when in doubt, reboot...

New year, new me, new WoWT, new world.

It’s strange how quickly traditions can fall by the wayside. Back in the days of the old blog, every New Year’s Eve, I listed the most popular and discussed posts of the year, as well as what I’ve learned. That faded as I became less and less consistent and life pulled me into various messy tangents. And, to be totally, brutally honest, it’s been a massive and thankless slog to even try to keep up with the ever-increasing number of social platforms with their constantly changing algorithms.

There were still some cadences, usually ones dictated by my radio schedule. But they haven’t been enough in my opinion, and I’ve had to go back to the drawing board time and time again to finally figure out how to do all of this sustainably in a new, way more challenging landscape. And so, I thought back to the basics. Why did I start WoWT in the first place? And what are the subscribers and I supposed to get out of it?

Based on years of replies, those who read, followed, and subscribed got peek after peek at things they may have never heard of before, or encountered only in passing. They were constantly exposed to new discoveries and perspectives that challenged how they thought about our universe from the subatomic level, to the future of the entire cosmos. It was intended as a place to get that constant quick hit of inspiration from a new scientific study or technical achievement.

For me, it was a way to keep exploring, learning, sharing, and connecting with whose who are also interested in constantly broadening their personal horizons, especially in the realms of science and technology. With the world around us being drowned under a tsunami of spam, slop, a wide assortment of baits and traps which range from rage, to click, to thirst, it seems more relevant and important than ever to provide a way to escape into something better, something more, on a regular basis.

The real question, however, is what’s the best way to cut through all of the noise and broadcast a steady signal in a sustainable, reliable way. This is what I’ve spent much of the year trying to answer.

My experiment with videos was a major part of that, but there’s more to it. On top of everything, there needs to be consistency and for that, there needs to be an approach that’s sustainable for myself, readers, listeners, and viewers. After testing with a beta audience and getting some much needed feedback, I think I finally have a proper plan for 2025, starting with a new backbone for this newsletter: the briefings.

Every weekday, subscribers will receive five bleeding edge or weird science and tech stories directly from the source, organized and briefly summarized. There will also be an explanatory video for what seems to be the most interesting or relevant article of the day in my opinion. The goal of this briefing? To cut through the noise, keep you up to date with where science and tech are moving, and provide that extra insight with a focus on both quality analysis and efficiency.

In other words, this newsletter will be taking a step back to the basics of the old blog, stripping things down, and work on building back up from this new focus on keeping you on top of the limits and future of science, technology, with a hefty dose of critical thinking and healthy skepticism. With that solid foundation missing over the past few years, it’s more important than ever to be informed, inspired, and asking questions. If we can start returning to a shared reality and show that it’s anything but boring, there is a good chance we can tackle the future from a much better place than we are now.