What I’m Doing Now

I started publishing articles on World of Systems, a new publication I started to cover technology, industry, infrastructure, and finance. I wanted to write about a lot of things, across various areas, so I figured creating a generalist publication was the right move. If you’re interested in learning more about how the world works, you’ll enjoy what we have to publish.

I’m currently reading A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. I completed my first Agatha Christie book (The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories), though it’s technically a short story collection. I am reading a proper Agatha Christie novel at the moment: The Pale Horse. Another book I completed recently is William Kingdon Clifford’s The Scientific Basis of Morals. It’s an old-but-gold book with a ton of insights (weighing evidence, forming proper beliefs, the role of authority, and so on).

I’m often reading multiple books in parallel, and this time it’s no different: alongside The Pale Horse and A Clash of Kings, I’m also reading The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Robert Heinlein), Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain), How Things Are Made (Tim Minshall), Chip War (Chris Miller), The Book of Elon (Eric Jorgenson), The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence (Baltasar Gracian), and Rationality: From AI to Zombies (Eliezer Yudkowsky). Will I ever complete these books? No clue. Am I having fun constantly switching between them? Hell yes. I might be compensating for my tendency to get bored really quick, but hey, if it works it works.

I wrapped up the original Naruto series and am now watching Naruto: Shippuden. For an anime series, it’s well-written with a lot of complex character arcs (I recommend watching a video essay on Gaara’s redemption arc, if you have the time). I regret to inform everyone that I’m fully into the Naruto fandom enough that I’m yelling “Rasengan” and trying to do amateur hand seals. I don’t think I’ll dress up as a ninja for Halloween, but you can never tell.

Haven’t been running regularly, though I hope to get back to it soon. Also getting into AI safety and hope to start writing more about the field soon. Most of my attention is on World of Systems, though, with planned articles on everything from how Starlink works to why cloud seeding may be the solution to America’s water crisis. Subscribe to the newsletter to receive articles as they are published!

I’ve also gotten back into posting on X, the Everything App. If you’re reading this, follow my account @mannygoestomars. I try to follow back, especially if you are sharing interesting things and know how to poast well.