I present these essays as an imperfect rendition of the author’s attention in these recent years, in which I had largely turned away from writing as a full time pursuit to focus on a growing family and health.
To some extent these have been challenging years, as they say: “What got you here won’t get you there.” What got me here was unusual energy channeled into an extraordinary focus given the lack of meaningful commercial traction for so many years. I put some faith in the mythos of the field: if you aim for the moon you can at least expect to make it to orbit. I now see that what will get me there isn’t about inventions and citations. It is about humanity. One needs to put their faith in the kindness of neighbors, in the values of the flag, in the earnestness of scripture. One needs to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I think part of the reality I have faced is that having such a wide portfolio of public writings, particular those at least touching on scope at the frontiers of technology and innovation, has put me in an all or nothing position. Either my work is suitable for the public or it isn’t. Every single page. I can only hope that so many years of attempting responsible stewardship of this journal, and public speech surrounding, may serve to demonstrate the responsibility needed for such a position. I don’t claim to have the right to independently determine what is or isn’t appropriate for public speech in this context. Rather than pushing boundaries to limits of what can be said, in these chapters I have instead tried to focus on what needs to be said. Not just for my own interests, but for those of our society. That admittedly sounds grandiose, perhaps we who have lived as an early stage startup founder have a tendency for unreasonable grandiosity.
It is reasonable and appropriate for any executive to offer public speech in a manner that attempts to paint a picture of the world that they want to be true for them to succeed. The challenge is to retain the marriage of that speech to the foundations of reality. I have tried to do this in earnest, and every word of these essays is presented in earnest for a reader to make of it what they will.
Oh, and please, for God’s sake, don’t judge an author by the first things they ever wrote.