature?

A dispatch from the Neutral Zone. A place for exploring how ideology, technology, and the internet shape our thinking—and how we can push back against the forces that try to dictate it.

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The name 'grey literature' refers to material and research produced outside of traditional commercial or academic publishing channels. (Yes, I mostly lifted that from Wikipedia.)

Why is Grey Literature?

Posting longform, especially the kind of intentional, layered writing I’ll be attempting, is different from firing off a quick joke or observation on sites like Twitter or Bluesky.

It’s essentially an experiment—putting my thoughts on the world into words, with the small hope that someone stumbles upon them and starts thinking too (consider it a stretch goal).

What to expect

I didn’t really cover what I was going to, well, cover, so it’s probably worth going over at a high level. I don’t really have a “beat” or a singular lane. Some of it has likely been said by others—and said better. When that’s the case, I’ll drop references, links, and the like. I try not to assume I’m creating anything new; it’s usually a safe bet. The value might be in the presentation; I’ll be touching on some subjects that are usually under a microscope and only of value in the abstract, but with more focus on practicality and how they impact us directly (and maybe what we can do about them).

The first topic I expect to get into is the Illusion of Ideological Autonomy, or how to avoid getting consumed by the churn of online discourse. A framework for actually thinking for yourself in an age of algorithmic manipulation and identity-driven thought. I’ve been thinking about this almost nonstop after seeing the same patterns repeat on Bluesky that I saw on Twitter (and are repeated everywhere online).

Other themes I’ll probably get into more broadly once I get going—

Tech as Mythology: The stories we tell ourselves about technology, the people who build it, and why so much of it is bullshit. Where the real power lies vs. the narratives we’re sold.

The Internet as Haunted House: How platforms shape behavior, how online communities drift toward self-parody, and why certain ideas seem to latch on to people like ghosts.

Tales from the Tech Trenches (Lightly Laundered): What it’s really like behind the curtain of the industry, without naming names. The ways tech culture is both stranger and dumber than people think.

The Death of Narrative (or, Everything is a Trope-by-Number Production Now): Why storytelling feels more assembled than written, and how cultural self-reference has turned entertainment into a recursive ouroboros of vibes.

Shitposting as Philosophy: What posting does to people, why irony poisoning is real, and how the shitpost-to-reality pipeline is more dangerous than anyone is ready to admit.

The Subtle Art of Not Setting Yourself on Fire: How to stay engaged with the world without letting it burn you out. The importance of stepping back, of not getting sucked into every cycle of outrage and urgency.

These are not in any particular order. I may branch out into other topics. I make no guarantees I won’t end up posting for weeks on end doing media analysis instead of politics, nor that I won’t skip between topics at whim—though I promise to make an effort to at least enforce some organization or labeling.

Like everything else I write, this is an exercise in intentionality. Social media tends to reward reaction over reflection, but here, I want to slow things down—step back, examine ideas, actually think. If nothing else, that’s the experiment.

So that’s it. This is what I’m setting out to do—at least for now. If I don’t follow through, I’ll look pretty foolish—so I guess that’s an incentive. I have no idea what kind of publishing cadence any potential readers should expect. This is part hobby, part self-care, part vanity project. I don’t ever expect to charge for subscriptions. I’m probably not even going to advertise the fact I’m writing this.

I promise I won’t use too many parentheticals (really (I know it’s annoying (this isn’t Lisp, after all))). Fair warning: the format will likely stay brutalist—you don’t even want to see my Confluence pages.

Not sure how to close this one off, so, see you when I see you,

Neutral

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